Whoa, senators protested. Yes, Burt said, but state law has allowed that for years. The tow truck operator can legally keep your car locked behind his chain-link fence until you pay up. That's the law now. This bill goes further.
Police call a tow truck.
The car sits in a yard, and the owner never shows up to claim it, so the towing company can't recover storage or towing fees. That's one reason that car insurance rates in South Florida are so high. After 35 days, it can be legally sold to a salvage company and crushed. But if a towing operator doesn't file a document called a certificate of destruction with the state, and if a disreputable salvage operator doesn't require it, that car's VIN number stays alive and can be used on a stolen car. To fix that, towing lobbyists say, this bill gives wreckers an incentive to fill out the paperwork and pay a small fee to get those dirty VIN numbers off the computer.