New Haven Independent

Acting in response to this article in the Independent, the state Department of Motor Vehicles is preparing a letter to send statewide next week to make it clear that sealed-bid auctions won’t do, according to DMV spokesman William Seymour.

The issue arose in a report on a March sealed-bid auction at Catapano Towing on Kimberly Avenue.

Several people present were bidding to buy a Chevy Malibu which had been towed by Catapano, which has a contract with the city. No one ever claimed the car. Catapano required that prospective buyers bid at least enough money to cover the towing and storage charges.

Here’s the kicker: Catapano didn’t tell the bidders how much money that was. So they didn’t know how much they had to bid.

Here’s another kicker: The bidders had to submit written bids. Catapano sealed them, collected them — then opened them later in the day, when no one was around to watch.

At the end of the day, Catapano co-owner Benny Amarone (pictured) declared that no one bid enough to get the car.

Amarone said he regularly conducts auctions that way. When no one bids enough for a car, he said, “I get it.”

60-Year-Old Precedent

DMV’s Seymour said the agency’s legal department researched the issue and found a clear precedent in a 1948 State Supreme Court decision, in a case called Offredi v. Huhla.

“A sale by sealed bids is not a public sale. A ‘public sale’ is one made at auction to the highest bidder and at which all persons have a right to come in and bid,” the justices ruled in that case.

“‘A public sale is one made at auction to the highest bidder.’ … A sale by sealed bids is not calculated to produce the results obtainable at a sale at public auction. No opportunity is presented for a raise in bids, whereas in an auction the bidder has full opportunity to know what the competition is and to increase his bid.”

Seymour said more than 7,600 affidavits were filed with the DMV last year to conduct car auctions.

The DMV’s action comes as New Haven City Hall is reexamining other aspects of the local towing industry, from favoritism to alleged double-dipping by a company on the police department’s towing rotation. See below for links to those stories. Mayor John DeStefano is expected next week to announce changes in the city’s towing policy.

Previous coverage of New Haven’s towing industry:

Third Towing Scrape Detailed

Clergy “Exemption” Detailed

New Towing Probe Sought

$200 For 4 Hours

Towing Program Halted

Kimber Gets Off The (Towing) Hook

“We’re Not Double-Dipping”

Alvin Goes For The Chevy

Towing Co. Ducks Tax Bill