TRAA Meets with FTC Commissioner Holyoak

• By: TRAA Office
• On: 07/02/2024 10:04:13
• In: Legislation

The towing industry is facing a two-front battle as it relates to transparency in towing fees for commercial motor vehicles (CMVs), and so-called predatory towing practices in general. This is due to the fact that the US Department of Transportation formally submitted comments to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) earlier this year requesting that the FTC include CMV towing practices in the final rulemaking creating the so-called “junk fee” rule regarding unfair and deceptive fees, and the FTC's apparent interpretation that consumer predatory towing practices should be incorporated into the rule.

TRAA continues to advocate against including the towing industry in the final rule. Just last week, TRAA met with FTC Commissioner Melissa Holyoak and her staff. This meeting follows a meeting previously held with the FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection, and our follow-up letter after that meeting. In these meetings, TRAA focuses on four main points:

1. highlighting the differences between the pro forma transactions that the rule is intended to address and the transactions in the towing industry that are unique in every case;
2. the absence of sufficient research and data required for proper rulemaking;
3. the adverse impact on traffic incident management responders and public safety; and
4. subsequent FMCSA action, which TRAA firmly believes (and federal law clearly states) is the proper jurisdiction to address the issue.

In addition to direct engagement, we continue to work to garner the support of Congress in our efforts to combat such action as well as urge the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to act in a more moderate approach.

While the efforts at the FTC and FMCSA are different, they are also complimentary, and both are needed to protect the industry from policies that threaten the ability of towing and recovery operators to provide timely and effective services and, most importantly, the safety of our traffic incident management responders and America's motorists. TRAA firmly believes that the FTC should not act, and instead allow the FMCSA, and the states, which have the Congressionally-directed authority on towing operations, to exercise that authority to address appropriate pricing and fee disclosures that make sense for the specific and unique features of the consumer towing industry.      

?As always, thank you to those who have been active participants in this process, and plan to submit public comments to the FMCSA. The FMCSA has extended its comment period to August 1, and additional information about the extension can be found here.

Sincerely,

David J. Garriepy

Vice President, Government Affairs

Tremont Strategies Group (TSG)