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California features a large Latino population, and some are in the state illegally. Right now if one of those undocumented citizens finds themselves in a sobriety checkpoint, their vehicle will be impounded for up to 30 days. The reason? Illegal aliens aren't permitted to have driver's licenses. And if the driver cannot afford fines that crest the $1,000 mark, in many cases the towing company will become the owner of the vehicle, which can then be sold at auction.

The law has led to web services that warn illegal immigrants of the roadblocks before they are set up. The social media sites and text messages have greatly reduced the vehicle confiscations, but a new law should eliminate them all-together. The Associated Press reports that California will stop the practice of towing effective January 1.

The news good for some and bad for others, particularly tow truck companies which can pay up to $75,000 per year for the right to tow away the vehicles, and since many cars and trucks go unclaimed, the companies were making a lot of money selling vehicles at auction.California to stop towing cars of unlicensed drivers originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 06 Jan 2012 07:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.


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[Damian]

Good job California, we are one step closer to merging with Mexico.

[Vettezuki]

There's a shakedown part of this I'm quite happy to see go away.

The news good for some and bad for others, particularly tow truck companies which can pay up to $75,000 per year for the right to tow away the vehicles, and since many cars and trucks go unclaimed, the companies were making a lot of money selling vehicles at auction.

[2011GT302]

I don't understand what the benefit to California is? Does California not want the $75,000.00 a year from the tow companies? Are they going to simply ticket the driver and then allow them to drive away without a driver license?

[Damian]

Are they even going to get a slap on the wrist?

[blackax]

This is a good thing. It means that the fucken tow people will have to do more then just stand next to the cops and charge people soo much damn money on impound fee's. (i've paid over 1000$ to get a car out of impound it was there for less then 3 days.)

[Vettezuki]

Originally Posted by blackax

This is a good thing. It means that the fucken tow people will have to do more then just stand next to the cops and charge people soo much damn money on impound fee's. (i've paid over 1000$ to get a car out of impound it was there for less then 3 days.)

Like I said. Racket.

[2011GT302]

You well never have to pay impound fees if you don't do anything wrong to get impounded....

[Redondo Jon]

This is great news and I whole-heartedly endorse it. I’m going to stop renewing my driver’s license, car registration, and insurance. I’m going broke paying for these things! California’s left hand doesn’t know what its right hand is doing. ‘Cmon Vettezuki, when’s the compound gonna be ready?

[jedhead]

The $75K the article talks about is the fees that cities charge to the company to get exclusive towing privilege for the city. The cities have been demanding more and more of the impound fees that the towing company charges too. If the tow company sells the car at auction, the city gets a part of the auction price too. Since this source of revenue for the cities will be less, the impound fees will go up even more.
How towing companies in Australia when I was visiting there in 1980 was first come first serve. The police would just get on the radio and say they need a tow truck. The first tow truck to arrive got the tow. The interesting part was that eventually some of the fastest and most powerful vehicles on the road was tow trucks. I found out while hanging out with my Aussie friends on night in Perth. I heard a couple really hot sounding engines, lopey idle load exhaust. I looked around for the source of the sound and just then saw two tow truck take off smoking the tires from an interection. That is why if you watch "Mad Max" when Max's partner Jim Goose gets radio call you see tow trucks haulin' ass out the parking lot even before Goose get on his bike. The law was changed to exclusive contract because tow trucks were getting into to many high speed crashes and the situation was getting out of hand.

Bob