Aggressive towing practices have been a significant inconvenience for Chapel Hill residents for some time.
Monday, the Town Council passed a smart set of ordinances that will alleviate this nuisance without depriving towing companies of revenue.
The ordinances specify a $125 limit on towing fees. Though towing costs now are typically $100, this limit is an important protection against abuses. At the same time, the fee remains high enough to be a credible deterrent to illegal parking.
The new ordinances also do much to eliminate unnecessary inconveniences for those who do get towed.
Under the current laws, some tow lots are located as far away as Hillsborough, but the new rules dictate that a company cannot tow cars to lots further than 15 miles outside of Chapel Hill town limits.
Companies are also now required to accept credit cards, which marks a significant improvement on some companies’ cash-only policies.
Though these companies will have to cover the up-front costs of switching to this method of payment and will have to pay standard credit card fees, this change will still benefit all parties in the long run.
It’s true, no one will ever be happy about getting towed. But these measures will make the experience less of a headache for the car owner, and towing companies should benefit in some way from improved relationships with customers — even unwilling ones.
These ordinances show that changes made to benefit a specific group don’t always have to harm another. The Town Council should strive for this sort of compromise in all its decisions.
