Bristol Township, PA Business Licensing & Operations: Towing Companies (2026)

Chapter 196 of the Bristol Township Code, adopted by the Township Council on 8-20-1986 as Ord. No. 14-86, governs towing in Bristol Township, Bucks County. Section 196-2 requires an annual license before any wrecker can be on the rotating schedule the Township calls. The license goes through the Bristol Township Managing Director, and a change in ownership of the licensee ends it.

The application (§ 196-3) must list the tow trucks and their hourly availability, the operator's experience, and the applicant's insurance. It must also show that the applicant owns a parcel of a minimum of 1.25 acres of fenced usable property with a roofed, secured storage area sufficient to conduct police investigations. That lot must be properly zoned, and it is screened and planted as the Township directs. The application fee is set by resolution or ordinance of the Township Council (§ 196-4). Before a license issues, the applicant must deliver certificates naming the Township as an additional insured: garage keeper's liability of $100,000 and general public liability of $1,000,000 (§ 196-5). The Managing Director orders a Chief of Police investigation within 20 days of the application (§ 196-6) and applies the criteria in § 196-7, including a principal place of business within the Township.

Each applicant must own, lease or regularly operate at least one five-ton-lifting-capacity wrecker truck and one rollback bed truck, lettered with the applicant's name, address and telephone number (§ 196-8). The annual fee is $500 per vehicle, issued each January for one year, with quarterly prorating allowed (§ 196-9).

Licensees (§ 196-10) display a sticker on the right front door of each wrecker, respond only when the Bristol Township Police Department or Bucks County Radio authorizes it, and release no impounded vehicle without written authorization from the Police Department. When towing as an independent contractor to the Township, rates cannot exceed $125 per tow for a light-duty wrecker, $475 per hour per tow for a heavy-duty wrecker, and storage of $45 per day outside or $75 per day inside, unless Township Council sets other rates by resolution. Towing a victim's vehicle after a police investigation is free during the tower's normal business hours and capped at $35 at other times. Section 196-12 makes every licensee an independent contractor, paid by the owner, operator or custodian of the vehicle.