Lexington County, SC Business Licensing & Operations: Towing Companies (2026)

Lexington County's non-consent towing rules sit in Chapter 70, Article II of the county code, adopted by Ord. No. 96-3 on December 19, 1996 and amended by Ord. No. 09-03 on February 24, 2009. Sec. 70-32 states it is unlawful for the owner or agent of any wrecker or towing service to go to any place where an accident has occurred that is investigated by a county officer in any unincorporated section of the county unless called by county dispatch. Sec. 70-33 extends the ban to anyone who monitors sheriff's department radio or county radio systems to learn of a disabled or damaged vehicle and races to the scene ahead of a dispatch call, and separately makes it unlawful to interfere with sheriff's department radio calls or to be present at a wreck scene a county officer is investigating unless requested by county dispatch, except for emergency vehicles.

Sec. 70-34 prohibits a wrecker or towing service owner or agent from driving along or parking on any street, bridge or highway to solicit towing business, though a driver whose car breaks down for a nonaccident or mechanical reason may still call the wrecker of his choice. Sec. 70-35 lets a county officer have an abandoned, wrecked, illegally parked, or crime-linked vehicle towed to the wrecker's storage lot or garage, where it is held until the legal owner claims it or it is disposed of as the law provides.

Sec. 70-36 requires approved wrecker operators to sign an agreement with the county, executed through the procurement manager, that can be suspended or terminated for violating the agreement or the franchise. These rules bind unincorporated Lexington County only; the Town of Lexington and the county's other municipalities run their own wrecker programs.