Phila. auto-theft law gets mixed reviews

Legislation that would help auto-theft victims in Philadelphia avoid the additional burden of having to pay for their cars being towed and impounded after their vehicles are recovered by police is drawing mixed reviews.

The measure by City Councilman Darrell L. Clarke would require police to call vehicle owners and give them an hour to recover their vehicles.

The current policy calls for private tow trucks to remove stolen vehicles located by police. Police stay with the vehicle for 30 minutes while the owner is contacted, officials said. If the owners cannot be reached in 30 minutes, the vehicle is towed, requiring owners to pay a $150 towing charge and a $25-a-day storage fee.

"If you have full [auto insurance] coverage with all the bells and whistles, the insurance company will reimburse you for the cost," Clarke said. "The reality is most people have limited coverage that doesn't cover that."

This year through Sunday, there were 5,636 vehicles stolen in Philadelphia and 4,829 recovered, according to police. Officials said auto thefts were down 24 percent this year.

Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey said he opposed the measure because of the amount of time it would require of police officers.

"When you look at 4,800 cars being recovered, and you think about the length of time that we're asking police officers to be out of service waiting for someone to come from who-knows-where, that's a lot of lost man hours," Ramsey said.

Ramsey said the current 30-minute wait gives officers time to complete paperwork and wait for a tow truck to come.

"To extend that time beyond that would probably not be in the interest of public safety," he said.

Clarke said, "We're simply saying police should notify the owners and in the course of their patrols come back and see if the vehicle is still there and then call the tow operator. I don't want to have a police officer taken off the street for any amount of time."

The legislation would also reduce the towing fee to $105, Clarke said. He said he introduced a bill about three years ago that cut the city's portion of the towing fee to $15 from about $60.

The councilman said he thought the total fee would be reduced by $45, but it was not.

"Essentially, the tow operators have been getting a windfall. They now get an additional $45. So the second part of my bill would reduce that," Clarke said.

A public hearing on the measure is scheduled for 2 p.m. today in City Council.

"We should give proper notification, which we do, but we should give adequate time for that individual to reclaim their vehicle," Clarke said.

City Consumer Affairs Director Lance Haver said he supported the bill as a way to help consumers, whom he said are being "victimized twice. Once by the criminal who stole their car, and a second time by the insurance industry that is not covering the cost."

Haver said a change in state insurance regulations could eliminate the problem.

"If the state insurance commissioner insisted that every insurance company cover the cost of towing and storage of any car that is stolen, then the city wouldn't be in the awkward position of trying to collect the actual cost," Haver said.

"Councilman Clarke is doing consumers a huge favor by giving them an opportunity to recover the car and keeping the fee as low as possible," Haver said