Florida Private Property Towing Rights

Fla. Stat. 715.07(2)(a) governs every private-property tow in the state. If the owner reaches the scene while the vehicle is still being hooked up, the towing company may charge no more than one-half of its posted rate as a drop fee and must hand over a detailed signed receipt. Once towed, the vehicle has to sit at a storage site within a 10-mile radius of the pickup point in a county of 500,000 people or more, 15 miles in a smaller county, or 20 to 30 miles if no towing business operates within range. That lot must run redemption hours from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on every day the company tows, post a phone number when closed, and get someone back on site within 1 hour of a phone request. The tower also has to notify the municipal police department, or the county sheriff outside city limits, within 30 minutes of finishing the tow, giving the make, model, and storage location.

Signage is spelled out to the inch: a tow-away notice must sit within 10 feet of every driveway or curb cut, or one sign per 25 feet of lot frontage where there's no curb, in 2-inch light-reflective letters with 'tow-away zone' in letters at least 4 inches high. The sign structure itself must stand permanently between 3 and 6 feet off the ground and stay up at least 24 hours before any vehicle gets towed. A lot with 20 or fewer spaces can skip the detailed sign and instead post one reading 'Reserved Parking for Customers Only Unauthorized Vehicles or Vessels Will be Towed Away At the Owner's Expense.' Once an owner shows up to redeem, release has to happen within 1 hour, the owner can inspect the vehicle for damage first, and the tower cannot require a liability waiver as a condition of getting it back. There's no statewide cap on hookup, mileage, or storage rates; instead 715.07(2)(a)6. requires the company to file its current rate schedule with local law enforcement and post the identical schedule at the storage lot, and 715.07(2)(b) leaves cities and counties free to set their own rate ceilings for private-property tows on top of the state floor.

Towing without notifying police within 30 minutes, or without filing the rate schedule required by (2)(a)6., is a first-degree misdemeanor. Violating the storage-distance rule, the drop-fee cap, the redemption-hours requirement, the signage specifications, or the release-within-an-hour rule is a third-degree felony under 715.07(5). Separately, anyone who causes a vehicle to be towed improperly is civilly liable under 715.07(4) for the removal, transportation, and storage costs, any damages, attorney's fees, and court costs the owner incurs getting it back.