Questionable business practices by towing operators spark new regulations in Independence

Aurora Paolicchi gathered with friends in the River Market for brunch in mid-March, unaware the group’s get-together coincided with the season opener for the Kansas City Current in the team’s new CPKC Stadium nearby. Parking was on the pricey side as a result – $25 – but she paid and enjoyed her time with friends.

When she returned to the lot where she parked, her vehicle was gone. Other vehicles had been towed too.

After some research, the Shawnee resident determined her vehicle had been taken to Autobot Towing’s impound lot, a towing company located in Independence.

On the phone, a remote representative for the company told her that it was an after-hours period. They took down her number. Maybe someone might call her back?

She and a friend drove to the impound lot and were able to get the vehicle back after what she described as a frustrating exchange. Why did she have to pay a storage fee, she wondered? The vehicle was in the impound lot for less than an hour, she said. She tried to argue the point, but in the end, she just wanted her vehicle back and for the ordeal to be over. She paid and moved on.

Even afterwards, it remained unclear to her why her vehicle was towed. She had paid for parking, after all.

“It ended up being $350, and the car was parked there for less than an hour,” she said.

Two days after Paolicchi’s “unfortunate adventure,” as she put it, Independence City Council members signed off on new rules more closely regulating the tow service industry, outlining new requirements for how Independence towing companies can operate.

‘The same level playing field’

The changes come after The Star’s coverage of a situation involving Autobot and Independence’s city codes for tow operators last year, which Independence City Council member Brice Stewart read, leading him to kick off an effort to update the codes governing such businesses.

In March, council members approved changes to the code modeled after rules Kansas City has for tow operators.

The changes include requirements for tow truck companies to clearly label their vehicles with a name and phone number for their business, take payments by cash, card or any mobile payment service, and have towed vehicles stored at a facility where owners can pick them up 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The codes also require businesses to provide written, itemized receipts, keep a detailed towing log that can be inspected by the city or a vehicle owner and maintain other basic business practices.

As council members approved the changes in March, City Manager Zach Walker told them the city would be, “Putting some protections in for consumers and just helping tow companies operate on the same level playing field.”

Walker said then the city would do outreach to local towing companies about the changes to the city’s rules.

Stewart said he pushed for the effort after reading The Star’s coverage last year, as well as because of a personal experience he had with a towing company years ago.

Stewart said his vehicle slid off an icy road, and a tow truck passing by stopped, pulled him out and got him going again, but only after he was told he owed $400, in cash, for about 30 minutes of work. He went to a nearby bank and got the cash to pay for the service. He can chuckle about the episode now, but said he always felt a little burned by the incident.

“I had the money back then, but what if I wouldn’t have had it?” he said. “There’s a lot of people, they can’t come up with $400 cash, especially in the middle of the night. And if they don’t have any friends or family that’ll loan it to them, their car could be sitting in the tow lot for a couple of days racking up even more fees. I think it’s just a bad road to go down.”