Delaware Caps Private Tows at $250 and Storage at $50 a Day

Start with scope, because Delaware drew the line carefully. Section 6902A(a) applies the chapter to nonconsensual towing of motor vehicles weighing 5,000 pounds or less from private or public parking areas, and § 6901A(2) defines a nonconsensual tow as the towing of a nonabandoned vehicle, other than at the direction of the police, without the consent of the owner, operator or their designee. Sections 6903A through 6905A then step aside for four situations: tows at the direction of police under Chapter 69, abandoned vehicle removals under Chapter 44 or an equivalent municipal ordinance, tows by a city, county or state agency authorized under § 4181A or § 7003, and municipal tows for unpaid parking tickets or traffic citations. A car hauled away in Wilmington over a stack of unpaid tickets is not protected by the pre-tow, signage and drop-fee sections.

The fee caps are in § 6907A. Subsection (c) is the one to memorize: an owner or operator of a noncommercial motor vehicle or a rental vehicle under 18 Del. C. § 2002 may not be charged a towing fee in excess of $250 or a daily storage rate in excess of $50, and no other towing-related charges may be charged in addition to those maximums. That closes the door on the itemized extras that inflate a bill elsewhere, such as gate fees, administrative fees, dolly fees or lien-processing fees. Subsection (b)(1) adds a general standard: all nonconsensual towing and related storage fees must be reasonable and not excessive, and they are presumptively excessive if they exceed by more than 25 percent the company's own usual and customary fee for the same service performed with consent, or exceed by more than 50 percent the usual and customary nonconsensual fee charged by other companies operating in the county the vehicle was towed from. With only New Castle, Kent and Sussex counties in the state, that county comparison is a practical benchmark rather than a theoretical one. Subsection (b)(2) then defers downward: fees may not exceed the maximum in any applicable schedule of permissible fees adopted by municipal or other local ordinance, so a town cap lower than $250 controls.

The return-to-your-car rules are in § 6905A and are unusually generous. If the owner or operator comes back before the vehicle has left the parking area and asks the driver to stop, the company must stop. If the owner returns before physical attachment between the vehicle and the tow truck, the company may not tow at all and no fee may be charged. Once the vehicle is attached, the company may demand a decoupling or drop fee before releasing it, but that fee may not exceed 50 percent of the nonconsensual tow fee that would otherwise be charged, which is at most $125 where the $250 ceiling applies. And if you miss the truck entirely but reach the company by telephone before the vehicle is placed in storage, § 6905A(c) lets the company return the vehicle and collect the full tow fee, with no storage fee and no ancillary fee of any kind if the vehicle is retrieved within 24 hours from the time the tow was first undertaken.

Signage decides whether the tow was lawful in the first place. Under § 6904A(a) a private tow company may not tow from a private parking area unless it has a contract with the lot owner or operator and a sign is posted in a conspicuous place at all vehicular entrances, easily seen by drivers entering, with lettering no less than 1 inch in height. That sign must carry the purposes for which parking is authorized and the times it is permitted, a statement that unauthorized parking is prohibited and that unauthorized vehicles will be towed and stored at the owner's expense, the name, address and telephone number of the tow company, the charges for towing and storage, the street address of the storage facility where vehicles can be redeemed after payment of the posted charges and the times redemption is possible, and contact information for the owner and operator of the parking area. Section 6904A(a)(3) requires a sign on each door of the tow truck with lettering no less than 3 inches high showing the company name and telephone number. Section 6904A(b) puts a parallel duty on the property owner, who may not permit a tow without the contract and the conforming sign. For public parking areas, § 6904A(c) requires a contract with the State or the political subdivision and a sign at entrances or visible from where the vehicle is parked, and permits the sign to be affixed to or placed near the payment device in metered or paid areas.

Section 6903A creates the paper trail that makes a challenge winnable. Before towing, the person preparing the tow must confirm that the required signs are posted, photograph the vehicle in a manner that clearly documents the unauthorized parking, and, where the tow is from a private parking area during hours the lot is held open to the general public, obtain prior written authorization from the lot owner. That authorization may be conveyed electronically but must include the name of the person authorizing the tow, a phone number and email address at which they can be reached during normal business hours, the date and time the tow was authorized, and their signature. The company must keep the photographs and documentation for at least 2 years and make them available for inspection on request, and § 6903A(c) requires them to be provided to the vehicle owner or operator on request at no charge, by email or other equally convenient electronic means if that is what the owner asks for. Requesting the photo and the written authorization is the first move in any Delaware tow dispute.

Delaware also outlawed the business model behind predatory towing. Section 6908A(b)(3) makes it unlawful for a tow company to monitor, patrol or otherwise surveil a parking area to find unauthorized vehicles and tow one without having been specifically requested to tow that vehicle by the property owner, or by the State's or subdivision's authorized agent for a public lot, unless the company both holds the towing contract and complies with § 6903A for each vehicle including the prior written authorization. Section 6908A(b)(1) bars giving any benefit, including a pecuniary benefit, to anyone for providing information about vehicles parked without authorization, which ends spotter bounties. Section 6908A(b)(2) bars charging any fee to retrieve personal property from a towed vehicle during the storage facility's normal business hours.

Storage facilities carry their own list under § 6906A. The facility must keep a business office open to the public between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. at least 5 days a week excluding holidays, must be secured and, if outdoors, lighted from dusk to dawn, must let owners, lessees, lienholders and their authorized people take personal items from the vehicle at no fee during business hours on showing valid identification, and must accept all major credit and debit cards or operate an ATM whose service or access fee is reasonable. After-hours access must be reasonably accommodated, with instructions posted outside the place of business, prominently on the company website, and in any recorded phone message callers are likely to hear. The after-hours access or release fee is capped at $50, and no storage fee or after-hours fee may be charged for any portion of a day during which you could not obtain access and release between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. within 90 minutes of following those posted instructions. Section 6907A(a) requires a notice displayed where the facility does business with the public stating the free personal-property right, the towing and storage rates, and that refusing payment by major credit card is unlawful where the facility has no ATM with reasonable access or service fees.

Finally, a lien is not automatic. Section 6907A(d) bars any lien on a nonconsensually towed vehicle for unpaid towing or storage fees unless the person seeking the lien notifies the owner, the lessor and any lienholder by certified U.S. mail within 30 days of the date of the tow, the notice includes an itemized list of all fees incurred as of its date plus any periodic fees that may be assessed, and the notice tells them a lien may be asserted if the vehicle is not retrieved and the fees are not paid within 60 days of delivery of the notice.

Section 6908A(a) makes it an unlawful practice for a person to violate any provision of the chapter, and § 6908A(c) extends that to an owner, manager or director who directs or knowingly allows employees or agents to violate it. Section 6908A(d) then plugs the chapter into Delaware consumer law: a violation is deemed an unlawful practice under 6 Del. C. § 2513 and a violation of subchapter II of Chapter 25 of Title 6, which is the route to the Attorney General's consumer protection enforcement rather than a private complaint alone.

The private remedy is in § 6909A and it is broad. Where a nonconsensual tow was initiated or completed in violation of the chapter, the vehicle owner or operator is entitled to reimbursement of all fees paid to the tow company or storage facility plus actual damages incurred to retrieve the vehicle. If the company refused access to personal property in the vehicle when the chapter required it, the company is liable for consequential damages as well. Section 6909A(b) makes every tow company and storage facility involved in the tow and the storage jointly and severally liable, so a company cannot hide behind a subcontractor.

Section 6909A(c) is the provision to plan around before filing. The court shall order the defendant to pay the vehicle owner's reasonable attorneys' fees and costs if, at least 10 business days before the action was filed, the owner made a settlement offer equal to or less than the amount the court finally awards, and the defendant rejected it. A defendant who simply does not respond within 10 business days is deemed to have rejected the offer. In practice that means sending a written, itemized demand by certified mail and waiting the ten business days before suing, which converts a silent tow company into a fee-paying one. Section 6909A(d) confirms the remedies are not exclusive and sit alongside any other rights, including state or federal criminal prosecution.