Predatory parking-lot-trap truck tows back in headlines: Turn state/local rules to your favor

Hey everybody, I'm Todd Dills and I took the hat off of this week's Overdrive Radio edition to Overdrive Social Media Coordinator Jasper McCandley who shared with me yet another towing mishap that occurred in the city of Charlotte, North Carolina.

It bears all the hallmarks of a parking lot trap.

The driver reported a bill for upward of $9,000 in fees after he said he exceeded a time limit at the lot by about a half hour.

Mind you, during the big winter storm that hit the city with record snowfall back at the tail end of January.

Judging by the reporting for the Charlotte TV station that had the story first, it's unclear what exactly on Sunset Road in North Charlotte the lot in question was, but it's certainly not the first time that we've picked up on towing and booting shenanigans in that city and surrounding areas.

Tow companies in Gastonia to the west and south, too, may have originated the region's parking lot trap dynamics, wherein past booting was quite common.

Just last year, though, the state of North Carolina explicitly banned the booting of commercial vehicles.

Regular readers will remember, yet private tow tactics for parking enforcement clearly remain available to towing companies.

2025 Small Fleet Champ semi-finalist Mark Ledford's Small Fleet earlier this year experienced a quite similar incident in Charlotte where he and his driver were able to argue their way out of it utilizing the very terms of Charlotte's own towing ordinance.

the lot or the tow company in question violates signage or other regulations there, that could be a very simple way out of an incident.

If the truck isn't yet towed, of course.

Find some links to the recent report as well as Overdrive's guide to beating back outrageous tow invoices in the show notes, wherever you're listening.

In the post that houses this podcast for August 24th, 2026 at overdriveonline.com slash overdrive hyphen radio.

And listen on for small fleet owner Robbie Turnage's story of a tow gone bad and how he was able to similarly turn state law in Pennsylvania where the tow occurred to his favor.

Turnage's Tale is part of the round table conversation we conducted just prior to the 2025 Small Fleet Champ Awards presentation at the National Association of Small Trucking Companies annual conference last year.

We're right in the middle of the 2026 entries and judging, with announcements coming soon of the full round of semi-finalist small fleets, a great group this year.

Stay tuned for that, and for now, on the other side of our break, dig into this conversation with Clifford Hay from upstate New York, Cobleskill, New York.

Hey everybody, I'm Todd Dills and I took the hat off of this week's Overdrive Radio edition to Overdrive Social Media Coordinator Jasper McCandley who shared with me yet another towing mishap that occurred in the city of Charlotte, North Carolina.

It bears all the hallmarks of a parking lot trap.

The driver reported a bill for upward of $9,000 in fees after he said he exceeded a time limit at the lot by about a half hour.

Mind you, during the big winter storm that hit the city with record snowfall back at the tail end of January.

Judging by the reporting for the Charlotte TV station that had the story first, it's unclear what exactly on Sunset Road in North Charlotte the lot in question was, but it's certainly not the first time that we've picked up on towing and booting shenanigans in that city and surrounding areas.

Tow companies in Gastonia to the west and south, too, may have originated the region's parking lot trap dynamics, wherein past booting was quite common.

Just last year, though, the state of North Carolina explicitly banned the booting of commercial vehicles.

Regular readers will remember, yet private tow tactics for parking enforcement clearly remain available to towing companies.

2025 Small Fleet Champ semi-finalist Mark Ledford's Small Fleet earlier this year experienced a quite similar incident in Charlotte where he and his driver were able to argue their way out of it utilizing the very terms of Charlotte's own towing ordinance.

the lot or the tow company in question violates signage or other regulations there, that could be a very simple way out of an incident.

If the truck isn't yet towed, of course.

Find some links to the recent report as well as Overdrive's guide to beating back outrageous tow invoices in the show notes, wherever you're listening.

In the post that houses this podcast for August 24th, 2026 at overdriveonline.com slash overdrive hyphen radio.

And listen on for small fleet owner Robbie Turnage's story of a tow gone bad and how he was able to similarly turn state law in Pennsylvania where the tow occurred to his favor.

Turnage's Tale is part of the round table conversation we conducted just prior to the 2025 Small Fleet Champ Awards presentation at the National Association of Small Trucking Companies annual conference last year.

We're right in the middle of the 2026 entries and judging, with announcements coming soon of the full round of semi-finalist small fleets, a great group this year.

Stay tuned for that, and for now, on the other side of our break, dig into this conversation with Clifford Hay from upstate New York, Cobleskill, New York.