Not towing the line

>> Local car removers still practice extortion

by KRISTIAN GRAVENOR

A decade after a landmark decision declared it extortionate and illegal for car towing companies to demand up-front payment for the return of an impounded vehicle, this Mirror reporter learned first-hand that this and other illegal practices are still accepted in the local car-towing universe.

The story starts last Wednesday evening at 8 p.m. at Stationnement Elegant Parking, near the southeast corner of Bleury and René-Lévesque. It's a typical Montreal lot: partially unpaved, lacking delineated spaces and entirely without the requisite greenery around the edges, all in violation of the city bylaw on parking lots.

There was no parking attendant present when I arrived but when I returned two hours later my Ford was gone. Further investigation revealed a pictogram with a phone number for a company named Remorquage Inter-Québec à vos frais. "You must pay $69 plus fees (total: $99) to get your car back," said the woman on the phone in broken English, directing me to an address near Wellington and Peel.

But I had written proof of payment: a parking stub purchased for $4 from the vending machine. She deemed this inadequate as I had failed to leave the stub on the dashboard, as instructed on the French-only signs.

On the way to recover the car at Remorquage MBS at 195 Young, I sought to file a written complaint at the Griffintown police station but was refused. However, the officer explained that by law drivers recovering impounded vehicles are not required to pay immediately, a fact the towing attendant had neglected to reveal over the phone.

At the garage the towing clerk reluctantly agreed to surrender the car and send a bill to the address on my driver's license, but then required me to sign a written contract in French. I refused and the clerk walked away back into the garage. Police were summoned and they informed the suddenly repentant clerk that it's illegal to demand a customer sign a paper in return for a vehicle.

Whether a towing company can justifiably remove a vehicle whose owner paid but neglected to place proof of payment on the dash is unclear. I am disputing the fee (one of the police officers present might have hinted that towing companies generally make no attempt to recover payment of unpaid bills).

Reevin Pearl expressed disappointment when informed that towing companies still demand up-front payment a decade after his epic battle against such extortionate business practices. The lawyer's involvement in towing started in 1987 when his two-week-old Mercedes was hauled from a lot near Phillips Square. It ended in 1991 when he won a $7-million suit against Robert Salois' Remorquage Québecois à vos frais. The company chose bankruptcy over payment. They have since reincorporated with a similar name under Salois' son and have contracts to tow vehicles from 2,000 local lots, according to Pearl.

He advises car owners to refuse to pay up front if they disagree with a towing fee. "If the owner wishes to protest the charge, the towing company has to release the car without payment, then the owner has the option to either contest or not." Pearl also recommends drivers sign no papers with towing firms. "You don't have to sign anything. When somebody has a gun at your head, you don't sign, simple as that." :