The City of Wilmington continues its work to improve its parking enforcement procedures with a new towing contract.
The City of Wilmington tows vehicles for a number of reasons. Those reasons include the vehicle being abandoned, involved in an accident or police investigation, parked illegally, or because the owner repeatedly failed to pay parking tickets.
Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki says the City doesn't like to tow vehicles. It leads to a long administrative process, and upsets residents.
“But there are times when we simply have to tow cars. And when we tow cars we have to go through a process. We think we’ve made it as fair as it possibly could be, so we’ll see how it works out. But I’m confident it will be much better than it was in the past.”
The City’s new, one-year contract with City Towing Services updates procedures for towing vehicles - seeking to help those looking to retrieve their vehicles, access them while in storage, and reduce fees in some areas.
Purzycki says one major change is a 15 day increase in the length of time it is held in storage.
“It used to be 45 days before they could take the title and sell the car. Now we’ve increased that to 60 days. So when someone gets their car towed they get 60 days to redeem their vehicle.”
Taking the title of a vehicle that owners fail to retrieve is a State-authorized legal process.
To institute this process, CTS must notify the City’s Police Chief and Finance Director at least two weeks prior, and those parties must confirm the vehicle has been held for at least 60 days.
And to ensure that the owner of the vehicle has the maximum amount of time possible to retrieve their vehicle in that window, CTS must provide the City with a copy of the mailed, certified notice that they are required to send to all registered owners and lienholders of towed vehicles within 72 hours of it being towed.
Vehicles under 8,000 pounds, which include most regular-sized vehicles and SUVs, will not be charged towing or storage fees. Oversized vehicles will still have these fees, but they will now be based on a new state-prescribed rate beginning only on the eighth day of storage.
The new contract also requires City Towing to allow a vehicle owner access to the storage lot 24-hours a day, seven days a week for retrieval of a vehicle or personal items in it with no charge. Previously, access was only available between 8:30AM to 5PM.
The new contract expires on March 31, 2024.