Two statutes carry most of the rules. Fla. Stat. § 715.07 governs tows from private property: apartment lots, shopping centers, condominium parking, and any other place a driver leaves a car without the owner’s permission. Fla. Stat. § 713.78 governs the lien a towing company holds over a vehicle it has recovered, towed, or stored, and the notices it must send before selling one. Both sit inside the broader body of Florida consumer protection laws that set the terms on which businesses in the state deal with the public.
When a property owner can have a vehicle towed
The owner or lessee of real property, or a person authorized by them, can have a vehicle or vessel parked on the property without permission removed by a firm regularly engaged in the towing business. Where the property is a condominium, the association’s designated representative counts as an authorized person. The property owner is not liable for the costs of removal, transportation, or storage, and is not liable for damage caused by them, as long as the conditions in Fla. Stat. § 715.07(2) are substantially met.
The statute does not reach every tow. It does not apply to marked law enforcement, firefighting, rescue squad, ambulance, or other emergency vehicles, and it does not apply to property owned by a governmental entity. A vehicle towed from a city-owned lot or a public street falls under a different set of rules.
Two situations let a business skip the posted sign entirely. A business owner or lessee can authorize removal when a vehicle is parked so that it restricts the normal operation of the business. And when a vehicle parked on a public right-of-way blocks access to a private driveway, the owner, lessee, or agent can sign an order to have it removed without a tow-away zone sign being posted.
The signs a tow-away zone requires
Signage is where most private-property tows are won or lost. Except for property that is obviously part of a single-family residence, and except where the driver was personally told the space was unavailable, Fla. Stat. § 715.07(2)(a)5. requires a notice that meets all of the following, as of 2026:
- Placed prominently at each driveway access or curb cut allowing vehicular access, within 10 feet of the road; where there are no curbs or access barriers, at least one sign for every 25 feet of lot frontage
- Lettering no smaller than 2 inches high, light-reflective, on a contrasting background, stating that unauthorized vehicles will be towed at the owner’s expense
- The words “tow-away zone” in letters no smaller than 4 inches high
- The name and current telephone number of the firm doing the towing
- A permanently installed sign structure with the words “tow-away zone” not fewer than 3 feet and not more than 6 feet above ground level
- Continuous maintenance on the property for at least 24 hours before any vehicle is towed
A business with 20 or fewer parking spaces has a shortcut. It satisfies the notice rule by prominently displaying a sign reading “Reserved Parking for Customers Only Unauthorized Vehicles or Vessels Will be Towed Away At the Owner’s Expense” in letters of at least 4 inches, light-reflective, on a contrasting background.
The towing firm carries notice duties of its own. Within 30 minutes after the tow is completed, it must report the removal to the municipal police department, or to the sheriff in an unincorporated area, giving the storage site, the time of removal, and the make, model, color, and license plate number of the vehicle. The person taking the report is named on the trip record. Failing to make that report is a first-degree misdemeanor under Fla. Stat. § 715.07(5)(a), which is also why a call to local law enforcement is often the fastest way to find a car that has disappeared from a lot.
Where the vehicle goes and how fast it must be released
Distance limits are fixed by county population. A towed vehicle must be stored within a 10-mile radius of the point of removal in a county of 500,000 population or more, and within a 15-mile radius in a county of fewer than 500,000. Where no towing business offering the service operates inside those limits, the radius stretches to 20 miles and 30 miles respectively, under Fla. Stat. § 715.07(2)(a)1.
The storage site must be open for redemption from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on any day the firm is open for towing. When the site is closed, a sign has to be posted with a telephone number that reaches the operator at all times, and the operator has 1 hour from a telephoned request to return to the site. Once a vehicle towed under this section is asked for, it must be released within 1 hour.
Call local law enforcement to confirm where the vehicle is
The towing firm reported the removal within 30 minutes of completing it, so the municipal police department or the sheriff’s office for an unincorporated area has the storage location and the time of the tow on record (
Fla. Stat. § 715.07(2)(a)2.). That call also establishes whether the tow was reported at all.Ask for the posted rate schedule before paying
Any firm that requires payment before releasing a vehicle must keep a complete copy of its current rates on file with the local law enforcement agency and post an identical rate schedule at the storage site, along with any written contract authorizing it to tow from that property. Comparing the bill against the posted schedule is the point at which most overcharges surface.
Inspect the vehicle before accepting it
The owner or person in control of the vehicle has the right to inspect it before accepting its return. No release or waiver that would free the towing firm from liability for damage noted at the time of redemption can be required as a condition of getting the vehicle back.
Take the detailed receipt
A detailed receipt showing the legal name of the company that towed or removed the vehicle must be given to the person paying towing or storage charges at the time of payment, whether or not anyone asks for it. That receipt is the document a later county court claim or agency complaint is built on.
Payment method is not the towing company’s choice alone. Under Fla. Stat. § 713.78, a towing-storage operator must accept payment of accrued charges in at least two forms from a statutory list that includes cash and bank, debit, or credit card.
Towing charges and the lien on the vehicle
Florida sets no statewide dollar cap on what a private-property tow can cost. What the statute requires is disclosure: the rate schedule filed with local law enforcement and posted at the storage site. Rate ceilings come from local ordinance instead, because Fla. Stat. § 715.07(2)(b) treats the state rules as minimum standards and leaves counties and municipalities free to add regulation, including the right to regulate rates for tows from private property.
Unpaid charges do not simply sit as a bill. They attach to the vehicle as a wrecker operator’s lien for the recovery, towing, and storage services performed. The operator must send notice of that lien by certified mail to the registered owner, the insurer of record, and every other person claiming a lien on the vehicle, within 5 business days after the date of storage, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and federal legal holidays (Fla. Stat. § 713.78).
A wrecker operator’s lien also reaches the registration. An unpaid lien can block issuance of a license plate or revalidation sticker until the lien is discharged or security is posted, which is how a tow bill from years earlier resurfaces at renewal time.
Tows from crash scenes and public roads
A tow after a collision follows a different track. Counties and municipalities can establish a wrecker operator system, contracting with one or more operators and apportioning assignments through geographic zones, a rotation schedule, or both. Fla. Stat. § 323.002 defines an authorized wrecker operator as one designated as part of that system and an unauthorized wrecker operator as one that is not.
Where a system is in place, an operator who is not part of it has no business soliciting at the scene, and falsely identifying himself or herself as part of the wrecker operator system at the scene of a wrecked or disabled vehicle is a first-degree misdemeanor under the same section. Whether a given county or city runs a wrecker operator system, and which operators sit in the rotation, is a local question answered by the county or municipal government.
A vehicle taken by a lender rather than a property owner is not a tow at all. That is a self-help repossession, governed by separate rules on breach of the peace and post-repossession notice, and covered in Florida repossession laws.
Challenging an improper tow or an inflated bill
Two remedies run in parallel: one against whoever ordered the tow, and one against the lien itself.
When a person improperly causes a vehicle or vessel to be removed, that person is liable to the owner or lessee for the cost of removal, transportation, and storage, for any damages resulting from them, and for attorney’s fees and court costs, under Fla. Stat. § 715.07(4). The liability sits with the person who ordered the tow, which in a signage dispute is often the property owner or manager rather than the towing firm.
Several of the towing firm’s obligations carry criminal penalties. Violating the police-notification rule or the rate-filing rule is a first-degree misdemeanor. Violating the storage-distance rule, the stop-and-release rule, the ban on paying for towing privileges, the truck-marking rule, or the 1-hour release rule is a third-degree felony, as set out in Fla. Stat. § 715.07(5).
The lien is challenged separately. A person against whom a wrecker operator’s lien has been imposed can obtain a discharge by filing a complaint in the county court of the county where the vehicle or vessel was ordered removed, challenging the validity of the lien or its amount. Posting a cash or surety bond, or other adequate security, equal to the amount of the lien clears the registration hold while the case is pending, under Fla. Stat. § 713.78.
Administrative complaints run alongside the court route. The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services takes consumer complaints against businesses, and the state’s other consumer-facing channel is described in the walkthrough for filing a Florida attorney general complaint. Local code enforcement and the law enforcement agency holding the firm’s filed rate schedule handle the ordinance and rate-filing side.
Frequently asked questions
Can a towing company refuse to release my car unless I pay cash?
No. A towing-storage operator must accept payment of accrued charges in at least two forms from the list in Fla. Stat. § 713.78, which includes cash and bank, debit, or credit card. A cash-only demand at the storage lot conflicts with the statute, and the detailed receipt required at the time of payment documents what was actually charged and how.
Does a tow-away sign have to be posted at a private house?
Not for property appurtenant to and obviously part of a single-family residence. Fla. Stat. § 715.07(2)(a)5. carves that property out of the signage requirement, along with cases where the driver was personally told the area was reserved or otherwise unavailable and that the vehicle was subject to removal at the owner’s expense. Apartment complexes, condominium lots, and commercial parking are not covered by the carve-out.
What if the tow truck damaged my car?
Entry into a vehicle for the purpose of removing it must be done with reasonable care, and the towing firm is liable for damage caused by entry that falls below that standard. The vehicle owner can inspect the vehicle before accepting its return, and no waiver releasing the firm from liability for damage noted at redemption can be demanded as a condition of release. Where the tow itself was improper, the cost of removal, transportation, and storage, plus resulting damages, attorney’s fees, and court costs, fall on the person who ordered it under Fla. Stat. § 715.07.
How long can a towing company hold my car before selling it?
A vehicle that remains unclaimed or whose charges remain unpaid can be sold free of prior liens 35 days after storage for an older model and 57 days after storage for a newer model, with the dividing line at 3 model years (Fla. Stat. § 713.78). Before that, notice of the lien goes out by certified mail to the registered owner, the insurer, and other lienholders within 5 business days after the date of storage.
Who regulates how much a Florida tow can cost?
For tows from private property there is no statewide price cap. The state rules are minimum standards, and Fla. Stat. § 715.07(2)(b) leaves counties and municipalities free to adopt additional regulation, including rate regulation. For tows from crash scenes and roadways, a county or municipal wrecker operator system under Fla. Stat. § 323.002 sets the terms operators agree to. Current rate limits are published by the local government, not by the state.