Harris County, TX Parking Rules: Towing & Impound Rights (2026)

Scope first, because it decides whether this page helps you. Subchapter 28G defines a Law Enforcement Tow as "Any tow conducted at a Law Enforcement Scene or Evidentiary Crime Scene initiated by a Law Enforcement Officer," and a Law Enforcement Scene as the scene of a crime, collision or arrest, or the location of a traffic hazard, recovered stolen vehicle or abandoned vehicle. Article I(B) limits the rules to removals authorized by Tex. Transp. Code Section 545.305 in unincorporated Harris County, and Article I(A) exempts tows performed under a county contract. Inside a city, the city's rules and state law govern instead.

At the scene, Article IV(B) says the owner or the owner's representative gets to choose who removes the vehicle, with two exceptions: the owner is under arrest, or the vehicle is an immediate traffic hazard. A telephone request does not count unless the owner calls the law enforcement agency itself and the agency verifies it, and the chosen truck must be on scene, or able to arrive, before law enforcement is ready to clear the roadway. When no operator has been dispatched through the Towing Management System, deputies run a "Match": chips, the numbered metal tags issued with each tow truck permit, are collected into a hat and one is drawn. No more than three tow trucks may be on scene, and once the officer broadcasts "No more wreckers," no others may arrive.

Once your vehicle is moving, Article IV(E) requires the operator to keep the dispatch app active for the whole transport specifically so the owner can see the route and location, and to photograph every side of the vehicle before leaving the scene.

At the storage lot, Article VI(G) requires an attendant between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, holidays excluded, and release at any other hour within one hour of notification. Personal property comes out before any payment, against a signed receipt. An impoundment fee may not be charged at all unless the lot did five specific things: wrote an inventory of unsecured property, removed and stored what needed safekeeping, pulled the registration from a state or county agency, tarped broken doors or windows, and issued an itemized bill naming the conduct and dates billed.

On money, the county sets less than it looks. Article VIII caps the law enforcement administrative fee at $27.50 per vehicle, of which $22.00 goes to the tow management company by the tenth of the month, and sets the county's own permit fees: $628.00 for a new tow truck or heavy duty permit, $580.00 to renew or reinstate, $60.00 to replace, $230.00 per storage lot, $200.00 for an additional lot inspection, $15.00 for an operator ID card. Storage, impoundment and notification charges are the amounts fixed by the Texas Vehicle Storage Facility Act, not by the county. The freeway program in Article X is the exception with a genuinely local number: $60.00 per tow, no storage assessed for the first 48 hours, stalled vehicles moved to a safe place within one mile of the nearest exit, and $145.50 for abandoned vehicles and law enforcement tows outside that program.

The ordinance was adopted by Commissioners Court order of June 9, 2020 and amended January 4, 2022.