Trespass Towing Analysis

Alexandra Veremeychik

What is trespass towing?

The towing or removal of a vehicle from private property without the vehicle's owner permission.

 

The vehicle's owner is required to travel to a lot to pay a fee and retrieve their vehicle.

The Process

You park your vehicle

Your vehicle is towed to a storage lot

At the lot you pay a fee to receive vehicle

Property owner authorizes tow in writing

*

 Written authorization is not needed between 2am and 9am or in the case that your vehicle is blocking access

*

Towing company files report to police

The data is collected and stored in a database

The Data

  • Trespass tows since July 1, 2021
  • Includes records of:
    • Date and location
    • Car make and model
    • Reason for tow
    • Towing company
  • Published publicly to dataMontgomery on a monthly basis

Trespass Towing Report

A History of Towing

Complaints

What if you feel you were wrongly towed?

  • Unauthorized tow
  • Poor signage
  • Excessive retrieval cost
  • Predatory towing victim

Predatory towing 

unethical or illegal methods of towing a vehicle

What you need:

  • Tow invoice
  • Violation description
  • Internet access*

What if you feel you were wrongly towed?

Form

Investigation

Results

  • Full or partial refund
  • Citation issued
  • Promise to change practices
  • Merchant offers explanation
  • Consumer withdraws complaint

Additional Data

Additional Data: Outside Sources

Correlations

The number of cars towed from a census tract is more highly correlated with the median household income, language spoken at home, and CEI score than with population or resident density.

Bringing the Data Together:

The Dashboard

Lessons Learned

The need for more data:

  • Time of tow and lot location
  • Surveys
  • Encouragement of complaints

The need for community outreach:

  • Education on rights and regulations
  • Awareness of towing practices
  • Data-driven solutions

Towr App

Tow Watch App

TowDist Tool

Tow Company Rankings

Thank you!