City shuts down Flash Towing for operating without a license
CHICAGO (CBS) -- City officials have shut down a South Side towing company that was operating without a license.
Sources tell CBS 2 that Flash Towing was ordered to shut down in late December, because they didn't have a license, but they kept operating anyway.
That's why Chicago Police and officials from the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection (BACP) came to their lot at 9737 S. Torrence Ave. on Thursday to shut it down, posting an orange cease and desist order on the lot's fence.
One orange sign says the towing company was ordered closed on Dec. 29, 2022. Another orange sign to its right, dated Thursday, says the business is now off limits.
Records show Flash Towing applied for a license in 2021, but didn't get one. Earlier this month, someone filed a complaint with BACP.
Sources said there are illegally towed cars on the lot. As CBS 2's Suzanne Le Mignot reported, car after car and truck after truck were being towed out of Flash Towing's lot Thursday evening. At least a dozen vehicles were seen being moved.
We spoke to a man who says his trailer was illegally towed by the company, and he was charged $17,155.
Sergiy Danylyuk could not understand how a tow for his trailer could rack up such a bill.
"I was frustrated," he said. "I'm thinking, how come? What did you do?"
A driver for Danylyuk's Aurora-based trucking company crashed into an overpass. Dashcam video shows the would-be rescue from Flash Towing and Recovery.
"They came in a couple of minutes," Danylyuk said. "Like I said, nobody called them."
Danylyuk asked the company to take the trailer back to Aurora, after h e said they gave him a verbal estimate of $800. They did not charge $800, and they didn't take the trailer to Aurora either.
"I gave them my address. He said, 'Okay,' and then I couldn't reach them," Danylyuk said. "When I reached them like later, 'No, we towed it here until you pay us - then were going to tow it to your yard.'"
And the $17,155 bill was not all Flash tried to make off one accident. The trailer Danylyuk used was rented from a different company – and Flash tried billing them too.
The $20,455 invoice directed at the company claimed it was from "Falsh Towing and Recovery." They misspelled their own name.
Altogether, they demanded almost $37,610 for one tow.
"For me, this situation - I have a lot of friends working in trucking business," Danylyuk said, "and I want people to know what is happening in Chicago."
Danylyuk's trailer was among the vehicles removed from the Flash Towing lot by the city. The vehicles from the Flash lot were all taken to the City Auto Pound at 103rd Street and Doty Avenue for safe keeping.
BACP officials would only say there is a pending investigation.
The CBS 2 Investigators have been covering illegal towing extensively for years. Most recently, Dorothy Tucker checked in on a new Chicago ordinance requiring licenses for tow trucks and lots when companies tow disabled or damaged vehicles.
