Las Vegas land sharks

Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2008 | 2 a.m.

State and local law enforcement officials know there are plenty of tow truck drivers in the Las Vegas Valley who are making big commissions and huge profits for their towing companies by violating the law, but little has been done to stop it.

As Abigail Goldman reported in Sunday’s Las Vegas Sun, some drivers are illegally cruising apartment complexes and private streets governed by homeowners associations to find parking violations and then hauling off the vehicles. By law, the tow truck drivers are supposed to be summoned and given authority to take each vehicle they tow, but a little fudged paperwork takes care of that.

There is little reason for a rogue operator to stop. The Nevada Transportation Authority, which has oversight of the towing companies, merely slaps those it catches with a fine that will be a blip on the bottom line fattened by illicit profits.

This is an issue that should put a chill in the heart of every Las Vegas Valley car owner. You may have to suffer the hassle and cost of dealing with a towed car because you violated an innocuous regulation of an apartment complex or a homeowners association or so says the tow truck driver, who will profit from your alleged violation.

In addition to the illegal towing, tow truck drivers have unconscionably found ways to hike the charges, adding insult to injury. They are supposed to notify police immediately after hauling a car, but some fail to report it sometimes for days and let daily storage fees compound. With towing, labor and administrative fees on top of that, a car owner may have to pay several hundred dollars to get his car back.

Metro Police have been investigating for several months and are trying to build cases that the Clark County district attorney’s office can pursue, and that would be a good start to deter this kind of conduct. But the law also has to change, and it will be up to the Legislature next year to make sure towing companies don’t get away with this reprehensible behavior.