This website and the documents it makes are not a substitute for the advice of an attorney.
Guides and research: how towing works in Texas
Plain-language guides for people who were towed, and the audits, reports and court rulings behind them. Each summary is ours; follow the link to read the original.
Newest first. Government reports are public records; the others belong to their authors, so we link to them and do not post copies.
Towing consumer information
Law journal article · Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation · · Covers: Texas
TDLR's own page for people who were towed: how to find the car, the state tow and drop maximums, storage and notification fees, the tow hearing, and how to file a complaint.
Why it matters: The state regulator's own summary.
When we read it, the page still listed a $20 impoundment fee, $35 a day for long vehicles and a $20 hearing fee. The current maximums are $22.85 and $39.99 (since 2024), and courts now charge their own filing fee ($54 in Travis and Harris counties).
Complaint Statistics, Fiscal Year 2025: Tow Companies and Operators; Vehicle Storage Facilities
Bill analysis · Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation · · Covers: Texas
TDLR's yearly enforcement numbers. For tow companies: 2,205 consumer complaints, about 291 days on average to close a case, discipline in 6.71 percent of cases, and $55,899.74 in restitution. For storage lots: 612 consumer complaints and about 329 days to close.
Why it matters: Shows what a TDLR complaint usually does and does not produce, and how long it takes.
A plain-language self-help page on Texas tows: signs, fees, drop charges, getting belongings, the justice-court tow hearing and what happens if the car is not claimed.
Why it matters: A free statewide self-help page often linked by courts and agencies.
It gives the older $255 starting point for tow caps and says to request a hearing 'within 14 days'; the statute counts 14 business days, and the clock can start later if paperwork was missing (Occ. Code sec. 2308.456).
Report · TexPIRG Education Fund · · Covers: Texas, compared with other states
A consumer group's 50-state look at towing protections, with a Texas summary. It lists 14 protections it thinks every state should have, such as fee caps, access to belongings and card payment, and notes that Texas has state tow caps, a drop fee and itemized bills.
Why it matters: A quick outside comparison of Texas towing rules with other states.
Its Texas figures are from 2021 or earlier: the $255 car-tow cap changed to $272 on November 1, 2021, and its '$5 to $20 a day' storage range does not match the state maximum ($20.64 in 2021; $22.85 since 2024).
The Legislature's periodic review of TDLR. On towing, it says investigators had built informal ways to fast-track 'flipping' cases (moving towed cars from a regulated storage lot to an unregulated shop), which it called common around Houston, and that some tow operators keep working after discipline by licensing a new business. It recommended a data-driven complaint system and clearer authority to look behind new business licenses.
Why it matters: Explains why complaints can take months and how bad actors can reappear under new names.
License loophole allows tow violators to stay on the road
Law journal article · KPRC Channel 2 (Houston) · · Covers: Houston area; state licensing
A TV investigation reporting that TDLR discipline attached to the tow company, not its owner, so an owner whose company lost its license could keep towing through another licensed company. TDLR staff confirmed the license is held by the company.
Why it matters: Background for the 2021 Sunset finding about re-licensing under new business names.
News report. The individual companies it names are not listed here.
Court rulings about towing in Texas. A case decides the dispute in front of the court; whether it applies to a tow depends on the facts.
City of Columbus v. Ours Garage & Wrecker Service, Inc., 536 U.S. 424 (). The U.S. Supreme Court held that the federal law limiting state rules on motor carriers does not stop cities from making safety rules for tow trucks. This is why Texas cities can license tow drivers and inspect trucks.
Cole v. City of Dallas, 314 F.3d 730 (5th Cir.) (). After Ours Garage, the Fifth Circuit upheld a Dallas rule denying wrecker driver permits to people with recent drug felony convictions as a valid safety rule. The opinion also notes that its 2001 ruling in Stucky v. City of San Antonio was vacated by the Supreme Court.