West Virginia Caps Nonconsensual Tow Charges at the PSC Wrecker Tariff (W. Va. Code § 24A-2-2a)

West Virginia routes tow-truck regulation through Chapter 24A, the commercial motor carrier chapter, rather than through the traffic code. Section 24A-2-2a(b) spares wrecker operators the common carrier certificate that other motor carriers need, but subsection (c) replaces it with a registration requirement: a person may not act as a carrier by towing wrecked or disabled motor vehicles for hire unless registered with the Public Service Commission, and may not continue if that registration is suspended or revoked. The same subsection is the rate cap. A registered carrier may not "charge, demand, collect or receive a greater remuneration" than the rates, fares and charges established under the section, and the Commission sets those by general order after hearings, as maximum statewide or regional schedules with reasonable classifications of carriers.

Because the numbers live in a Commission order rather than in the Code, the statute alone will not tell you what a tow may cost. The operative document is the Commission Approved Maximum Statewide Wrecker Rates in Case No. 20-0796-MC-GI, issued September 20, 2021 and effective October 4, 2021 for members of the West Virginia Towing and Recovery Association and October 24, 2021 for every other third-party tow operator registered with the Commission’s Transportation Division. It applies only to operators who have not requested and received their own Commission-approved tariff, and it defines a third-party tow as the tow of a motor vehicle "performed without the prior consent or prior authorization of the owner or operator of the towed motor vehicle."

The rate that reaches most drivers is the Tow and Go hourly rate, which the schedule says applies to private property towing, disabled vehicle towing and traffic violation tows. Light duty, meaning automobiles and trucks with a gross vehicle weight of 7,000 pounds or less, is $102 per hour. Medium duty, 7,001 to 10,000 pounds, is $138. Heavy duty trucks and buses from 10,001 to 26,000 pounds are $211, a tractor is $134, a super heavy duty truck over 26,001 pounds is $332, and a tow dolly is a $50 flat rate. Accident and recovery work is priced separately and higher: $160 an hour light duty, $267 medium, $374 heavy, and $620 to $1,069 an hour for 20-ton through 85-ton rotator wreckers. An extra helper is $53 per hour, and evenings from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m., weekends and federal holidays add $19 per hour, but only where the carrier actually pays overtime wages and can document it on request. The schedule sets no per-mile charge at all. Instead, hourly time runs from when the carrier leaves its base of operation until it is available for the next service, rounded to the nearest quarter hour, with one exception aimed squarely at predatory lot patrols: where a wrecker operator is patrolling a privately owned parking lot by contract, the clock does not start until the actual tow operation begins.

Storage is capped by vehicle size. Outside storage is $27 per day for a passenger car or truck at 7,000 pounds or less, $32 from 7,001 to 10,000 pounds, $37 above 10,001 pounds, and $50 for semi-trailers and buses. Inside storage runs $37, $43, $49 and $94 respectively, but the schedule allows it only at the request of the owner, the operator or law enforcement, or where it is necessary to preserve the vehicle’s condition; a company that offers nothing but indoor storage must still bill at the outside rate. Storage accrues at the beginning of each day, excluding the day the vehicle is delivered, and a day is each 24-hour period commencing at the start of the next business day. If the carrier refuses to release the vehicle because it is an evening, weekend or holiday, no storage may be charged for the days of refusal.

Two provisions matter most in the moment. The drop fee: if the vehicle has been hooked with hoisting apparatus or loaded but has not left the premises, and the owner or operator produces the ignition key and removes the vehicle immediately, the tow charge may not exceed one-half of the otherwise minimum charge in the tariff. And personal property: carriers must allow all third-party tow customers to obtain their personal possessions, meaning any item not attached to the vehicle, without payment of all or part of the tow bill during normal business hours. Stereos, batteries and license plates do not count as personal possessions. After hours the operator does not have to open at all, and if it does, a $50 flat Gate/Reopen Fee applies to releasing either the vehicle or the property, disclosed in advance. Credit card and ACH surcharges may be passed through only at the processor’s actual cost, again with advance notice, and West Virginia Turnpike tolls pass through at cost with documentation on request.

Overcharging is a Commission matter, not a police matter. W. Va. Code § 24A-2-2b(c) requires every carrier regulated under the article to list its approved rates, fares and charges on every invoice given to an owner, operator or insurer, and the tariff requires sequentially numbered invoices, a copy to the customer and a copy retained for at least two years. Those documents are what a complaint is built on. Section 24A-2-2b(b)(2) then puts the thumb on the consumer’s side of the scale: in any formal complaint against a carrier relating to a third-party tow, "the burden of proof to show that the carrier’s charges are just, fair, and reasonable is on the carrier." Subsection (b)(3) directs the Commission to provide a process for aggrieved parties to recover from the carrier any charge the Commission finds is not just, fair or reasonable. The Commission publishes a toll-free line for third-party tow rate questions at 1-800-344-5113, extension 344.

Against the carrier itself, the sanction is its registration. Under § 24A-2-2a, on the complaint of an aggrieved party the Commission may suspend or revoke a registration for violating a Commission rule or a provision of the article, on a ladder the statute fixes: not more than thirty days for a first violation, up to one year for a second, and permanent revocation for a third. Before any suspension or revocation takes effect the carrier must receive reasonable notice of the charges and an opportunity to be heard by the Commission or its designee.

One drafting quirk is worth knowing if you look § 24A-2-2b up yourself. Two 2021 bills, House Bill 3130 and Senate Bill 655, amended the same section without acknowledging each other, so the Code prints both versions and the Legislative Manager takes no position on their legal effect. The complaint process, the burden of proof and the invoice requirement read the same in both.