Wreckers want to raise towing rates in Wilmington | StarNewsOnline.com

The city has received series of letters recently from area towers asking for big increases in the fees the companies can charge for picking up wrecks or removing illegally parked vehicles

Since 2001, the city has set the rate for "non-consensual" towing at $100 with supplementary charges like $16 a day for storage. But those prices are out-of-step with the current costs for fuel, labor and insurance, the companies maintain.

"With the price of fuel, it's just killing any bit of profit that there ever was," said Kimberly Carder who with her husband runs four companies with six trucks. "It's just time to have a little cost of living increase for those services we are providing for the city."

The new rates proposed by the companies range from $143 to $185, big increases that far exceed the price Carder would charge a dealership to tow a car. But the wreck-removal business is different, Carder said.

Companies rotate on call, responding within 30 minutes to clear wrecks that often occur in the middle of the night. Sometimes, owners will abandon their damaged vehicles , resulting in months of paperwork, storage and court time for towers to get the right to sell them for a pittance.

James Haight, general manager of John Russ Wrecker Service, agrees a boost is needed, though he doesn't see why the same increase should necessarily hold for towers removing vehicles from private lots who don't have the same pressures to respond at all hours.

Like Carder's companies. John Russ does not respond to "trespass towing" calls.

"I don't know if it's fair for them to get paid the same as us or not," he said. "In my opinion, it is not."

Other cities like Raleigh do not regulate wreck removals and trespass towing in the same way.

Nancy Fahey, who runs D & N Wrecker Service with her husband, said removing illegal parked cars is only a small part of her business, but she said that aspect of the job also deserves an increase.

Removing cars from private lots results in a lot of verbal abuse, also involves late night calls, and, like wreck removal, requires increasingly expensive insurance on the towed vehicles.

"You still have a lot of the same issues that come into play," she said.

Councilman Jim Quinn said the questions needs further study. Possibly the city will need to make a distinction between types of towing, he said.

It is unlikely to come before City Council before August.

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