By GEORGE WHITEHURST
Tow-truck drivers in Virginia may soon have to be approved by the Department of Motor Vehicles and accept credit-card payments.
Those are two recommendations being considered by a study commission looking at revamping the state laws that govern towing operations.
State Sen. Jay O'Brien, R-Fairfax, who introduced legislation this year to set up the study commission, said recently he hopes the panel will vote on a slate of recommendations by mid-November.
The Virginia General Assembly would then have to decide whether to turn those recommendations into law.
O'Brien especially is keen for the DMV to require those obtaining towing licenses to meet higher standards.
"My position, which I hope is shared by most of the members, is that DMV will be the organization that will endorse all drivers and carriers on their licenses," he said. "Right now, tow operators are not registered with the state in any way."
O'Brien notes, for example, that limousine drivers must have their licenses endorsed by the DMV. He'd like a similar arrangement for towing operators.
Jim Dowell, president of the Virginia Association of Towing the Recovery Operators, said he supports the idea of licensing for tow companies.
"I feel our association is all for that--for the towing companies to be licensed," he said. "We also feel like each towing driver should have a picture ID identifying himself and the company he's employed with. That way, we feel, if a customer has a complaint, they can complain more on a driver than on a company. We're all for patrolling our own and trying to reduce problems."
O'Brien also wants Virginia to mandate that tow operators accept credit card payments. He and other lawmakers says constituents have complained to them that when they lack the cash to retrieve a car after a towing, it forces them to pay costly vehicle storage fees.
"It's very easy for the tow operator to attach the swipe machine to their phones," O'Brien said.
Dowell suggested that most towing operators are willing to accept credit cards for calls from stranded motorists. He worries, however, that a credit card isn't a sure thing when offered by someone charged with drunken driving or other criminal activity.
"We need guaranteed payments," he said.
Under O'Brien's proposal, operators who balk at accepting credit cards would have to maintain an automatic teller machine on their premises.
The most controversial part of the towing business is so-called "nonconsensual" towing.
An apartment complex or shopping center may have a contract with a towing company to remove improperly parked, nuisance or abandoned vehicles. Often, tow-truck drivers will patrol the lot around the clock and immediately remove unauthorized vehicles.
The study commission may endorse a plan to end this practice by requiring property owners to specifically seek removal of a vehicle. In other words, the vehicle couldn't be towed unless the property owner called a wrecker and signed paperwork authorizing the removal.
Prince William County already has a similar rule in place, and Spotsylvania County is considering such an ordinance.
In the past year, The Free Lance-Star has been bombarded with calls from people complaining of being towed from several area parking lots. The complaints centered around one company and spurred Spotsylvania Sheriff Howard Smith to propose a revised towing ordinance to the Board of Supervisors.
The supervisors will hold a public hearing on the issue during their Sept. 13 meeting.
O'Brien wants local governments to lend a hand by choosing ethical operators for law-enforcement-related tow jobs.
"If a local government finds that a tow operator is a bad actor in the business, they will have opportunity to report that to DMV and seek an investigation of their business," he said. "The risk is that that operator would lose their endorsement to do business."
O'Brien also hopes the General Assembly will pass legislation allowing criminal background checks for tow-truck drivers who run public-safety tows.
He stressed that the commission's proposals aren't intended to hurt the towing industry.
"Towers--I think they're guardian angels when you want them," O'Brien said. "I think they've just gotten into a sticky wicket when it comes to the nonconsensual towing. We just want to air it all out."
To reach GEORGE WHITEHURST: