It is very important that this should be required and should have been done before this late stage, for BTRO to [mail] send "all Towing Companies" a copy of all new laws being considered and a comment space for "every Towing Company to respond".  And BTRO listen to what they have to say. Every Towing Company that has Business License and pays taxes should be sent this notification.  Right now many of us, have absolutely no idea what [all] the new laws are. And not all of us are lawyers and able to understand many of the new laws, and may have concerns and questions. I will say that I already disagree with the fees that are being considered to be imposed on towing Companies.  Towing Companies already have high fuel prices, high insurance cost, payroll, high taxes, high maintenance cost, high truck payments, etc.  Towing is a very costly business. So we do not need even more expense imposed by new laws. If fees are to imposed, they need to be reasonable. And we do NOT want to drive small towing companies out of business. If the laws do as many have said they will, Virginia's will suffer. Because as many towing companies that are out there, we are all needed for the huge number of motorist on the road. And many towing companies do not work 24 hours. We need these small towing businesses too! If the new laws are too harsh as the fees are now, and fingerprinting etc, it may drive many towing businesses out of business. We as contractors for AAA have been doing criminal background checks for years. As well as DMV background checks. That is reasonable to require this. But fingerprinting? If this is to be done, it should be a uncostly way for towing companies.  We already have to have a picture I.D. as a driver's license on file. We can look at the person and tell if it is them or not. Unless they have a twin! l.o.l.s. 

Anyway, I am opposed to high fees that are trying to be imposed. I don't believe a towing company should be required to have change for $100.00 (danger of drivers being robbed is higher with higher amounts of cash on hand. And lets face it, tow truck drivers go out in the middle of the night and most times, DO NOT know the individual who is requesting service. So we need to be concerned about the drivers too). Also, I don't think it should be imposed that Towing Companies "have to take checks". Many businesses are NOT taking personal checks now. As Americans we may not like it, BUT it is necessary when so many ppl are writing bad checks.  And Towing Companies should not be required to take credit cards. This should be optional. There are ATMs on every corner. If a person doesn't have cash, an ATM can be used. And of course, the Towing Company should have to give a receipt to the customer.  This is a few things I don't agree with. Like I said, the cost of towing is already sky high. By adding credit card machines, check cashing approval machines, is going to drive Towing cost up even higher and is hard on drivers time wise making all these transactions. Time is money when you pay a driver to run calls. We need to have a local meeting in every County and City in Virginia and someone needs to talk to the Towing Companies about this and "listen" to their questions and concerns. 

Thank you,

Calvin and Janice Tyree

Calvin's Low Price Towing/Lynchburg, VA.