Putting the brakes on predatory towing companies
Chicagoans are no strangers to shady towing practices. Unscrupulous towers monitor police radios, hear an accident dispatch and swoop in to prey on rattled drivers.
In 2023 alone, the Illinois Commerce Commission received more than 500 towing complaints from consumers — the bulk tied to tows in Chicago. While the ICC thoroughly investigates these complaints, loopholes in the Illinois Commercial Safety Towing Law keep the worst offenders on the roads.
This week, the City Council is expected to vote on a measure that would give Chicago police the authority to impound and tow predatory tow truck drivers' vehicles and allow victims to file civil lawsuits against the devious culprits.
Senate Bill 2040 is similarly designed to stop predatory towing practices at the source by giving the ICC stronger enforcement tools to get rogue towers off our roads.
Our offices hear frequent complaints from panicked constituents who’ve fallen victim to predatory towers, and their stories are often similar:
A tow truck operator appears at the scene of an accident, falsely claims that they’re affiliated with the driver’s insurance company and lie that insurance will cover the cost of the tow. Without knowing any better, the driver authorizes the tow, then has to battle the tower to get their car back.
In other cases, the tow operator agrees to take the vehicle to a requested location — only for the owner to realize hours, sometimes days later, that their vehicle never arrived. This leaves folks unable to drive to work, organize school pickups or take a sick family member to a doctor’s appointment while the tower holds their cars hostage.
There have even been instances of predatory towers denying drivers access to critical items like prescriptions, child car seats or IDs left inside their cars.
Our bill would require safety towers to register their business and storage locations and limit where towers can store a vehicle to those registered storage lots, licensed repair shop or the driver’s requested location. Drivers shouldn’t have to jump through hoops to figure out where their car is being held.
Towers also won’t be able to place liens on any essential belongings left behind in a vehicle.
Over the last several years, law enforcement and ICC regulators have raised towing fines, upped patrol operations, launched weekly details with the city and revoked licenses from tow operators with unpaid fines.
Unfortunately, that hasn't been enough to stop the bad actors, who continue to rack up hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid fines. ICC officers are then forced to issue the same citations to the same rogue towers, who dodge their fines and go right back to their shady business practices. Due to gaps in the existing law, they’re even able to apply for a new license simply by using a different company name. SB 2040 puts a stop to this tactic by tying safety towing registrations to the individual — not the company name. That way repeat offenders will no longer be able to sidestep our state’s licensing system.
Another important reform in the bill: The ICC will have the power to bar tow operators from holding a safety relocator registration for the next three years if they make false statements on their applications.
These shouldn't be controversial changes. The common sense reforms we're introducing in SB 2040, which unanimously passed the state Senate and is now headed to the House, sends a clear message: Predatory towing will not be tolerated in Illinois.
State Rep. Will Davis, D-Hazel Crest, serves the 30th District.
State Sen. Celina Villanueva, D-Chicago, serves the 12th District.
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