Wilfredo Richiez parked his car at a shopping center in the Wheaton Triangle a week ago and went into Hi Super Spa for a massage. When he came out 30 minutes later, his car was gone. Richiez, a New Jersey native in town visiting a friend, had parked a few doors down from the spa, in front of another business at the strip mall, a business that had hired a towing company to ensure that only its customers parked in its spaces. Because he went to another business Richiez was considered a walk-off, his car was towed, and he paid $150 to get it back.
Officials with the Montgomery County Office of Consumer Protection said such cases are part of a growing trend of predatory towing practices. In the last six months, there’s been a spike in complaints from drivers whose vehicles have been towed from the Wheaton Triangle, Silver Spring and Bethesda.
The county received 149 towing complaints in 2010 and 50 so far this year, most of which involve a legally parked car that gets towed, according to Montgomery County police Sgt. Tom Curtis. The basic issue is a lack of available parking, but some blame lies with the tow truck drivers, he said.
| Base Towing Fees | ||
| Arlington County | $115 | |
| Alexandria | $75 | |
| District | $100 | |
| Fairfax County | $50 | |
| Montgomery County | $100 | |
| Source: Arlington County Manager’s office | ||
“Our problem is really related to the towing companies and the quality of service they provide,” Curtis said.
The problem isn’t confined to Montgomery County or Maryland. Arlington County recently finished its own investigation of parking lots like those adjacent to the Department of Motor Vehicles on South Four Mile Run Drive, where Joey Katzen was towed last year.
In the case of the DMV, the county intervened to ensure that signs properly identified which spaces were for the DMV and which belonged to the nearby Mobil Market Place. The county also rewrote a provision of its laws to ensure that signs are clearly displayed on private lots.
But Katzen is still concerned about aggressive towing practices.
“I felt like it was still a problem because there’s nothing to prevent what I would call abusive towing,” Katzen said. Towing companies are “almost inducing it because it’s a moneymaker for them.”
Tow-truck drivers say motorists are simply ignoring clearly posted signs rather than parking legally. In Wheaton, there is a large metered public parking lot a short walk from the stores, but people still take the risk of parking illegally, said Buddy Davis, a driver for All About Towing who monitors spaces along Georgia Avenue.
“Either they don’t want to pay the meter or they don’t want to walk the distance for public parking and they just take that chance,” Davis said.
A report compiled by Arlington County officials determined that driver behavior is the largest contributing factor to towing.
Montgomery County police are working to get all the businesses and property owners at the Wheaton Triangle together, along with the towing companies, to go over the county’s towing regulations and determine how to cut down on towing mistakes like Richiez’s. It’s in a business’ best interest to make sure their parking spaces are being watched properly, Curtis said.
“This is going to cost you business if people get upset and their cars are damaged,” he said.
