Towing companies overcharging in Richmond
Sarah Johnson fumed when her Volkswagen Jetta was towed this summer from a parking lot in Shockoe Bottom.
She got angrier when she discovered that the towing company should not have charged her more than $65 -- far less than the $155 she had to spend to retrieve her car.
"How in the world could they get away with that?" she asked.
A recent investigation by the Richmond Police Department found that some local towing firms have been charging excessive fees when they remove illegally parked vehicles from private property. A city ordinance caps the fees at $65 if the vehicles are picked up within 24 hours, but it could be increased to $125 under a proposal heading to City Council.
"I think it's pretty widespread," Sgt. William McCracken said of the overcharging.
McCracken recently reviewed five towing complaints and found five excessive charges. He said Johnson was one of two people who paid $155 to Marshall Brothers Towing, while two others paid $125 to USA Towing and another one paid $100 to Peaco Towing.
Gary Marshall, an owner of Marshall Brothers, said the company now charges $65, but he acknowledged having charged more. He defended the higher amounts in light of the costs of fuel, equipment and insurance and added that he believed the ordinance was invalid because the towing advisory board had become inactive.
The Advisory Board for the Assessment of Towing Fees and the Storage of Vehicles has met as needed -- sometimes weekly -- since April 2008, said Chairwoman Victoria Pearson Benjamin, general counsel for the Richmond Police Department. She serves on the board with Ron Marshall, Gary Marshall's brother.
Peaco Towing said it charges $65 for towing but adds a $35 "convenience fee" if owners want to pick up their vehicles after the company's office closes at 5:30 p.m.
"Everyone is given the opportunity to pick up the next business day," said Debbie Dula, Peaco's manager.
She said she considers her fees defensible but has waived the $35 amount "when the police make me." She said $65 for a tow is minimal, given her costs and work hazards, such as shots being fired at her drivers.
Two messages left yesterday with USA Towing were not returned immediately.
State law sets $125 as the maximum base towing fee, but it also allows localities to set their own rates. The Richmond City Council adopted the $65 rate as part of its towing ordinance in 1999. Four years later, the ordinance was clarified to allow no additional fees, except for a $20-per-day storage fee after the first 24 hours.
The city's towing board agrees the current cap is too low and is recommending changes to the ordinance that would increase the base rate to $125 and allow a $35-per-day storage fee. The proposal also would set a maximum $30 fee to release not-yet-towed vehicles at the scene.
Gary Marshall and Dula said they support the increase to $125 and defended towing operators as legitimate, small businesses that protect the owners of parking lots and responsible users of the spaces.
Still, some people whose vehicles have been towed feel no sympathy.
Jordan Schooler said his car was towed from his apartment's lot this spring because his state inspection was one month expired. He said USA Towing initially told him he'd have to pay $150 to get his car back, but the amount was reduced by $25 after he protested and cited, after a quick Internet search, the $125 fee in the state code.
"I was pretty shocked when they told me how much it was going to be," he said.
Tina Clayton of eastern Henrico County had her truck towed from a lot in Shockoe Bottom and was charged $155 by Marshall Brothers. She wants to be reimbursed $90 and said the experience has left her so bitter that she no longer seeks entertainment in Richmond.
"We go to the city to work and come on back to the farm," she said.
Johnson, of Mechanicsville, hasn't resorted to those extremes, but she does try to catch rides with friends when they venture out. She blames a misleading sign for her car being towed and hopes city officials also will look at those regulations to protect residents and business-supporting visitors.
"They're just down there trying to get people so they can make some more money," she said of towing companies.
Contact Will Jones at (804) 649-6911 or
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Reader Reactions
I am outraged!!! I have use Marshall Brothers on two occassions to tow my vehicle and they had been nothing but helpful. The drivers were very compassionate and understanding of my situation. I do not feel that they overcharged me in any way. They are just like any other company, they need to make some form of profit to keep it alive. On the other hand, recently, my car was towed by On-Time towing and I have not one good thing to say. First of all, they towed my car from Shockoe Bottom. I called the office to inquire about my car and the receptionist could not even tell me if my car was there even after telling her the make and model four times!!!! She simply gave me the addressand said that IF it was there it would cost $125.00 to retrieve it. I asked her to explain what the fees consisted of and she stated there was a $65.00 tow bill, a $25.00 night fee(overnight charge) and a $35.00 processing fee. My car was in their lot for a total of six hours. In order to be charged an overnight fee, it has to be there for twenty-four. So why should I pay? Among other things, I picked up my car and there were items missing from inside. I had a pack of cigarrettes and c.d.‘s that are nowhere to be found. So why should Marshall Brothers only be allowed to charge $65.00 bare minimum and On-Time is allowed to gouge us and steal our property?
I hope you got a picture of the sign indicating 8 a.m. for street cleaning to take to court. With irrefutable evidence, the judge will still be hard to discourage in keeping the ticket.
It is really sad that the majority of people who said “you should not park in an illegal spot” fail to understand that a penalty is a penalty. There shouldn’t be a higher cost to you because the towing company chooses to charge you more. The tow companies admit to their scandalous practices, the Richmond P.D. allows this corrupt behavior, and the Richmond citizen suffers more because of it. A penalty is a penalty, would anyone be happy if a police officer said, “hey, I’m having a bad day, so I will charge you more for (whatever…) or if you go to buy something and the clerk says, “I need to have lunch today, so I will charge you more so that I can have that lunch”! This is riduculous, right? well then why accept it from the tow companies, it doesn’t matter that “they” feel the service should be more. If that is the case, then petition to raise the amount, or else get out of the market in Richmond. YOu can’t just charge more cause you feel like it. The tow companies affect you as a citizen because tourism drops, and the city looses business because of unscrupulous people and busineses like the towing companies. You are already paying the penalty why should you have to pay more than is necessary? A moral citizen becomes a moral body of people who create a moral government, continue to do immoral acts and notice the downward direction the city continues to go in. Higher taxes, more crime, worst education,etc. It goes on…make a change in the right direction.
I think last week or the week before, there was an article in the RTD regarding street cleaning and cars getting towed. Well, my friend almost got her car towed. It was on the truck but she stopped them in time.
the time? 7:30. the time on the ticket, 7:30… what time was the street cleaning scheduled for? 8… I wonder how long it is going to take to get this dropped and dismissed.
I think the cap should be left at $65 as punishment for over charging.
You people defending the fraudulent towing companies have to be dim-wits. Most people understand the if you park somewhere you are not supposed to park, YOU GET TOWED, and rightly so!
The problem is the towing companies are breaking the law and overcharging you! And they are admitting to it and nothing is happening to them.
What if Dominion just decided to triple or quadruple the SCC approved fees, you tow truck lovers would smile and be ok with it….no you wouldn’t.
Get in touch with reality and quit defending a blatant right and wrong issue, just because your husband or wife happens to be in the industry.
I was interviewed for this article about being towed in Shockoe Bottom. My complaint to the Towing Board was that I felt like the towing company hadn’t posted their “private property” sign where it made sense. I pulled into an honor box lot and walked over and paid the box for the space I was in, then when I came out my car was gone! There was no line or sign in between the two lots. They look like one lot. The sign was way over on the side of the lot, not even at the front of it. It looks as if it’s referring to the area behind the sign, not in front of it. It’s not clear at all and my quote from the end of this article was in reference to having my car towed only 10 minutes after having parked it there (at 8:30 PM- who comes to work after 8:30 PM? So if those spaces were private for business owners/staff, I’m sure the lot owners didn’t ask the towers to patrol it that late in the evening.) Regardless, I had to wait for 2 hours at the company headquarters after calling them before they finally deemed to show up and they both had cars behind their trucks. So they obviously weren’t going to come let my car free that they took until they bagged another money-maker! No other service treats their patrons like that! It’s a legal matter to have your property be private and be able to have a company take a private citizen’s car from your lot, so of course it has to be a legal matter on how much companies can charge citizens. In my case, I was trying to be a good citizen and paid the honor box and staff of Marshall Brothers admitted that that lot is confusing and yet they had no mercy on me, overcharged me and have yet to try and make their lot more distinguished from the public lot.
Just to claify, in my circumstance, I was parked illegally and being towed is fine by me. What I am complaining about is the way the tow company operated. No one should have to put up with that.
carrie777 - I can easily agree with your comments when viewed from the perspective of illegally parked cars being towed from parking lots - especially privately owned ones.
The problem is related to on-street parking and street cleaning operations where signs are posted only a few days ahead of the date on which parking after 8:00 a.m. is prohibited. In my neighborhood, there have been instances where signs were posted the day before the prohibition resulting in cars belonging to out-of-town neighbors being towed. In some cases keys had been left with older neighbors who, for a variety of understandable reasons, did no go outside between the time the signs were posted and the time the car was towed. In my opinion, the City should be required to post no-parking-street-cleaning signs at least 8 days ahead.
There have also been several occasion on which these no-parking signs have been taken down by vandals shortly after being posted.
So in regard to on-street parking, regard, I believe there are two problems (1) lack of timely notice to citizens, and (2) failure to adequately enforce limits on towing charges.
No one can deny one should not park where it is prohibited.
If you park where you are not allowed, all places are posted, you will be towed. Most complexes have hangers or stickers for people who ARE allowed to park there. WHen you park in a non-designated area, you are taking away a parking place from someone who is SUPPOSED to be parking there. MANY people PAY to have the privledge to park there. YOU did not, so what makes you think you should be allowed to park there? As far as a re-opening fee for you to pick up your car late at night or anytime after hours, MOST places are not staffed after hours, which means someone has to traverse back across the county to open up so you can get your car out. I AGREE with the re-open fee. In a nut shell. DO NOT PARK where you are not supposed to. I have been around the city and have see the signs CLEARLY marked for parking, if you can not read them and understand where you are and are not supposed to park, DO NOT PARK THERE!
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