Waterbury, Connecticut — There is a controversial law in Connecticut that allows tow truck companies to sell the cars they tow after just 15 days.
Critics of the law call it predatory and say private tow truck operators are targeting working class neighborhoods.
Paul Boudreau and Greta Blau of Waterbury, Connecticut, had their car towed in 2021.
“They said it was because the registration was expired,” Boudreau said. “DMV had just reopened at that point, there was about a six- to 10-week wait to register a car even.”
A few weeks later they found out their car was going to be sold.
“And I lost the car,” Boudreau said. “…And that’s perfectly legal in Connecticut. People can’t come up with $300 to $600 to $800 in an evening.”
The couple told CBS News their apartment complex was targeted for years.
“They took 1,000 cars in two years,” Blau said of her complex.
The problem got so bad, Boudreau and Blau helped set up a neighborhood watch, keeping an eye out for one specific company.
“The guy who tows the cars, the name of the company, is MyHoopty.com LLC,” Blau said. “He targets places like these complexes where working class people live, where poor people live.”
Their property manager eventually barred MyHoopty from coming to their apartment complex, but CBS News discovered the company was still targeting other complexes in the area by staking out another complex overnight.
At about 5:30 a.m. local time, the CBS News crew saw the glowing lights of a MyHoopty tow truck and watched as it stopped at a CBS News producer’s car, fully intent on towing it away. The crew moved the car before that could happen.
“Rules are set to ensure that most residents that have a right to park there, can park as close to their property as possible,” Michael Festa, owner of MyHoopty, told CBS News.
When asked whether he believes what his company is doing is right, Festa responded, “I think it’s right and just to enforce the rules of the (apartment) complex.”
