Mason County, WA Business Licensing & Operations: Towing Companies (2026)

Chapter 10.72, enacted by Ordinance 829 in 1977, is Mason County's non-consent towing framework for abandoned vehicles. Section 10.72.040 authorizes the sheriff to appoint any tow truck operator engaged in removing and storing abandoned motor vehicles as the county's agent, conditioned on an application to the sheriff, periodic reports in the form and frequency the sheriff requires, and a three-thousand-dollar surety bond guaranteeing compliance with the operator's notice duties in Sections 10.72.070 and 10.72.080 and compensating any owner whose vehicle is unlawfully sold through the operator's negligence or misconduct.

The sheriff may cancel an appointment on evidence the operator is not complying with applicable laws and regulations. Section 10.72.050 requires the sheriff to report every abandoned vehicle found on a highway or elsewhere to the Chief of the Washington State Patrol, after which the vehicle goes into the appointed operator's custody. Section 10.72.060 gives a bonded operator a possessory lien on any towed or stored vehicle for its towing, transport, and storage charges, and a vehicle left unclaimed for five days may then be treated as abandoned and disposed of under Sections 10.72.070 and 10.72.080, which cap the operator's separate claim against the last registered owner at one hundred dollars and require notice by certified mail before any public auction.

Section 10.72.160 further requires an operator under contract with the county to comply with administrative regulations the county or the state Department of Licensing director issues.