Community Forums

Don in E Texas · 01-04-2005, 11:41 AM

The Houston paper today said over 300 vehicles have been towed since Jan 1st..

don

JayC · 01-04-2005, 02:38 PM

Don, you're exactly right, I think the count that I heard was 307 vehicles towed. Now do a little math on this at $75.00 per vehicle, that comes to over $23,000 in the first three full days of the ordinance. I think we can all see the reason for this ordinance. The City of Houston, like many other cities, is short of money, so they "sold" sections of the freeway to wrecker services ($50,000 per section). This is why no one else is allowed to tow a vehicle off these paid-for sections of freeway.

rehcuobbob · 01-05-2005, 03:15 AM

Up here in the frozen North, Toronto and Montreal have had the same system in operation for quite a while. The contracting firm undertakes to have a fixed number of dedicated units on the highway to offer quick response and free up traffic. Seems to work OK, we do not however impound vehicles if the operator has no cash or alternate on hand, as with parking tickets, they rely on the tag number to bill out and refuse to renew the tag if there is an unpaid balance, sounds a little more civilized than the impounding!!!

Rich & Zara · 01-06-2005, 11:21 AM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Turn Key:
And yet another good reason to stay out of Houston.

Happy Camping! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

...and even a better reason to stay out of Houston. Did you hear CNN announce today that it is the fattest city in the nation? Do you think it would rub off on one if passing through?

Rich

TXiceman · 01-06-2005, 03:38 PM

Last year our daughter was a customer service manager for a company that handled the ERS for several companies including two large cell phone companies. According to her, the standard fee for a tow to get you up to a specified distance was $50.00 in Houston. She feels that the wrecker companies and the city will just fatten their pockets on the $75.00 fee.

Nothing like kicking a fellow when he is down...He is aready ticked that he has a flat due to the debris or trash in the road that Houston never has time to sweep up and now he gets jerked off the road by a rip off artist.

Ken

JayC · 01-07-2005, 03:26 AM

This towing thing ain't over yet....

There is a state representative that is questioning how the city of Houston can collect fees off a state highway and not give some of the money to the state. He said that he will introduce a bill to ban this type of thing statewide.

Now there is a suggestion to not charge people that cannot afford the towing fees. I know that there is discrimination to people by race, creed sex, etc. but does it include poor? I don't know.....