Volusia County Towing Laws: What the Wrecker Ordinance Says About Your Bill

Here is the part most drivers never hear: Volusia County's cap on towing charges does not apply when you are the one who picks up the phone. The county's wrecker ordinance sets maximum rates for tows nobody asked for -- a crash scene, a police-ordered removal, a car hauled out of a private lot -- and it specifically exempts tows made with the vehicle owner's consent.

That single distinction explains most of the confusion around Volusia County towing laws. The rules below come from Chapter 118, Article IV of the county Code of Ordinances, plus the two Florida statutes the county code leans on. They are worth knowing before a bad afternoon in DeLand or Orange City turns into an argument at an impound gate.

What does the Volusia County wrecker ordinance actually cover?

The ordinance governs any tow for compensation that starts inside Volusia County. Chapter 118, Article IV applies in both incorporated and unincorporated parts of the county, with one carve-out: it does not apply in municipalities that have passed their own similar ordinance. So the rules can shift depending on which city line your car was sitting behind when the wrecker arrived.

The ordinance splits tows into categories that matter for pricing. Nonconsensual towing covers removal from a crash scene, or a removal arranged by a law enforcement officer when the driver is unavailable or does not consent. Trespass towing is removal from private property under Florida Statute 715.07. Everything you arrange yourself is a consent tow, and the county's rate schedule does not reach it.

Does the county rate cap apply when you call your own tow truck?

No. Section 118-94 exempts tows made with the consent of the vehicle owner or operator from the rates in the ordinance. When you call a towing company yourself, price is a matter of agreement between you and that company, not a number the county sets.

The practical takeaway is to settle the price on the phone. Ask for the total to your destination before the truck rolls, and ask whether that number covers everything. A company quoting a flat rate up front should be able to tell you what it includes without hedging.

What can a Volusia County tow bill not include?

For tows the ordinance does cover, the maximum rate has to be a flat, all-inclusive fee. Section 118-98 sets the maximums by vehicle weight class through county council resolution, then lists the add-ons that may not be stacked on top of that flat fee.

• Special equipment or service charges such as double hook-up, dollies, go jacks, lifts, flat bed or trailer use, slim jims, bumper removal, airing up brakes, or dropping the driveshaft or transmission linkage
• Entering the vehicle when it is locked
• Time spent at the scene beyond what the rate schedule specifies
• Release fees during normal business hours, Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
• Access fees to let you remove personal property or look at the vehicle
• Yard, set-out, or gate fees for taking your vehicle out of the impound area
• Fuel surcharges
• Storage for the first six hours

A few specific charges are allowed and capped in the code itself. An after-hours release fee may not exceed $35.00. A tarpaulin fee of $15.00 may be assessed on a stored Class A vehicle when covering it is reasonably necessary to protect the interior from weather. Removing a wheel immobilization device carries a $75.00 fee, with no extra charge for responding after hours, on weekends, or on holidays.

Storage runs on a clock, too. Beyond the free first six hours, storage may be charged in calendar-day increments, and an administrative fee for the statutory notice can only be added after the first 48 hours, and only if the company has actually complied with the lien-notice requirements in Florida Statute 713.78.

What happens if you reach your car before it is towed?

If you get there before the tow begins, the ordinance says the vehicle should not be towed and you should not be charged. Section 118-104 bars a towing service from towing or immobilizing a vehicle, or charging for its services, when the registered owner or another legally authorized person arrives before the tow or immobilization, unless that person refuses to move the vehicle.

If the vehicle is already connected to the apparatus, you can still get it back by paying a drop fee of no more than half the applicable rate. The operator has to wait at least ten minutes to let you get cash if cash is what the driver requires. Florida Statute 715.07 sets the same one-half ceiling for private-property tows.

Timing is defined rather than left to argument. Under the ordinance a tow commences when the vehicle has been removed from the tow site and is en route to storage, and an immobilization occurs once the device is fully affixed and the employee has left the property.

What must a towing company tell you when you call?

A towing service in Volusia County has to staff or monitor its phone at all times and answer four specific things before you drive out to the storage site. Section 118-101 lists them, and it exists so nobody makes a wasted trip across the county with the wrong paperwork or the wrong kind of payment.

• Every document or item you must produce to retrieve the vehicle
• The exact charges as of that phone call, and the rate at which they will keep accruing
• Which methods of payment are accepted
• That the vehicle can be picked up within one hour of your request, except for police-initiated nonconsent tows following an arrest, where pickup runs 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday

Paperwork is required on the other end as well. The company must give a written bill on request, and at the time of payment a written receipt itemizing every charge, with the date, time and location of the tow. Tow sheets have to be kept on file for three years.

One more line in the ordinance is worth quoting to anyone who has felt genuinely uneasy: no towing service may tow a vehicle while a living person is occupying it.

What rules apply to a tow from private property?

Trespass tows carry their own layer of requirements on top of the general rules. Florida Statute 715.07 governs removal of a vehicle parked on private real property without the owner's consent, and it is built around notice: the property has to be signed, and the sign has to carry a telephone number that reaches the operator of the storage site at all times, including when the site is closed.

The statute is specific about how much signage is enough. Where there are no curbs or access barriers, signs must be posted at a rate of not fewer than one per 25 feet of lot frontage. When a vehicle is redeemed, the person redeeming it must be given a detailed signed receipt.

Volusia County adds a reporting duty. Under Section 118-103, a towing service that performs a trespass tow inside the county must notify the Volusia County Sheriff's Office within 30 minutes of completing it, giving the storage site, the time of the tow, and the vehicle's make, model, year, color, VIN and plate. That notification is why a call to the Sheriff's Office can tell you where a missing car went.

The ordinance also forbids kickbacks: a company towing from private property may not pay or rebate anything to the property owner for the privilege of removing vehicles.

What can you do if you think you were overcharged?

Complaints about excessive charges go to Volusia County Code Enforcement. Section 118-101 directs consumer complaints about excessive charges or bad practices under the article there for investigation and resolution, and Section 118-105 gives Code Enforcement authority to issue citations carrying a $450.00 civil penalty, including for charging more than the county's maximum towing rates.

Bring the itemized receipt the company was required to give you. The receipt is what turns a disagreement about a number into a comparison against a published maximum.

This is general information rather than legal advice, and the ordinance and statutes themselves control. Rates are adopted and revised by county council resolution, and the code schedules a rate review beginning January 1, 2029 and every five years after that, so confirm current figures with the county before relying on them.