Gastonia, NC Business Licensing & Operations: Towing Companies (2026)

Article II, Division 8 of Chapter 8, adopted in 2017, governs trespass towing and booting from private parking lots. Sec. 5-inch red letters, the parking conditions in 1-inch letters, and the phone number, storage facility address, and maximum fees in half-inch letters, before any tow, removal, or wheel-lock immobilization can occur. Sec. 8-380 sets operating rules: the towing service must release a vehicle already hooked but not yet removed upon payment of the posted fee, must let the owner retrieve personal property, must accept cash plus at least two major credit cards, must staff a 24-hour phone line that acknowledges a retrieval request within 15 minutes and makes the vehicle available within 45 minutes, and must store towed vehicles within one mile of the city limits.

, a tow additionally requires a contemporaneous written authorization from the lot owner or agent (not a company employee) presented to the driver, and the driver must call Gastonia Police non-emergency and get a complaint number before removing the vehicle. Sec. 8-379 separately requires booting employees to show photo ID and mark boot vehicles with the company name and address in three-inch letters.