In recent months, the trucking industry has faced an alarming rise in predatory towing practices, where unscrupulous towing companies target trucks and require high payments to release the truck. In one case, the company BigTrux Transportation claims that a towing company is holding their truck and $70,000 value freight of pharmaceuticals hostage.

This trend puts truckers in precarious situations, grappling with the threat of their valuable trucks and freight being held ransom. Truck drivers have reported multiple experiences of being targeted by predatory towing companies that boot and tow big rigs, leaving truckers with limited options to retrieve their vehicles. This is especially true when truck drivers are limited in where they can park, and such towing companies can easily claim to be enforcing regulations or local laws.

Truckers are then put in a coercive situation where they feel forced to pay large amounts of money in order to reclaim custody of the truck. Due of the potential for large expenses, this behavior affects the trucking industry as a whole as well as individual drivers. Companies may be held up, and, as in the case of BigTrux Transportation, undelivered or damaged freight may be the cause of lawsuits.

A number of states are drafting legislation to combat predatory towing practices as a response to this problem. A measure that would directly address these activities has been filed in Colorado, for example, highlighting how urgent it is to address this issue at the regulatory level.

Predatory towing has an effect that goes beyond just hurting individual truckers financially. It compromises the overall dependability of the transportation sector, throws off delivery timetables, and jeopardizes the effectiveness of the supply chain.

Law enforcement, legislators, and industry stakeholders are collaborating to stop fraudulent towing practices while the trucking community struggles with these issues. Additionally, more parking is needed, to prevent truck drivers from needing to park in areas that may have strict limitations.