The Chattanooga Beer and Wrecker Board on Thursday voted to suspend American Recovery from being on the city's call rotation for 30 days for reportedly overcharging more than 20 people who parked overnight for two nights in the Walmart parking lot in Brainerd.
The volunteer board cited American Recovery for two wrecker violations. The first happened in November and involved not reporting a nonconsensual towing of a car from the Walmart parking lot within one hour, as required by city code.
According to the code, the board can either dismiss the citation or vote to suspend the business from being on the city's call rotation to pick up vehicles for 30 days. Several board members said that was too harsh and voted to dismiss the case.
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The second violation involved about 25 cars being towed from the same parking lot March 26. A large group of people had parked there for a two-night bus trip to Mississippi and returned the evening of March 27 to find their cars were gone.
When they located their vehicles later that night, they were told to go to 4300 Rossville Blvd. to pay a fee and retrieve their vehicles. The ordinance states a tow fee of $125 can be charged and a $20 storage fee for each day the car in is the tow company's lot.
Six members of the group spoke Thursday and said they had been given permission almost two years ago to park in the lot overnight. American Recovery owner Aaron Black said he has a verbal contract with Walmart to tow vehicles left after the business closes at 11 p.m.
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He said one of the managers there lets him know each night if there are vehicles parked where they should not be, and that he follows proper procedures, such as posting a sign at the site with his company name and phone number, taking pictures of the car and filling out the proper paperwork when towing a nonconsent vehicle.
Some of the vehicle owners said they were told by phone that it would be $270 to retrieve their cars but were told it would be $290 when they arrived. They were also told their cars were actually at a lot in the Shepherd area across town.
Several complained that meant taking a taxi or a ride share or calling family back to come and get them.
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Black said a misunderstanding of the wrecker ordinance led to the pricing differences and that each of the vehicle owners has been reimbursed the difference. Some of the car owners said they should be reimbursed for their ride fees as well.
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.