Normally, there’s a word for taking someone’s property and keeping it: theft. Yet, for Wilmington, Delaware, and its private towing contractors, taking property and keeping it is just standard towing and impound procedure. The city’s program is transparently abusive and blatantly unconstitutional. Here’s how it works: Wilmington outsources its municipal program to private companies, “paying” for these services by giving the towing companies the power to keep people’s cars. The city gets the service at no cost, and contractors make money by keeping and scrapping many of the cars they tow. Vehicle owners, meanwhile, lose everything.
