DU law students design app to fight predatory towing

DENVER – Contact Denver7 has been exposing predatory towing for years, and after Colorado’s new towing law passed, a group of DU law students want to make sure people know their rights after being towed.

The Towing Bill of Rights, which went into effect in August, is supposed to give people more power against predatory towing, cap the cost of getting your car back and require 24-hour notice before towing.

But Contact Denver7 has learned firsthand that figuring it all out can be confusing and time-consuming.

Now, a group of University of Denver law students made it their mission last semester to study the new towing law and analyze it all in one app. The idea is that if your car is being towed, or right after your car is towed, you can go online to a Colorado towing rights consultant for a one-stop shop: learn your rights, connect to resources, and fight predatory tow trucks. do. Register complaints

There will be an English and a Spanish version, and the creators plan to complete and bring the app to life by the end of January.

“I hope it gives the people of Coloradans a sense of empowerment that they are not helpless when their car is towed, there are steps they can take to get their car back, to file a complaint, so they don’t feel bad.” Will Denney, a third-year law student at DU who helped create the app, says.

For this project, DU is partnering with the Community Economic Defense Project, which provides grants to Coloradans who cannot immediately pay the $60 (or 15%) to get their car back after it has been towed.

Editor’s note: Contact7 seeks audience tips and feedback to help those in need, solve problems, and hold the powerful accountable. If you know of a community that needs our call center to serve, or have a story idea for our research team to pursue, please email us at [email protected] or call (303) 832-7777. Find more Contact7 stories here.