DETROIT – A towing insider explains to Local 4 how he was paid to find cars without parking passes at a local apartment complex so a towing company could rake in big profits.
"It's not fair," our anonymous insider told us. "I don't think it's fair at all and I think it needs to come to an end in my opinion."
They tow dozens of cars and it costs you hundreds of dollars to get them back. The tow truck company says what they are doing is not only legal. It's the right thing to do to protect parking spots that belong to residents, they say.
Cars being towed from Medical Center Court, across from Detroit Receiving Hospital. The cost to get them back is $400. Secret spotters, like our source, are paid to sneak around to find cars to tow.
"Get as many cars as you can, and put money in everybody's pocket," he said.
This former spotter asked us to hide his identity. His job to call tow trucks who are a couple blocks away at an abandoned gas station. They race over as quickly as possible.
"We don't waste time, he said. "Sad to say, but we don't. We just go in for the kill."
The spotter says because they are paid cash bonuses for every car they find. They often call on any car without a pass, even legitimate visitors who may be in the building getting a temporary visitors pass.
Senior, who might take a long time to get to the office and back to their car with a pass, poor people who don't have 400 dollars to get their car back, it doesn't matter -
"You can't even pass any car up because if you get caught passing up a car because a person's old or they have kids, you'll get in trouble."
An account manager for the towing company Goch and Sons, Katie Pope, say they are just enforcing the rules.
"You hear the word scam or scheme or predatory towing, but were not out there with a flag waiving people in," Pope said. "We put up signs throughout the complex saying don't park here."
Pope said people park here illegally because the hospital and a school are across the street.
"Legally, we don't have to give any time," she said. "The 15 minutes [grace period] is a courtesy and we choose to do that to operate ethically and within the law."
We watched cars get called on much faster than 15 minutes. Pope assures us spotters only do that if they see the driver walk away from the complex: "When people walk across the street, we can immediately tow it."
But viewers also questioned the $400 fee, especially considering several other communities charge $200 or less for towing a vehicle. Pope says Goch's fee is $390 because the trucks, state fees, taxes and business expenses are costly.
Goch also charges $20 a day for storage, even on weekends when they are closed and people cannot get their cars back.
When people have challenged this in Detroit court, multiple judges have determined these fees are reasonable.
Pope says she will discuss changing that policy as well as consider new signage that tells legitimate visitors they have only 15 minutes to get a pass or be towed: "If there is some courtesy we can extend further that assists Medical Center Court management or residents, or a policy that needs to be tweaked, we are always happy to look at that."