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Audits, reports, rules and contracts about towing in San Antonio, each with a short summary in plain words and a link to the agency's own copy.
These are government documents. We link to the official copies. Summaries are ours; read the record itself before you rely on it.
Resolves allegations that the San Antonio tow company sold or scrapped about 93 servicemembers' vehicles without court orders between August 2020 and June 2025; the company did not have to admit the allegations. It pays $220,000 to servicemembers and a $60,000 penalty, and must check owners' military status before selling a towed car.
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Bexar County's justice courts charge $54 for a 'Towing Administrative Hearing', with no service fee. The county's request form says it may be filed in any justice court in the county the car was towed from.
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SAPD's internal rules for officers: when a car is impounded, where it goes (usually the Growdon lot), and when an owner who arrives during a tow gets the car back. A contract wrecker may charge a drop fee only if all towing equipment is already attached.
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The City asked for one contractor to manage police and City-initiated towing (dispatch, records, oversight and reports) and to run one or more impound lots, including public auctions of abandoned vehicles. Proposals were due March 22, 2024.
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This is the advertisement only. The award and the contract's fee exhibits were not found on an official page; they are part of a records request filed 2026-10-07.
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The best official description of how police towing works in San Antonio: a tow-manager contract (since December 2015) that dispatches five subcontracted tow companies, and a separate contract for the City-owned Growdon impound lot (since October 2017). It lists the contract tow rates, the impound, storage and notice fees, 55,464 tows and 36,856 impounds in fiscal year 2022, and $9.1 million in auction sales to the City. The auditor found the contracts were managed appropriately.
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The Justice Department said the City sold at least 227 vehicles belonging to servicemembers at auction between 2011 and 2019 without the court orders federal law requires. The City agreed to pay $47,000 to two servicemembers, set up a $150,000 fund for others, and pay a $62,029 civil penalty.
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The Justice Department page did not load for us on 2026-10-07; the figures were checked against KSAT's report. Re-check against the official release or the court filing.
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Rewrote the City's rules for nonconsent tows from private property: the $177 / $196 / $602 fee limits, free release before hook-up and a half-rate drop fee after, card payments, a report to SAPD within 45 minutes, sign rules, access to belongings without paying, and a tow fee study process. Earlier versions dated from 2002 and 2008. No later change to the fee section was found through May 2026.
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Created San Antonio's booting rules for pay lots: city permits for booting companies and operators, a one-hour grace period, a warning before the first boot, a 30-minute arrival time, two receipts, sign rules, and a $35 total limit on the removal fee.
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The City Council approved turning over the operation of SAPD's Growdon Road impound lot to a private company for an initial five years. The ordinance says the lot stored 30,291 impounded vehicles and released 23,935 in fiscal year 2007, and that three firms bid. The same day the Council amended the City Code's impound and storage sections (Ord. 2008-03-13-0202).
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Sets SAPD's $20 impound fee, $20 a day storage for any size of vehicle, and a $50 notification fee for the certified notice mailed on the third day saying the car will be auctioned if not picked up. It also lists the papers needed for release. The storage section's history goes back to the 1959 Code.
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We are reviewing these before we post them: