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Apartment and parking-lot tows in Dallas: the $165 limit and the sign and photo rules
Dallas adds its own rules on top of the state's for tows from private property, including a lower fee limit and a photo or written authorization for each tow.
General information, not legal advice. The papers you got from the police, the tow company, the storage lot or a state agency control your dates. Agencies change phone numbers and steps, so check the agency's own page too.
Before a car can be towed
Tow signs meeting the City Code must have been posted for at least 24 hours: one at each driveway and at least two inside the property, with the tow company's and storage lot's names and phone numbers and a 24-hour number to find the car. For each tow, the property owner must sign a written authorization, or a current towing agreement must exist and the tow company must photograph the car showing why it was unauthorized.
Sources: Dallas City Code §§ 48A-36, 48A-37
If you get there first
If you ask for the car before it leaves the property, the City Code says it must be released without charge. (State rules separately allow a drop charge of up to $135 for a fully hooked-up car; the Dallas rule is stated next to it in our tool.)
Sources: Dallas City Code § 48A-38; 16 Tex. Admin. Code § 86.455
The fee limit and the written notice
The tow fee is at most $165 for a car or light truck, $300 for 10,001 to 24,999 pounds and $489 per unit (up to $978) above that, and you may pay in cash or by major credit card. The company must give you written notice of how to complain and of your right to challenge the tow.
Sources: Dallas City Code § 48A-43; Dallas City Code § 48A-41
What the City Council has discussed
In January 2025 Council members discussed complaints about apartment towing, including tows over small registration mistakes; the City reported about 3,300 abandoned-vehicle tows in 2024. That September the Council raised the fee limits but kept the other chapter 48A rules.
Sources: FOX 4 report, Jan. 21, 2025; Ordinance 33232
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