Once again, I have discovered an Austin based company operating with an expired license, with zero oversight by TDLR. It's bad enough that any company operates and stiffs consumers for fees they know should not be charged because they do hold a valid license.
The motoring public and law enforcement have to ban together to stop this onslaught of unlicensed activity, because TDLR has taken no steps to address this issue unless a consumer files a complaint. This complaint driven process is harming consumers on a grand scale, as a State agency, the size of TDLR, cannot keep up with the work load. When TDLR does act, they fine respectable companies for minor issues, but allow unlicensed activity to continue unabated.
This is not what we citizens, taxpayers and consumer expect of TDLR, rather it's expected to protect consumers.
The company in question, is Assured Towing, Inc located at 4416 Brandt Road, Austin, Texas, their vehicle storage facility license expired on August 16, 2010 and continued to charge consumers storage related fees knowing they hadn't the appropriate license to do.
The only solution I see to this issue, is make Assured refund those motorists for fees they collected between August 16, 2010 until their licensed is renewed.
It must be remembered, that for a private property impound to be legal, the vehicle must be stored at a "license" vehicle storage facility.
UPDATE: 8/30/2010 2:02:44 PM Assured has renewed their vehicle storage facility license, but that no way solves the issues of operating without a license for 15 days charging storage related fees or storing private property impounds at an unlicensed facility.
