New fee making it harder for drivers to reclaim cars

Darren Mickens is only 22, but the Iraq war veteran has seen plenty.

Still, he ran into trouble on the streets of Cedar Rapids recently when a police officer pulled him over. The registration sticker on his 2002 blue Ford Taurus, with 94,000-plus miles, had expired. Unbeknownst to Mickens, his driver's license was suspended for failing to pay an old traffic ticket, and he didn't have proof of insurance on him.

Mickens, a full-time Kirkwood Community College student who works part time at a Hy-Vee Food Store, was cited, and his well-worn car was towed to an impound lot on 76th Avenue SW. Getting it back has nearly sent him to the poorhouse.

As of late last week, Mickens and the owners of 768 other vehicles have been confronted with the Police Department's $500 civil impoundment penalty. Since mid-November, the fee is imposed on people who have their vehicles towed for violations such as driving without insurance or without a legal license.

For Mickens, the total cost for his traffic stop has neared $1,000: $45 for the tow, $50 for impound-lot storage fees, the $500 impoundment fee, an additional $60 Police Department surcharge to cover officer costs, plus court costs related to his citations.

Many others in similar straits have simply abandoned what they had been driving.

“I was blown away,” Mickens said when he learned about the $500 impoundment fee. “That's a month's rent and a month's food, and going to school and having only a part-time job, it's a pretty big hit.”

Maybe a $100 impoundment fee the first time would get the point across, Mickens said, but $500? “It's killing us,” he said.

Police Sgt. Joe Clark, who is overseeing the impoundment fee program, said it is intended to sting a bit so a motorist thinks twice about driving with a suspended or revoked license or no insurance, or using a vehicle for drug dealing or other offenses.

Clark notes that those with suspended driver's licenses routinely get picked up, fined, ignore the fine and then go back to driving.

“That's the problem: We have so many of those violations,” he said.

At the same time, Clark understands that the $500 fee has a way of hitting residents who can't pay such a fee or who drive a vehicle not worth $500 to reclaim. As a result, many abandon the vehicle, which sometimes is the key to getting the person to work or school and moving up the economic ladder.

Even without the $500 fee, Clark said, about one-third of vehicles towed as part of a police case are not reclaimed. With the fee, he expected the percent of unclaimed vehicles to jump to 50 percent. As of last week, the percentage was a little higher than that.

Of 769 vehicles towed between Nov. 16 and Wednesday and subject to the $500 civil impoundment fee, only about 275 had been claimed and the fee paid. Another 75 were released without the fee when the owner obtained car insurance.

To date, Clark estimates that the department has taken in $122,000 in impoundment fees in about four months.

Out at the impoundment lot at Pro Tow, the company that contracts for most of the city's towing, general manager Joel Philipp said his firm has seen “a drastic change” since the city imposed the $500 fee. More vehicles are coming in, and fewer are being reclaimed, he said.

After about a two-week process set out in state law, Pro Tow can strip vehicles of aluminum and copper, crush them and send them to a salvage yard, which pays the firm about $150 a vehicle on average, Philipp said.

Just last week, Pro Tow held its first auction of impoundment-fee vehicles. Of the 55 listed, only 11 were newer than 1999. Under state law, Pro Tow can keep up to $270 for tow and storage fees, with the rest going to the state of Iowa.

To Mickens, the Police Department's fee and surcharge are a case of government employees trying to protect their standard of living by imposing arbitrary, unfair fees on people who can't afford them.

“I think they're just trying to get where they can, even if it includes running over people,” he said.