Towing Issues: Tow fees and proceedures., interstate commerce commission, tow truck driver

Question
Hi hope you can help. My daughters car was towed as a result of an accident on a Chicago urban street. The tow company of course appeared out of no way and rushed her into a towing decision to let them take it to their location. I know bad move.(Its her first accident) They had it for 4 days charged over $350 and $50 per day storage. To top it off additional charges are $250 cleanup fee, 250 truck fee, $250 administration fee, and a $250 wenching fee
(not sure spelled correctly but it sounded like that and some term used to describe towing out of a ditch I believe. ALL OF WHICH NEVER HAPPEN. the bill came to $1,120. They wouldn't turn the car over to the insurance company until they paid. Now guess who the insurance company going to pass that bill to. ME. please advise. As I understand it this company is being investigated by the attorney General of Illinois. My Question to you is how and can they get away with this?

Answer
Chicago has its major issues with "WRECK CHASERS" and fly by nite operators...

It sounds like that is what happened to your daughter, and it is fairly common there.
And some of the operators have got down right mean or even physical to get the tows. Many of them break what ever little laws there are in place to regulate the towing industry.

But the problem lies with the City of Chicago allowing the practice instead of establishing a rotation system which is used in 99.9 % of the US.

Now to solve it, the Illinois Interstate Commerce Commission has tried to regulate and control the practice of them, but its not really happening effectively.

Now I am not sure what can really be done by the Insurance company or the city and as you see you might get stuck with part or all of the bill. No other things I can say about that.

Now, to prevent this from happening is hard, as the tow truck driver (not all of us are this bad) will pressure you till you sign to get them out of your face (type)

You can join a motor club, such as AAA, Cross County, Good Sam or Allstate to name a few. Or establish a relationship with a tow company of your choosing.

Hope this helps.