The phone rang yesterday while I was finishing my lunch. I almost didn’t answer it because I wasn’t near a phone with caller ID. But I was glad I did. The caller was Arlington County Board Chair Jay Fisette, and he was calling to follow up on a complaint I’d submitted via the county website about the towing incident I wrote about here back in February, when my car was towed while I was at the DMV getting my driver’s license renewed.
Fisette, who has been a board member since January 1998, told me that my e-mail was forward to him because he’s been dealing with towing issues in Arlington County for several years. He said that he was aware of the situation at the DMV, and we talked about the details of my experience there. Although some people park in one of the privately owned spaces where I parked because there’s not enough room in the DMV lot during particularly busy times, I had parked there because I didn’t see the sign indicating that section of the lot belonged to an adjacent service station.
Fisette also told me that the towing situation in Arlington was much more of a “rogue” situation 7 or 8 years ago, when these types of predatory operations were more common in locations across the county. In some cases, he said, a parking space was marked on the pavement as being only for patrons of a particular business, so if a driver wasn’t paying attention she could easily park on top of the painted notice and not see it. In at least one case that problem was solved by posting a sign at the end of each parking space, and I suggested that the same thing should be done for the spaces near the DMV.
I must admit, I was pleasantly surprised that Fisette called me after I’d given up all hope of speaking to an elected official or anyone else official about the problem. Finally, he asked if I’d be willing to serve as the citizen representative on a committee that meets once a year to discuss towing issues, and although I didn’t exactly jump at the opportunity I said I would consider it. That committee meets near the end of the year, so I have some time to mull it over. My main reason for hesitating is that I’m afraid I might be too timid or nervous to speak up when the time comes, particularly since the group includes representatives from the police department and (if I remember correctly) the towing companies. Then again, I’ve noticed that lately I’m not as shy as I once was when it comes to speaking out in public.
As before, stay tuned for further possible developments.
Tags: Arlington DMV, predatory towing, towing
May 5, 2010 at 12:01 am |
Give’em hell Elia!
July 15, 2010 at 4:31 pm |
I just fell into the same trap — I was just towed from the same lot adjacent to Four Mile Run DMV after inadvertently parking there. During the 45 minutes that I was there, 3 other vehicles were towed from the lot. As I was leaving in a cab, I saw the vultures from Advance Towing circling again.
I did a Google search and found this posting. I’ve tried to contact Arlington county to find out how to file a predatory towing complaint, but I’m not sure who in the county I need to contact. Any tips about filing a complaint would be appreciated. Thanks.
July 15, 2010 at 4:50 pm |
Very sorry to hear you fell into the predatory towing trap at the DMV! The trouble is, there’s nothing illegal about it. As noted in my second blog post on this incident, I did write a letter to the County Board complaining about this (I think I found the Web page for the board on the county’s website, and you can submit a message to the board there), but there is no formal complaint process.
July 15, 2010 at 5:19 pm |
Thanks for the info. I’ll send an email to the county board. Even if it’s not illegal, I still want to complain. In my Google search I found several other references to being towed from the same location. Apparently, this scam has been going on for years.