Oregon Towing Rights: Drop Fee, Signs and Local Rate Caps (ORS 98.853)

The drop fee, and the photograph that proves the moment. ORS 98.853(1) requires the tower, before towing under ORS 98.812, to take at least one photograph showing the vehicle as it was left or parked when the tower arrived, recording the date and time, to keep it for at least two years in electronic or printed form, and to give the owner a copy on request at no additional charge. Subsection (2)(a) then sets the release rule: if the owner or operator is present at the time of the tow, the tower shall release the vehicle at no charge unless the hookup is complete, and if it is complete the tower shall still release the vehicle but may charge a fee not exceeding the hookup charge for that type of tow as listed in the written statement required by ORS 98.856. Subsection (2)(b) defines the line precisely: a hookup is complete if the vehicle has been loaded onto the tow vehicle, or if any part of it has been placed on or connected to an assembly that is part of the tow vehicle such that the tow vehicle is capable of being in motion with the vehicle in tow. ORS 98.854(14) bars any charge for hookup and release except as ORS 98.853 allows. Since 2025 c.416, ORS 98.853(3) also requires a tower with access to multiple storage yards to take the vehicle to the yard with available space that is in the same county as, and closest to, where the hookup happened.

Rates are local, not statewide. ORS 98.859(1) lets each city or county set the maximum a tower may charge for towing a vehicle, and for all related services, when the tow is requested by someone other than the owner or operator. The statute names the services covered: hookup, storage, gas mileage, pictures, unlocking the vehicle, and any other service the city or county reasonably relates to towing. Under subsection (2) the jurisdiction must consider the size of the vehicle and the distance from where it was parked to the storage facility. Under subsection (4), if a city sets rates, county rates do not apply inside that city and the tower need only meet the city's schedule. ORS 98.854(5) and (6) make it a violation to charge more than the price disclosed under ORS 98.856 or more than the amount set under ORS 98.859. The Legislative Assembly built this delegation deliberately: ORS 98.850(1)(c) recites the federal carve-out at 49 U.S.C. 14501(c)(2)(C) permitting price regulation of nonconsensual tows, and ORS 98.850(2)(b) states that ORS 98.810 to 98.818 do not preempt local authority over those prices.

Signs, authorization and spotting. ORS 98.810(1) makes parking on a parking facility unlawful only where a sign prohibiting or restricting public parking is displayed in plain view. ORS 98.854(1)(a) turns that into a duty on the tower, which may not tow from a parking facility unless such a sign, in clear and conspicuous language, is displayed. ORS 98.854(2) requires the tower to be contacted by the lot owner or the owner's agent at the time of the tow and to receive a signed authorization, kept for two years and produced free on request. The tower may not act as the lot owner's agent for signing that authorization, and may not tow if the lot owner or agent is an employee of a tower. Spotting is banned twice over: no soliciting towing business within 1,000 feet of a crash site absent a prenegotiated agreement with a road service company, and no parking a tow vehicle within 1,000 feet of a parking facility to monitor it for business. A tower also may not provide consideration to get the towing privilege at a lot, and goods or services supplied below fair market value count as consideration.

Getting the car and your belongings back. Under ORS 98.858(1) the tower must let the owner or a person in lawful possession redeem or inspect the vehicle between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. on business days, at all other hours within 60 minutes of asking, and within 30 minutes of a mutually agreed time. The tower must answer contact at any time with the vehicle's location and release instructions. Personal property of an emergency nature and the registration plates must be released in the same windows, and ORS 98.858(2) bars any fee for them except a gate fee between 6 p.m. and 8 a.m. on business days or on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday. ORS 98.852(6) defines emergency property to include prescription medication, eyeglasses, hearing aids, clothing, identification, a wallet, a purse, a credit card, a checkbook, cash and child safety car and booster seats. A tower may not hold a vehicle more than 24 hours without inventorying the personal property visible from outside and holding it securely, and may not accept cash unless exact change is provided by the end of the next business day.

Disclosure, the lien, and when storage stops running. ORS 98.856 requires a conspicuous written statement in at least 10-point boldfaced type listing every price the tower charges, the storage or destination location, the phone number and other contact means with hours, the payment methods accepted, and the cash change promise. If you are present, you get it before the tow; if not, before you redeem, and the tower must ask the state motor vehicle agency for your name and address within five business days and mail the statement by the end of the first business day after the records arrive. ORS 98.862 excuses the written statement where the tower has posted the information on signs readable from each stall or at each entrance. ORS 98.812(2) gives the tower a lien on the vehicle and its contents for just and reasonable charges, conditioned on notifying local law enforcement of the vehicle's location within one hour of storage, and ORS 98.818 gives that lien preference over all other liens. ORS 98.812(3) cuts off storage charges accruing after three business days unless the tower has mailed or given actual notice to the registered owner and every titled interest holder, with a parallel clock for out-of-state vehicles running from receipt of the requested records. For a recovered stolen vehicle, ORS 98.857(3) blocks storage fees from accruing at all until the tower first attempts to notify the owner.

Complain locally first. 859(3) requires every city or county that sets maximum rates to establish a process for receiving and responding to complaints about violations of that section, so the jurisdiction that set the cap is also the body that hears the overcharge. 859. 280(2)(b) lets the State Board of Towing order the department to take that action, subject to the contested case procedures of ORS chapter 183. 854(10) forbids a tower to require, as a condition of towing or of releasing the vehicle or your property, that you agree not to dispute the reason for the tow, the validity or amount of the charges, or the tower's responsibility for the condition of the vehicle or the property inside it. Paying under protest does not cost you the right to contest the bill.