Sherman, TX Business Licensing & Operations: Towing Companies (2026)

Article 4.13 of the Sherman Code of Ordinances regulates vehicle tow services in the City of Sherman, Grayson County, Texas. Its stated purpose is to protect the health, safety and general welfare of residents and to preserve the functionality and integrity of the city's roads, streets and highways.

Section 4.13.003 bars any person from providing wrecker service to the city without first executing an agreement with the city. The city can still use non-contract wreckers for tows that originate outside the corporate limits. Section 4.13.004 leaves pricing to that agreement: maximum rates for wrecker services provided to the city are specified in the agreement and must comply with applicable state law. Under § 4.13.005 the city prepares the requirements for wrecker operators, and a wrecker contractor must respond when the city calls it to any wreck, accident or collision inside the corporate limits.

The Sherman Police Department holds the oversight role. Section 4.13.006 lets it inspect every contractor's wreckers to confirm continued compliance with the agreement and state law, and § 4.13.008 lets the chief of police promulgate further reasonable rules so the contractor protects the motor vehicle and its contents. The article defines a wrecker operator as a person who owns or operates a wrecker within five miles of the corporate limits and holds a license from the state department of licensing and regulation.

Dispatch is controlled. Section 4.13.007 makes it unlawful for a wrecker operator or driver to proceed to a wreck, or to follow an ambulance or police car answering a wreck report, unless the police department dispatched the wrecker or a party involved in the wreck requested it. Section 4.13.009 covers private property tows under Transportation Code chapter 684 and caps the destination at a vehicle storage facility no more than 15 miles outside the city corporate limits.

Reporting follows every tow. Under § 4.13.010 the tow truck operator and the vehicle storage facility must each report to the city police department within 30 minutes, giving a general description, the license plate, the vehicle identification number if it can be ascertained, the pickup location and the name and location of the storage facility. Section 4.13.011 requires a verbal report within 30 minutes when a wrecker operator tows at a lienholder's request during a lawful repossession.