41-1830.51. Vehicle towing; rules; contractual agreement for towing services; definition

A. The director shall:

1. Adopt and enforce rules that are not inconsistent with this article to govern the design and operation of all tow trucks.

2. Adopt guidelines to protect consumers against being overcharged for towing services. The guidelines shall specify that a larger class of tow vehicle used for lighter tows must be billed at the lighter duty towing service rates.

B. The director or a county, city or town may enter into a contractual agreement with a towing firm or firms for towing or storage services, or both. At the time of application for a contractual agreement, a towing firm must disclose in writing the owners of the towing firm and, if the owners own other towing firms that are also applying for the same contractual agreement, the names of those towing firms. The contractual agreement shall comply with this section and all rules adopted under this section. Contracts shall be awarded on the basis of competitive bidding. The director or a county, city or town shall reserve the right to reject all bids. If only one bid is received, the director or a county, city or town may reject the bid and negotiate a contract without bidding if the negotiated contract is at a price lower than the bid price under the terms and conditions specified in the call for bids.

C. Except as provided in subsection D of this section, a towing firm may only have one contractual agreement per geographic towing area with the department or a county, city or town for towing or storage services, or both. If an owner of a towing firm has a common ownership interest in another towing firm or the assets, or shared use of the assets, of another towing firm, the owner may not participate in any other application for a contractual agreement within the same geographic towing area for that application. The department or a county, city or town must determine that each towing firm is in compliance with this subsection. The director or a county, city or town must review any complaints that are submitted with supporting documentation and that allege a violation of this subsection.

D. If a towing firm that has a contractual agreement pursuant to this section acquires another towing firm that has a contractual agreement pursuant to this section, both contractual agreements remain valid for one year after the date of the acquisition or until the end of the contractual agreement, whichever is shorter.

E. Notwithstanding subsection C of this section, an agency may allow a towing firm to use resources from another towing firm if an agency deems the use of those resources is necessary for traffic incident management.

F. If towing companies share any employees or staff, the companies shall be considered as one company for the purposes of the rotation list in that geographically contracted towing area.

G. For the purposes of this section, " asset" means any property that has a value, including financial, intangible and physical assets, and includes:

1. Vehicles.

2. Equipment.

3. Stock.

4. A membership in a limited liability company.

5. A partnership interest.

6. A beneficial interest in a trust or another like item.