Since June, The Connecticut Mirror and ProPublica have been working together to understand why some people in Connecticut are getting their cars towed and aren’t getting them back. Reporters have combed through documents, police logs and Department of Motor Vehicles investigations; analyzed data; and spoken with people who lost their cars. 

On Sunday, we published our first story focused on a little-known state law that gives tow truck companies permission to sell people’s cars in just 15 days if they deem the value to be $1,500 or less. In 2023 alone, towers submitted more than 3,000 requests to the DMV to sell cars. 

The day after the story ran, Matt Ritter, the speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives, said fixing the law is going to be a top priority in the upcoming legislative session. A lawmaker is already drafting a bill, and the DMV, which oversees tow companies, says it is undertaking a “comprehensive review”  of the law in response to our reporting.

“It’s not a friendly system for people who have probably the least amount of time and resources to navigate a tricky system,” Ritter said. “So it really is a double whammy. It’s an unfair policy, and then the only way to undo it requires an inordinate amount of effort and time and resources that a lot of these individuals don’t have.”

During reporting on our “Life of the Mother” series, women experiencing pregnancy loss in states with abortion bans told ProPublica writers they wished they had known what to expect and how to advocate for themselves. So the reporters created this guide for anyone who finds themselves in the same position, written in consultation with dozens of doctors.