Two companies control towing on Miami Beach. Both overcharged customers, report says
An investigation of towing practices in Miami Beach found the only two companies operating in the city overcharged customers.
An audit overseen by the city’s Office of the Inspector General reviewed public tows during 2017 and 2018, concluding that Beach Towing and Tremont Towing charged inflated fees for services in violation of their towing permits.
The IG report, released Thursday nearly two years after the city initiated the review, recommends that the city exert “stronger oversight” over the towing companies by updating permits requiring that tow companies photograph impounded cars to support corresponding fees and authorizing more tow companies to operate in the city, making it easier to terminate or suspend one company’s permit without reducing service citywide.
“The current public tow structure is not functioning as well as it should, as tow customers’ rights are not being adequately enforced and it appears that there may be overcharging by the tow companies for some services,” the report states.
Among the report’s findings:
▪ The tow companies overcharged some customers by using heavy-duty tow trucks on relatively lighter vehicles when cheaper options would have sufficed.
▪ They charged customers in the audit sample a fee for entering the vehicle when no employee was observed entering the vehicle.
▪ The companies charged flatbed service fees despite not using a flatbed truck to initiate the tow.
“Although the data obtained from its sample results was not extrapolated to draw conclusions on a larger scale to the population, the outcomes from the audit process stated in this report suggest that the tow companies need stronger oversight,” the report states.
The investigation was divided into three reports, one for each of the towing companies and a third turning the mirror on the city itself. The audit found that the Parking Department and Miami Beach Police under-billed the towing companies to the tune of $24,822, and were “unaware” that both towing companies lacked required insurance coverage. The companies, which tow cars at the request of the city and pay monthly fees per car towed, have since been billed for the missing tows.
Beach Towing, which is singled out in the report for its “unsatisfactory performance,” was found to have charged the $40 flatbed fee 650% more frequently than Tremont and, on average, charged customers $268 per tow compared to $242 for Tremont, according to the report.
Beach Towing attorney Ralph Andrade, who took issue with the report’s findings, said the flatbed service fees were necessary due to the location of the company’s impound lot, which is in an area with raised streets. The company notified the city in 2016 that the raising of Bay Road and Dade Boulevard would make the use of flatbeds more frequent, according to an email obtained by the Miami Herald.
Andrade said the reported irregularities were “billing errors totaling less than $5,000,” or 0.15% of the company’s total revenue during the two-year audit period.
“The IG presents no evidence whatsoever that any alleged ‘overcharge’ was the result of anything other than inadvertent human error, and Beach Towing does not concede the alleged fractional error,” Andrade said. “The math does not lie. This is a great day for Beach Towing! The IG should next undertake an audit of the enormous cost of this misguided investigation to the Miami Beach taxpayers.”
A representative for Tremont Towing did not respond to a request for comment.
The Miami Beach administration requested a towing audit in November 2018, but the City Commission voted in June 2019 to terminate the review and authorize a private firm to conduct the audit. Inspector General Joseph Centorino, who was appointed to the recently created office last November, oversaw the completion of the work.
