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

Subchapter 112 of the Texas City Code of Ordinances regulates non-consent tows initiated by a police officer or city official. The Texas City Police Department (TCPD) enforces it. Under § 112.01, no person can operate a wrecker on non-consent towed vehicles in the incorporated areas unless the wrecker is registered and permitted with the TCPD. Consent tows are outside the subchapter.

Section 112.05 controls the rotation list. A wrecker service needs a minimum of two licensed wreckers, but no more than five for the rotation list. Each company must hold a wrecker business permit, own, lease or operate a vehicle storage facility within the city limits, deposit a garagekeeper's legal liability policy with the City Secretary naming the city as additional insured, and maintain a 24-hour wrecker service. Only one towing company per storage facility is allowed, and dealerships acting as towing companies are exempt from the storage facility requirement.

The permit process in § 112.03 is paper-based. Applications go to the TCPD by hand delivery, U.S. Postal Service or private courier, never by fax or email. The yearly renewal package fee is $450, each additional driver pays a $25 administration fee, each wrecker beyond the minimum of two adds $25, and a lost identification card costs $25 to replace. Permits expire at midnight on December 31, and renewal applications are taken from October 1 through December 1. Insurance for injury to or destruction of property in any one collision is $50,000, with the city named as additional insured.

When an owner fails to designate a wrecker, the TCPD dispatcher calls the next company on the list under § 112.06, and a wrecker that does not arrive within 30 minutes absent exigent circumstances is a no show. Section 112.22 caps the non-consent base tow at $150, with a heavy-duty base of $250 plus $150 per hour after the first hour, and the City Commission confirms the rates.