Tennessee's MOTION Act of 2025: Drop Fee, $100 Release Cap, 21-Day Storage Limit

The current chapter comes from 2025 Public Chapter 457, Senate Bill 1068, which passed on April 22, 2025 and took effect on becoming law on May 9, 2025. Section 1 of that act deleted Title 55, Chapter 31 in its entirety and substituted the MOTION Act of 2025. The chapter it replaced was itself only ten months old: 2024 Public Chapter 1017 had deleted Chapter 16 and Chapter 23 and created the first MOTION Act effective July 1, 2024. Any Tennessee towing guidance still citing § 55-16-111, the old restrictions-on-towing section, is describing a chapter that no longer exists.

When a tow is allowed depends on the property. Under § 55-31-204(a) nobody may tow without the vehicle owner's express written authorization except in four situations. First, the owner or authorized agent of a commercial parking lot or other private property open to the public has authorized the tow of an unattended vehicle and has posted notice that any vehicle not authorized to park there is subject to towing, designed and placed so it is clearly visible and readable to people parking there, located at each designated entrance and exit, and carrying the name and phone number of the garagekeeper authorized to tow. Second, that same lot owner may authorize a tow of a vehicle that has been unattended for more than twelve hours, or that is creating a hazard, blocking access to public or private property, or parked illegally. Third, on private property not open to the public there is no waiting period at all: the owner may authorize the tow of an unattended vehicle. Fourth, a law enforcement officer with appropriate jurisdiction may request a tow under § 55-31-301.

The drop-fee right is in § 55-31-204(c). A person attempting to tow must immediately release the vehicle if it has not left the original parking location and the owner or operator pays a release fee. Reaching your car while it is hooked but still in the space is therefore worth doing, and the release fee itself is capped by § 55-31-207(e)(3) at one hundred dollars for a tow made without the owner's express written authorization.

After the tow, the operator has an hour. Section 55-31-204(d)(1) requires that where the owner was not present, the tower notify the law enforcement agency with jurisdiction over the place the vehicle was taken from, within one hour, of the vehicle identification number, license plate number, a description of the vehicle, the location of the tow and where the vehicle will be stored. The agency must keep that record and make it available for public inspection, which is how a Tennessee driver whose car has vanished finds it: call the police agency for the address the car was parked at. Ninety days after the Department of Revenue's motor vehicle portal created by § 55-31-104 goes live, that hour-one report moves from a phone call to a portal entry.

On charges, § 55-31-207(e) bars a garagekeeper from charging, for a tow or storage done without the owner's express written authorization, a rate higher than the maximum approved by the Tennessee Highway Patrol district for the same service, a gate, access or release fee during normal business hours on any day daily storage is also charged, or a release fee above one hundred dollars. Storage itself is limited: § 55-31-207(a) forbids charging storage beyond twenty-one days without the owner's or lienholder's consent, unless the owner was told the vehicle was available for release and refused to retrieve it, and to charge past twenty-one days the garagekeeper must give the registered owner and every lienholder of record notice of that intent by three-day delivery at least ten days before the extra fee starts. Section 55-31-207(b) bars a storage charge for any day the vehicle was not available for release, unless law enforcement had placed a hold on it. Subsection (f) exempts vehicles towed or stored for authorized repairs once the owner has been told the repairs are done. Section 55-31-207(c) requires release to an insurer or lienholder that documents its right to custody, on payment of reasonable charges, without needing the owner's separate consent.

Tennessee also regulates booting, which most states leave to cities. Section 55-31-201(a) makes it an offense to boot any vehicle identifiable by a USDOT number or by a plate described in § 55-4-113(a)(2) or (a)(5). Booting any other vehicle is an offense unless the device is self-releasing, the vehicle is on a commercial parking lot or contracted property, the person attaching it is an employee of the lot owner or a licensed booting operator, the lot posts signage at each designated entrance and exit that includes a support phone number monitored by a live person twenty-four hours a day seven days a week and states that the chapter protects consumers and that violations may be reported to the attorney general, the removal charge is no more than the actual parking fees owed plus a removal fee of no more than seventy-five dollars, and no fee at all is charged to someone who paid to park and was improperly booted. If you damage the boot or fail to return it to the designated on-site storage location you may be charged up to an additional one hundred dollars. Local governments may license booting operators and parking enforcement vendors, and a licensing ordinance must require a surety bond of at least two hundred fifty thousand dollars from a licensed parking enforcement vendor, against which an injured person may claim under § 55-31-201(f).

Two more provisions matter in practice. Section 55-31-105 lets a garagekeeper remove and secure a firearm left in a stored vehicle if it can be done without damaging the vehicle, and requires the firearm to be tagged or logged to tie it to the vehicle, stored in a firearm safe or other secure storage, and the vehicle owner notified of the removal and told how to retrieve it. Section 55-31-206 bans kickbacks in both directions: a towing company may not pay a property owner or manager for referring a tow, and the property owner or manager may not solicit or receive such a payment.

Enforcement is unusually strong for a Tennessee consumer statute. Section 55-31-103(a) makes a violation of the chapter a violation of the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act of 1977 at Title 47, Chapter 18, Part 1, an unfair or deceptive act or practice affecting trade or commerce, and gives the attorney general and reporter the full investigative and enforcement powers held under that act, with costs not taxable against the state. Section 55-31-103(b) adds a private right of action for injunctive relief and for actual, compensatory and punitive damages plus reasonable attorney's fees, which is the rare Tennessee fee-shifting provision that runs in the consumer's favor.

Both remedies are switched off for § 55-31-104, the motor vehicle portal, and for Part 3, the abandoned-vehicle procedures. On top of that, § 55-31-103(c) makes a violation of § 55-31-201 (booting), § 55-31-204 (towing), § 55-31-205 (storage authorization) or § 55-31-206 (referral fees) a Class B misdemeanor, rising to a Class A misdemeanor for a second or subsequent offense. Practically: photograph the signage at the entrance and exit, keep the receipt showing each line item, note the time the tow began and whether you reached the car before it left the space, and file a complaint with the Tennessee Attorney General's consumer protection division.

If a licensed parking enforcement vendor booted you, § 55-31-201(f) lets you claim against its $250,000 surety bond, which is recorded with the register of deeds in the county where the vendor operates.