CHEYENNE — In response to local towing companies saying they’re struggling to cover their costs, Cheyenne City Council members voted Monday to approve an increase in the maximum allowed towing rates for calls from the Cheyenne Police Department.
This nearly 200% increase will support those in the towing industry who say the fees haven’t increased in more than a decade and are no longer sufficient.
Currently, the fee for a normal in-town tow is $160. The approved change increases that to $475. This fee includes accident scene cleanup, tow to within 10 miles of the incident, motorist assist/road hazard and labor at the scene. Among others, the change also increases outdoor storage fees from $35 per day to $85 per day.
Calls from CPD will primarily impact individuals whose vehicles are towed without their consent. This includes towing related to DUIs, arrests or vehicles stuck in the middle of the road. The new rates set the new maximum for these fees.
Local towing company officials say the current fees have made it difficult to cover the rising costs of supplies and insurance.
“The price of things has just gotten astronomical in our business,” said Dave Rose, current president of Wyoming Towing & Recovery Professionals. “It’s getting pretty tough to operate.”
He said the price of a tow truck has doubled in the past five years, and insurance for his company increased 30% last year, even with no claims filed.
Jerry Hargraves of Wreckers Towing in Cheyenne corroborated these concerns. He said that insurance for his company has increased between 10% and 30% every year since 2013, when the maximum fees were last updated. In the past two years, insurance increased by 30%, and he said he had no claims.
“So, the industry, for us, everything keeps going up — doubling, tripling,” Hargraves said. “The cost of operating our businesses has just gone up immensely — the cost of fuel, the cost of purchasing a new truck.”
He said that a 2013 Dodge Ram 5500 that was around $58,000 when it was new would be closer to $117,000 today, and it can’t even pull some of the heavier vehicles and electric vehicles.
“In order for us to be more efficient for the city of Cheyenne, we have to have better equipment, we have to be able to utilize and have nicer trucks, better trucks, something that can handle a heavier vehicle,” he said.
Hargraves also noted that the rates in the ordinance are a maximum, and will not always be the rate that customers are charged if their vehicle is called in to be towed by CPD.
“(The ordinance) doesn’t mean that we have to charge that amount,” he said. “If we have somebody that is in a hardship that wants to come get their car, we have that discretion to work with them to help them out. And there’s not a tow company that’s out here that doesn’t do that on a daily basis.”
For Cheyenne tow companies, this increase will also support the storage capacity of towed vehicles. Rose said it is difficult to find more storage yards, especially as city expands, except for those that are grandfathered in. He said most vehicles are picked up within a week, but they often have issues with those on liability or no insurance.
“The reason our storage (fees are) going to be so high is we’re trying to get these cars out of our lot. We have limited space, and if that storage (fee) is that high, the insurance is going to want to come pick that thing up,” Rose said. “And we don’t want the cars, we just want them out of there. However, like I said, we get stuck with 20% to 50% of them. We’ve got to cover that space someplace.”
He said they have to do a lien sale on the cars left there in order to dispose of them.
Fees for electric vehicle storage and handling are higher than other vehicles due to the increased training necessary to deal with them and the elevated risk.
If a lithium ion battery in an electric vehicle is ruptured, it causes a chain reaction. They can spontaneously combust up to two or three days later. This handling requires more training, and it is recommended that they be stored in a concrete enclosure with at least three sides and kept away from other vehicles.
Rose said he hopes to continue to work with CPD to update the ordinance, as needed, perhaps two or three years down the line.
Noah Zahn is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle’s local government/business reporter. He can be reached at 307-633-3128 or nzahn@wyomingnews.com. Follow him on X @NoahZahnn.
