Volusia County, FL Parking Rules: Towing & Impound Rights (2026)

Volusia County's towing rules live in Chapter 118, Article IV (Wreckers), and they are written around a single idea in Sec. 118-98(d): the maximum rate "shall be a flat fee which shall be all-inclusive." The county then spells out what may not be added on top. A wrecker cannot bill separately for special equipment or services such as double hook-up, vehicle entry when locked, dropping transmission linkage, axle or drive shaft removal, dollies, trailer or flat bed, lifts, slim jims, go jacks, removing bumpers, airing up brakes, or mileage. It cannot charge for time spent at the scene, for a release during normal business hours (Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.), for access so the owner can retrieve personal property or look the vehicle over, for yard, set-out or gate fees, for a fuel surcharge, or for the first six hours of storage.

The rate numbers themselves are the part a driver cannot look up in the code. Sec. 118-98(a) lists Class A (gross vehicle weight rating of 5,999 pounds or less, or a vessel 15 feet or under), Class B, Class C and Class D (more than 26,000 pounds), and after each one it says only "as adopted by resolution." Ord. No. 2024-25, effective 10-1-24, moved the figures out of the code and into a county council resolution, and Sec. 118-98(g) adds that beginning January 1, 2029 and every fifth year after, those maximums are reviewed against the Consumer Price Index or three percent, whichever is lower. To learn the current Class A ceiling you have to ask the county for the operative resolution rather than read the ordinance.

Reach is the second thing worth settling, because Volusia is a charter county and its charter Sec. 1305 runs the other way from a preemption clause: a county ordinance in conflict with a municipal ordinance "shall not be effective within the municipality to the extent of such conflict," whichever came first. Article IV carries that through on its own terms. Sec. 118-92 says the article applies in both the incorporated and unincorporated areas "except in municipalities which have enacted similar ordinances regarding this subject matter," and Sec. 118-94(2) repeats the exemption specifically for the Sec. 118-98 rates. So in Daytona Beach, Deltona or Ormond Beach the county ceiling governs only where that city has not adopted a towing ordinance of its own.

Getting the vehicle back is governed by Sec. 118-101(d), which is unusually prescriptive about the telephone. Each towing service must staff or monitor its phone at all times and, before the owner sets off for the lot, must state every document needed to retrieve the vehicle, the exact charges as of the moment of the call and the rate at which they will keep accruing, the payment methods accepted, and that the vehicle can be collected within one hour of the request. The one carve-out is a law enforcement tow where the driver was arrested; those releases run 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. Sec. 118-101(a) also bars a temporary holding area, so the vehicle goes straight to the operator's own storage site, and Sec. 118-101(b) forbids towing a vehicle with a living person inside it.

Boots follow the same clock. Under Sec. 118-101(d)(5) a representative of the company that installed the device has to reach the vehicle within one hour of contact and remove it on payment of a $75.00 fee, with no surcharge for evenings, weekends or holidays, and Sec. 118-103(b) requires the boot notice on the car to state that same $75.00 ceiling along with the company's name, address and phone.

If you reach the car before it leaves, Sec. 118-104 stops the tow. No service may tow, immobilize or charge anything where the registered owner or a legally authorized person arrives beforehand, unless that person refuses to move the vehicle, or the car is already hooked up and the owner refuses a drop fee of "not more than one-half of the rate contained herein." That mirrors the half-rate limit Fla. Stat. § 715.07 sets for trespass tows. The operator must also wait at least ten minutes for the owner to get cash if cash is what the driver demands, and the section fixes the moment of no return precisely: a tow commences when the vehicle has left the tow site and is en route to storage, and an immobilization occurs once the device is fully affixed and the employee has left the property.