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What changed: towing updates in San Antonio
New laws, rules and rates that affect people whose cars were towed, newest first. Each item is our own short summary with a link to the official source.
Justice Department settlement: San Antonio tow company to pay $280,000 over servicemembers' cars
The U.S. Justice Department announced that Vehicle Management Solutions, a San Antonio tow company, agreed to pay $220,000 to affected servicemembers and a $60,000 civil penalty to resolve allegations that it sold or scrapped about 93 vehicles owned by protected servicemembers without the court orders federal law requires. The agreement covers August 2020 to June 2025 and requires new policies and training.
Two Texas towing laws take effect: no-license and no-insurance tows, and online notices
Since September 1, 2025, Texas police may remove a car being driven by someone without a valid license or without insurance, even without an arrest (S.B. 857). Storage lots that are allowed to give notice by publication may now use an approved website instead of a newspaper (H.B. 3928).
Bill to make cities restudy police-tow fees every two years did not pass
House Bill 5499 would have required Texas cities and counties that regulate nonconsent tow fees, such as San Antonio, to study those fees at least every two years and reset them. It passed the House and was referred to the Senate Transportation Committee on May 21, 2025, its last action.
Statewide storage-lot maximums rise to $22.85 a day
The Texas maximum daily storage fee at licensed lots became $22.85 for a vehicle 25 feet or shorter and $39.99 for a longer one, with a $22.85 maximum impoundment fee. SAPD's own impound lot charges less under the City Code: $20 a day and a $20 impound fee.
In effect since January 2024 (TDLR says January 1; the rule's note says January 15).
City Auditor reviews SAPD's towing and impound-lot contracts
The City Auditor found SAPD was managing its tow-manager and Growdon impound-lot contracts appropriately and made no recommendations. The report gives the police-tow rates, the 55,464 tows and 36,856 impounds in fiscal year 2022, and the City's share of auction sales.
When the City extended its police-tow manager contract for a year from October 1, 2023, the rates for SAPD-directed tows rose from $175 to $210 (light), $293 to $350 (medium) and $345 to $410 an hour, two-hour minimum (heavy). These are contract rates, not City Code limits; we have not found an official source for the rates under the newer contract.
Rates from October 1, 2023, per the City Auditor; current rates not confirmed.
State maximum for a private-property tow of a car becomes $272
The Texas Commission of Licensing and Regulation raised the statewide maximum for a light-duty private-property tow from $255 to $272, effective November 1, 2021. Inside San Antonio the City Code limit for a parking-lot tow of a car is lower, $177.