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Do you know where you car goes if it gets towed in Jefferson City?

It goes to a towing salvage yard just outside the city limits.

So is the city losing sales tax and other revenue by having a contract with a towing company outside the city limits?

KRCG's Fact Finder Team investigated to find out.

If Jefferson City has your car towed, it goes to Tow Pro near Holts Summit.

That's because in 2009, the city changed its towing contracting rules to include bids from two miles outside city limits.

"I can't think of any person that would be happy that their car got towed and it's out of the city limits, unless you live in Holts Summit," Cole County Resident Kelly Krumm said.

“We're not really in the job to subsidizing the towing companies. Our job is to make sure that our needs get met, that is our cars get towed; and by bidding it out we got a very good price,” City Counselor Nathan Nickolaus said.

Nickolaus said even though the towing company is outside the city, it doesn't take that long to drive there.

"It's a fairly minor issue that affects very few people, and we aren't hearing any complaints,” Nickolaus said.

But I discovered the city's own rule is forcing some tow companies to leave the city.

Broadway Wrecker moved from downtown to just outside the city limits because inside the city limits all towed cars would have to be stored indoors.

"It's a matter of planning and zoning. There's really no place to setup a wrecker company in Jefferson City with wrecked cars, storage, and all the regulations,” Tow Pro Owner Eddie Stafford said.

"I don't think that the city should just decide that. If they want it out of the city limits, that should be an issue brought to the public,” Krumm said.

Besides losing out of business license fees, the city isn't losing any more money because the towing companies do not have to pay city sales tax.

"So it's helped us by saving a lot of money and I think we're getting good service,” Nickolaus said. “So yeah, I think it's been successful."

Tow Pro's contract with the city is worth $65 per car towed.

Stafford told KRCG they tow an estimated two to three hundred cars a year.

That's almost $20,000 a year.

But the contract states it has to tow all city owned cars for free.

So tell us what you think.

Do you think the city should a have towing contract with a towing company outside the city limits?