Lee County to consider cap on “booting” cars

Story Created:
Mar 16, 2010 at 10:15 PM EDT

Story Updated:
Mar 16, 2010 at 10:15 PM EDT

LEE COUNTY, Fla. – Lee County could soon follow collier county’s lead in stopping high fees for “booting” cars.

The county attorney’s office says some companies are taking advantage of a loophole in Lee County’s towing laws, charging high fees to remove immobilizing boots from a car.

One man who used to apply those boots for a living agrees.

“They started me booting, I became very good at it, finding cars that some of the other booters never did see out there,” said Ernest Aviles, who left his job with a security company last month.

“I felt very uncomfortable because it became very normal to boot cars that weren’t directly in the rules and regulations to boot cars for,” Aviles said.

Aviles says he would be asked to boot cars for breaking rules in private communities, but also for expired license tags, often at a cost of $160 or more to get it removed.

“Probably 15, 25, 30 cars a month,” Aviles said. “Every time someone forgets to get their tags renewed.”

Next week, Lee County commissioners will consider capping boot-removal fees at $50. Late last year, Collier County set a similar cap at 25 dollars, after receiving complaints about fees topping $200.

Aviles says a lower fee is only fair, especially in the economy right now.

“I’ve seen people wake up in the morning, they couldn’t take their kids to school, they couldn’t go to work, they didn’t have 160 dollars cash in their pocket to get that boot taken off,” Aviles said.

Collier County is considering raising its cap to $75 after some housing communities said security companies stopped enforcing rules altogether at the lower rate.

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