| WASHINGTON — The American Trucking Associations responded favorably to the House Appropriations Committee for voting in support of a provision to crack down on predatory towing as part of the fiscal year 2025 transportation funding bill. The commendation from the group is warranted as the bill would direct FMCSA to facilitate discussions with local, state and private sector stakeholders to develop guidelines for towing and recovery regulations at all levels of government.
“Charging truck owners thousands of dollars for each unwanted tow and holding cargo hostage with excessive invoices are egregious practices that disrupt our supply chain,” said American Trucking Associations President & CEO Chris Spear. “ATA and our federation of state associations are fighting back against these predatory towers and ransom payments that target the truckers we depend on to deliver our nation’s goods. We welcome this important step forward to develop commonsense reforms that will inject more transparency and fairness into the system and hold unscrupulous companies accountable.”
Predatory towing entails any incident in which a towing operator severely overcharges; illegally seizes assets; damages assets by use of improper equipment; or illegitimately withholds release of a truck, trailer and/or cargo. According to a recent study by the American Transportation Research Institute, the most common types of predatory towing are excessive rates, experienced by 82.7% of motor carriers, and unwarranted extra service charges, experienced by 81.8% of carriers. A majority of carriers encountered additional issues such as truck release or access delays, cargo release delays, truck seizure without cause and tows misreported as consensual.
The report language on predatory towing was released after the House Appropriations Committee voted 31-26 to advance the bill to the House floor. Last month, ATA applauded a number of other victories for trucking that were folded into the legislation, including $200 million to expand truck parking as well as provisions that would:
- Preserve the fix ATA secured earlier this year to strengthen the Safe Driver Apprenticeship Pilot Program;
- Block a waiver requested by California that would create a patchwork of meal and rest break rules, undermining safety and the supply chain;
- Prevent the Federal Highway Administration from moving forward with its proposal to impose greenhouse gas emissions performance measures on state departments of transportation and metropolitan planning organizations, contrary to congressional intent; and
- Prohibit the implementation of any congestion tolling programs, such as the one planned by New York City that has now been indefinitely suspended
Dave Heller, who serves as Senior Vice President of Safety and Government Affairs for the Truckload Carriers’ Association also gave his round of applause to the measure.
“I think it stands to reason that unscrupulous towing companies certainly need to be held accountable for their actions and the House language is a start in the right direction,” Heller said. “There continues to be success stories at the state level that address these issues and the approps language will go far in beginning the process federally for FMCSA to instill more transparency in the process. We support the efforts of the Appropriators in directing the agency to develop stronger guidelines that will hopefully eliminate the bad actors to operate on our highways.” |
