13-Wrecker, towing and storage facilities of the Code of Ordinances

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Wrecker Fee Study This study was conducted using fee schedules posted on the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulations from wrecker companies in Paris and around the state. Cities where wrecker companies were chosen for comparison range in populations from 21,000 to 27,000 to be as close to Paris' population as possible. In each city, I chose one wrecker service at random for their fee schedule. There is no regulation from TDLR on what a wrecker service can charge. The only requirement is for the wrecker service to post their fees on the TDLR website. The reader of this study should first understand that there are almost as many pricing conventions as there are wrecker services. There are no standards for what wrecker actions are called, some similarities but no standards. Fees for incident management towing are charged by the pound, by vehicle type, by time spent, by type wrecker truck used and others. There are a myriad of charges that are listed after the basic tow fees and again, some similarities but nothing consistent. The simplest methodology for comparison is to choose those wrecker services which basically break their incident management towing services down to light duty, medium duty and heavy duty. The three local companies in Paris which operate 4 wrecker services have the following fees (and these are maximum fees) posted on the TDLR website: Light Duty Medium Duty Heavy Duty DC's Wrecker $170 $170 $300 Pitcock Wrecker $300 $370 $500 Roberts Wrecker $300 $370 $500 Lester's Wrecker $300 $360 $500 Average $267.50 $317.50 $450 Marshall $125.00 $150.00 $450 Sherman $70.00 $250.00 per hour Greenville $150.00 $165.00 Texarkana $125.00 $150.00 $225.00 7 3