Jeep Vs. Tow Truck Video Brings To Light Illinois Towing Policies

By Danette Chavez in News on Apr 13, 2015 7:30PM

(Photo: Youtube screengrab)

The man who nearly lost his dog while stopping to grab a dog, jumping his Jeep off a tow truck as seen in a video on Youtube recently, has unwittingly shed some light on towing policies in the state of Illinois.

Victor Jaime's daring escape off a tow truck bed last month made it to YouTube and onto DNAInfo Chicago reporter Paul Biasco's radar. Biasco tracked down Jaime and interviewed him about the March 29 incident, in which Jaime parked his Jeep Wrangler in a Walgreen's parking lot on Ontario to get some food at Portillo's. By the time he got back, his Jeep was already getting hitched to a private towing company's (identified as Lincoln Towing) truck. But Jaime wasn't as concerned about his car as he was George, his English Bulldog, who was in the backseat at the time. Jaime gave chase, jumped into the driver's seat and ultimately drove off.

While Jaime made it into the Dog Owner Hall Of Fame, he wasn't sure if he had gotten away with something (other than his hot dog and dog). In a follow-up last week, a local CBS affiliate shared Jaime's news that according to Illinois law he hadn't broken the law. After consulting a lawyer, Jaime learned that Section 1710.43 (on the relocation of vehicles where the driver or owner is present) of the Administrative Code leaves him free and clear in this case. It states that

No vehicle shall be relocated where the owner of the vehicle or the owner's agent is present or arrives on the scene before the vehicle is completely removed from the private property, produces the ignition key to the vehicle, and the owner or agent is able and does immediately remove the vehicle from the private property.

This morning, in a coda to his own article, Biasco shared the same information on Illinois' towing policy, courtesy of the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules. But he also notes that the timing and location were key: since Jaime made it back to his vehicle while it was still on a private lot, he could be backed up by good old Section 1710.43. It's an important distinction to make; you probably won't have the same recourse if the city has to move your car for street cleaning or a festival.

But this shines the light back on predatory towing practices, which Biasco reported on last fall when he wrote about the parents of students at the British School who were served a feast of impound fees. At the time, the manager of Rendered Services, the private tow company that yanked the cars away from the school, said he wanted to send those parents a message. Well, he got quite a response from the city of Chicago last November, when the Chicago Police Department raided the Bridgeport company after a long list of complaints about fraudulent invoicing and other questionable practices.

Rendered Services first became the poster child for predatory towing back in 2011, when Pam Zekman's investigation for CBS Chicago made motorists aware of their rights. The Illinois Commerce Commission has cracked down on tow companies, requiring them to keep their contracts on computer file as well as making sure their tow signs are properly displayed. From the looks of it, it's been a hard lesson for Rendered to learn.