Pete Buttigieg, the U.S. Transportation Secretary, along with FMCSA on Wednesday called out "junk fees" charged by predatory towing companies and parking lot pirates that "use their possession of the vehicle as leverage to prey upon truckers who are in no position to push back."
DOT and FMCSA together called for the end of fees for goods or services which have "no value" and which cost "nothing extra to provide," as well as a final rule to treat "each illegal junk fee as a separate violation" against the tow company.
[Related: Trucking's best defense against predatory towing: A step-by-step guide]
The last few years have seen a well-chronicled a rise in predatory towing horror stories, ranging from thousands of dollars for a simple boot removal all the way up to $140,000 for a single tractor-trailer accident. Further investigation has revealed that towing and recovery professionals now get training on how to inflate invoices, often billing egregiously for overhead items like headsets.
Buttigieg and FMCSA "expressed strong support for trucker protections against predatory towing fees in a comment filed on the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) proposed rule banning junk fees."
The move follows a larger push against "junk fees," which the FTC hopes to prohibit with a proposed rule that would stop "businesses from charging hidden and bogus junk fees by requiring them to include all mandatory fees when quoting a price."
"FMCSA believes that predatory towing fee practices fall within the purview of FTC’s proposed rule, which would greatly benefit truckers if finalized," FMCSA wrote in a statement.
