Loophole as Big as a Tow Truck

It’s not surprising that building owners and their tenants get upset when someone parks illegally on the property or that they have the offending vehicles towed away. But the towing company should tell police so drivers realize that their cars have not been stolen.

A Santa Ana-based tow truck operator has been removing cars wrongly parked on private property, including apartment house grounds. But neither police nor car owners are told about the towing.

The impound procedure is legal due to an apparent oversight in a federal law passed several years ago. The towing company, California Coastal Towing, has obtained a federal injunction barring Santa Ana from enforcing the city’s own towing regulations. The city’s rules set rates, which officials say are lower than the towing firm’s. The rules also require that cars be hauled off from private parking lots only when a signed request is made. The company’s operator in addition has sued in an attempt to bar Costa Mesa, Tustin, Anaheim and several other cities from enforcing their towing rules.

Santa Ana police estimate the company tows from two to 20 vehicles nightly, usually because they are parked in spaces reserved for apartment residents or on lots of private companies closed for the night. Those whose cars are towed often notify police, assuming they have been stolen. Though they may be relieved to learn otherwise, they obviously are upset to learn it will cost $200 to get the car released.

Congress could close the loophole in the law and again let localities determine their own rules. Until that happens, the company at a minimum should notify police that it has towed a car, so that motorists calling the station house to report the car stolen can find out quickly what has happened and where to go to get the vehicle back.