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What changed: towing updates in the Rio Grande Valley
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.
Harlingen replaced its vehicle towing ordinance; news reports put the new tow cost at $300
Ordinance 2024-48 replaced the City Code's vehicle towing article (ch. 46, art. III). It puts towing fees in the City's chapter 18 fee schedule, ties storage charges to state law, and requires a tow operator who removes a car from private property to tell police within 30 minutes. KRGV reported the tow cost rose to $300, about double, as part of a routine update done every 12 years.
Adopted October 2, 2024. The $300 amount is from a news report; we have not opened the chapter 18 fee schedule.
McAllen set new rates for wrecker companies on its police rotation list
Ordinance 2023-30 rewrote McAllen's wrecker article. Companies that volunteer for the police rotation list agree to its rates: $200 for a vehicle under three tons towed at the City's call, $100 for a tow from a private lot, a $40 drop fee ($65 if claimed at the storage lot within an hour and a half, with no storage), and $115 an hour for vehicles over three tons.
Adopted February 28, 2023. The rates are a condition of the voluntary rotation list, not a city-wide cap.
Appeals court: every tow is consent or nonconsent, so a tow from a home can get a tow hearing
In an appeal from Hidalgo County about vehicles towed from a home in Edinburg, the Thirteenth Court of Appeals held that the Towing and Booting Act has no third kind of tow: any tow that is not a consent tow is a nonconsent tow, and its owner may ask for a tow hearing. The court also noted that missing the 14-day deadline is not a jurisdictional bar.
Brownsville added a $20 City administration fee on nonconsent tows
Ordinance 2019-919-K added a $20 City administration fee, collected by the storage lot and sent to the City, when a nonconsent-towed vehicle is received and fees are collected. The same ordinance requires storage lots to file nonconsent tow records electronically within two hours.