Atlanta has a new unlikely hero. The Boot Girls, as they call themselves, are a female vigilante duo dedicated to saving the city’s car owners from the “predatory” cost of getting booted simply by removing the mechanisms themselves for a lower price.
Since beginning their masked-up missions, the “Boot Girls in Buckhead” have gone viral on TikTok, amassing almost 50,000 followers since their account started posting in late April. They garnered over a million likes on their videos for doing what they do best, dismantling boots on tires, all while one wears a pink mask and the other wears a bedazzled black one.
@bootgirlsinbuckhead
The two women claim that they are fighting back against the exploitative practice of booting one’s vehicles that many private parking companies in and around Atlanta utilize.
And while they charge a $50 fee for their services, they explain that it is lower than the standard removal cost by the companies putting the contraption on vehicles, which can be $75 per day the boot remains on the car.
The partners, in what is still being determined to be a crime or not, stated that they started this business after being victims of car booting themselves. After looking up ideas online of how to remedy the situation, they came across ATL Boot Key, a company that sells keys that unlock devices.
Upon buying the product and testing it themselves, the anonymous entrepreneurs sought to make a return on their investment by helping others finesse the system and get their cars freed on their terms.
The owner of ATL Boot Key, Christian Verrette, told WSB-TV that his ultimate goal is to “out-right eliminate the boot.”
Stating that ticketing is a less predatory alternative to violating parking rules, Verrette also claims, “You are holding someone for ransom: $75, or you cannot go anywhere.”
In his point to make a stance against the predatory form of making money, along with his skyrocketing sales, Verrette gave out the keys for drivers in low-income neighborhoods around the city to protect their vehicles.
In regards to the legality of both his and the women’s businesses, Atlanta Police released a warning to its residents in regards to using the key.
“Recently, it has been brought to our attention that many motorists within the city are investing in Boot Keys, which is a key used to unlock the booting device.
While owning a Boot Key is not illegal, here is what the public needs to know:
It is not unlawful to own a Boot Key.
If you use a Boot Key to modify, tamper, or disengage a booting device from a vehicle, you can be charged with the following:
- Criminal Trespass (O.C.G.A. 16-7-21) and/or
- Theft of Services (O.C.G.A. 16-8-5) and/or
- Theft by Taking (O.C.G.A. 16-8-2) and/or
- Damage to Property 2nd Degree (O.C.G.A. 16-7-23)”
However, Verrette and the Boot Girls are not stopping their mission to eliminate the practice, with the group becoming a more expansive known spectacle by the day.
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