This website and the documents it makes are not a substitute for the advice of an attorney.
What changed: towing updates in Texas
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.
TDLR's 2025 numbers: 2,205 consumer complaints about tow companies
TDLR, the state agency that licenses tow companies and storage lots, reported 2,205 consumer complaints about tow companies and 612 about storage lots in fiscal year 2025. Tow cases took about 291 days on average to close, and TDLR reported $55,899.74 in consumer restitution from tow cases and $6,504.45 from storage-lot cases.
Police may now tow a car being driven by someone with no license or no insurance
Senate Bill 857 changed Transportation Code section 545.305, the list of times a Texas officer may have a vehicle removed. Since September 1, 2025, the list includes a vehicle driven by a person in violation of the sections on driving without a license or without required insurance.
Storage lots may publish some owner notices on a state-approved website
House Bill 3928 changed Occupations Code section 2303.152. In the limited cases where a storage lot may give notice by publication (for example, an out-of-state car, or an owner it cannot identify), it may now publish on a website run by a third party that TDLR approves, instead of only in a newspaper. Mailed notice by certified mail is still the normal rule.
TDLR raised the most a licensed storage lot may charge for daily storage from $21.03 to $22.85 for a vehicle 25 feet long or less, and from $36.80 to $39.99 for a longer vehicle. The one-time impoundment fee also became $22.85. These are inflation adjustments the law allows every odd-numbered year.
In effect since January 1, 2024 (TDLR's notice). The rule's own source note gives January 15, 2024.
State maximum for a private-property tow of a car rose to $272
The Texas Commission of Licensing and Regulation changed the private-property tow maximums: $272 for vehicles up to 10,000 pounds (was $255), $380 for medium-duty (was $357) and $489 per unit up to $978 for heavy-duty (was $459 to $918). The drop charge, if the car is hooked up but released before it leaves, became $135 for light-duty (was $127).
Adopted October 5, 2021. In effect since November 1, 2021.
City parking officers, not only police, may order some tows
House Bill 914 lets a city employee the city designates, such as a parking compliance officer, have an illegally parked or abandoned vehicle towed from a public right-of-way, without a police officer. It applies in cities that have a parking ordinance.