Port St. Lucie, FL Business Licensing & Operations: Towing Companies (2026)

Section 90.03 lets a property owner, lessee, or authorized agent, including a condominium association's representative, have an unauthorized vehicle towed without the owner's consent, but only under strict conditions. The towing company must store the vehicle within 15 miles of where it was removed, or 30 miles if no towing business operates within the 15-mile radius, and the storage site has to be open for redemption from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. whenever the towing company itself is open, with a posted phone number for after-hours access; if a driver calls that number, the operator has one hour to return.

Within 30 minutes of completing the tow, the company must notify the city police department of the tow, the storage location, the time, and the vehicle's make, model, color, and license plate, logging the name of the officer who took the report. If the registered owner reaches the vehicle before it's fully removed, the tow company has to disconnect it and let the owner drive away for no more than half the posted towing rate, with a receipt.

Before any tow, the property must be posted: signs at every driveway or curb cut, in two-inch reflective letters reading 'tow-away-zone' in at least four-inch letters, naming the towing company and its phone number, mounted three to six feet above ground and up for at least 24 hours before a tow. A small business with 20 or fewer spaces can instead post a single four-inch-letter sign reading a customer-parking warning. Rebates from the tow company to the property owner for the privilege of towing are flatly prohibited, and a released vehicle must go back to its owner within one hour of a request, with a signed, itemized receipt.