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

Florida's private-property towing statute, F.S. § 715.07, sets no statewide price and instead lets each county or municipality fix the maximum. The City of Sarasota has taken that authority for itself. Sec. 33-287(a) applies its schedule to any tow whose point of origin is inside the city limits, so the governing number is set by where the car was parked, not by where the wrecker yard sits or by what Sarasota County allows elsewhere.

The schedule runs by gross vehicle weight rating. Class A, up to and including 9,999 pounds, is $50. Class B, more than 9,999 and up to 19,500 pounds, is $110. Class C, more than 19,500 but less than 25,000 pounds and upright and towable, is $210. Anything over 25,000 pounds, again upright and towable, is $310. Maximum daily storage is $20 for every one of the four classes.

Sec. 33-287(b) makes that a flat fee and then spells out what it already covers, which is the part owners get billed for elsewhere: 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, and mileage. Time spent at the scene of the tow is included. So is any release fee during normal business hours, defined as Monday through Saturday, 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. So is storage for the first six hours.

The clock matters. Sec. 33-287(c) bars any other fee during the first six hours the wrecker holds the vehicle, measured from delivery to the storage facility rather than from the hook-up. After that, storage accrues in twenty-four-hour increments and not on calendar days, so a car collected the morning after a late-night tow is not billed for two days. A $35 administrative fee becomes available only after the sixth day of storage, and only if the operator has actually executed and mailed the lien notice required by F.S. § 713.78.

Three amounts protect the owner who shows up early. Under Sec. 33-287(e), an owner who arrives before hook-up pays nothing. Under Sec. 33-287(d), an owner who arrives after the vehicle is hooked or booted but before it leaves the site pays no more than $25, which is exactly half the $50 Class A rate and so tracks the half-of-posted-rate drop fee the state statute requires. Under Sec. 33-287(f), release outside business hours, meaning Monday through Saturday from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. and all day Sunday, carries its own separate ceiling of $25.

Getting the car back is governed by Sec. 33-289. The storage site may be no more than ten miles from where the tow originated, the vehicle must go straight there with no temporary holding area, and the operator must staff or monitor a telephone at all times. A caller must be told every document needed to retrieve the vehicle, the exact charges as of that call, the rate at which they will keep accruing, the acceptable method of payment, and that the vehicle can be picked up within one hour of the request. A written bill is due on request, and an itemized receipt is due at payment listing the date, time and location of the tow, each charge separately, and the date and time of payment.

Before a private-property tow can happen at all, the property owner and the wrecker must sign an agreement listing the authorized hours and days, every fee chargeable to either party, and the storage address. A copy goes to the Sarasota Police Department, it is nontransferable, and any change or rescission must be reported to the department within two business days. The operator also files its current rate schedule with the department, and within thirty minutes of finishing a tow must report the storage site, the time of removal, and the make, model, year, color, VIN and plate. Tow data sheets are kept a year and produced to any city police officer on request. Sec. 33-286 forbids paying a property owner for the privilege of towing from the lot, and Sec. 33-284(b) forbids booting a vehicle except incident to a tow that is actually imminent. Sec. 33-288 adopts the sign specifications in F.S. § 715.05 by reference rather than writing city-specific dimensions. No vehicle may be towed while a person is inside it.

One structural note: the city's own impoundment article, Article IX, was repealed by Ord. No. 19-5283 on October 7, 2019, and Secs. 33-271 through 33-282 now show as reserved. Article X is what remains. Its rate figures come from Ord. No. 01-4281 and Ord. No. 01-4301, and the Municode export carries no later amending ordinance on Sec. 33-287, so these dollar amounts appear to have stood since 2001. The export is a snapshot, so confirm the current figures on Municode before relying on them in a dispute.