DPW Trucking Cuts Dpw Trucking $46k Towing Bill to $5,000
DPW Trucking’s dpw trucking $46k towing bill dropped from $46,000 to $5,000 after the company’s owner contacted WGN News and met reporters outside Official Towing’s lot in Oak Lawn, Illinois. The demand changed after a truck wedged under a Chicago viaduct in early April and a tow quote that started at a few thousand dollars climbed sharply.
Tim Smith said his reaction to the higher demand was immediate. “It was like: ‘You have to be kidding me! How do you come up with $46,000!"” he said after learning what Official Towing wanted before DPW could retrieve the truck.
Kristin Crawford in Oak Lawn
Kristin Crawford, who owns DPW Trucking, said she searched the internet for Official Towing after learning the company was demanding $46,000. She said she found prior news coverage about excessive semi truck towing charges and described the company’s phone response this way: “They don’t want to talk to you on the phone,” “They literally hang up on you,” and “And then they, it says on their email, they will not negotiate the rate.”
Crawford and Smith met with WGN News outside Official Towing’s lot in the 9200 block of South Kilpatrick in Oak Lawn. After an unsuccessful phone call, DPW received a message from the towing company’s owner saying the truck could be retrieved for $5,000 instead of $46,000.
Official Towing and Ahmed Shalabi
Official Towing has faced complaints for excessive towing bills in the past. The recorded owner of the company is Ahmed Shalabi, who has given conflicting information about whether the company is licensed to operate within Chicago city limits.
In an email, Official Towing said: “Conflict with customers, and with other towing companies, is also bad for business. Official Towing values its ability to serve the public in Chicago above its right to collect every penny it is owed on every tow.” Shalabi also described Chicago as “notorious for how difficult, time-consuming and expensive it is even to get a basic city license.”
DPW Trucking Gets The Truck Back
With the help of Oak Lawn Police, DPW Trucking eventually got its truck back and took it to Wisconsin. Crawford said the news station’s presence changed the outcome: “I actually called that [trucking] company and talked to them and asked them how they got through this and they said the only way that they got through was when you guys showed up.”
She added, “They’re like bugs,” and, “They scurry when the police or the news to come…. We wouldn’t have our truck if it wasn’t for you.” Crawford also said, “We would not have it back. It would still be sitting there and we would still be fighting with them and losing sleep.”
For DPW, the result was practical and immediate: the truck was released at a far lower demand, and the company could move it out of Oak Lawn instead of keeping it tied up in a towing dispute.
