Several Windham towing companies have expressed outrage and frustration over the way the town chooses who gets to remove vehicles from accident scenes.

Police Chief Richard Lewsen characterized the situation as “an ethical dispute between some of the wrecker operators.”

When an accident occurs that requires a vehicle to be towed and the owner of the disabled vehicle does not request a specific company, police call the next business on the non-preference towing rotation list. The five Windham towing companies who make the list pay the town $100 annually for each tow truck they operate, known as “wreckers,” and take turns removing damaged vehicles, according to Pam Varney who owns Varney’s Auto Body with her husband Scott.

All five of Windham’s towing companies also repair automobiles. Unless otherwise requested, towing companies normally drop damaged vehicles off at their own facility, which gives them a significant advantage when the vehicle owner chooses where to have it repaired, according to Mark Cobb, owner of Cobb’s Collision Center.

The real money from towing, Cobb said, is in the repairs made to towed vehicles.

The Code of the Town of Windham states in Chapter 220, commonly referred to as the towing ordinance, “When a vehicle operator does not designate a specific towing business or auto club or similar entity that provides roadside service, the request shall be considered a non-preference request by the town, thereby subject to the town’s towing rotation list.”

Lewsen said that in practice, an officer at an accident scene will say to the vehicle operator, “Do you have a preference for a wrecker.” Lewsen added, “If the operator falters or seems confused, the officer says ‘Do you have AAA.'”

Several local towing companies say this is unfair because AAA, the American Automobile Association, is a business and should not receive special mention by the police.

“When someone’s had an airbag go off in their face at 80 miles an hour and they’re dazed, they’re going to just say, ‘yeah, whatever, just get me out of here,'” said Gary Connell, owner of Advanced Towing & Transport.

Lewsen estimates that 70 percent of the vehicle operators his department responds to have AAA. He also stated that 850,000 families in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont have AAA as well.

Varney and Cobb told the town council at the Nov. 21 meeting that Atlas Auto Body, one of two Windham towing companies that are contractors for AAA, is using its AAA position to circumvent the towing rotation, towing the vehicle back to its shop, and then calling AAA and canceling the tow request.

Lewis Weatherby, who owns Atlas Auto Body with his wife Joanne, said this is to the customer’s advantage because AAA members are only allowed four service calls each year. When the AAA call is canceled, the vehicle’s insurance company pays for the towing charge.

“It’s an option we mention to them, Joanne Weatherby said. “That is completely the member’s choice.”

Towing companies can become contractors for AAA by agreeing to perform service calls, such as freeing stuck vehicles or opening cars with the keys locked inside. The contractor cannot refuse any of these calls and is paid a fixed agreed-upon amount for each performed. The contractor benefits by receiving more tow calls, but AAA only pays the same fixed amount for each of these as well.

Lewis Weatherby said his fixed amount is $25 per AAA call. He said Windham’s other AAA-contracted towing company, G&K Motors, receives slightly more because they have agreed to cover a larger area for AAA.

A non-AAA tow can be billed for several hundred dollars, Varney said. AAA doesn’t mind when Atlas Auto Body cancels a call because they don’t have to pay them $25, Varney said.

“He’s found a loophole and he’s working it,” said Varney.

The Weatherbys and their competitors all said that there is no advantage to having a vehicle towed by a AAA contracted wrecker over one that is not because most insurance policies pay for towing charges in the event of an accident.

“AAA is of no benefit in an accident whatsoever,” Varney said.

Matt Ivy, the AAA field representative who oversees Windham, declined comment.

Varney and Cobb also told the town council that on several recent occasions Atlas Auto Body has taken a damaged vehicle back to its own yard even when the customer requested it be brought to one of their body shops.

Lewis Weatherby said he has no choice in this matter because they are following AAA procedures. They said they need to confirm that a AAA member operated the vehicle before they can be paid for the tow and release the vehicle. This can’t be done immediately if the member was taken from the accident in an ambulance, he said.

“We don’t even know if they’re a member at this point,” Joanne Weatherby added.

Towing compromise

Windham Police Sgt. Ron Ramsdell estimates that 450 damaged vehicle tows are performed in Windham each year.

Chief Lewsen said that once a vehicle is towed, it’s outside his control.

“The first priority is the safety of the accident victims,” said Lewsen. “A very close second priority is traffic safety. We wish to clear the scene of the wrecks just as soon as possible.”

Lewsen described people in car accidents, and subsequently being asked what they want done with their damaged vehicles, as “injured, in shock, or at the very least, very stressed out.”

Cobb recommended that Windham police ask accident victims if they belong to a motor club and not mention AAA by name.

Town officials have asked the Windham towing companies to come together and propose an amendment concerning the way police handle the tow rotation list.

The towing ordinance was last amended on April 10, 1995 after several towing companies complained that Atlas Auto Body was legally allowed to take up several slots on the tow rotation list by registering his wreckers with different gas stations in the area and defining them as separate businesses.

Also on the towing ordinance is a demerit system designed to punish towing companies who fail to respond to undesirable tows when called. Lewis Weatherby and Cobb said the town has not enforced this.

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