Help! My Car was Towed. What Can I do?
A few years ago, we posted some articles about the law on nonconsensual towing of cars in Florida. Specifically, for Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties. Apparently no other attorney in Florida has written about the tow statute. We now know why.
Since posting the articles we get several calls every day from people who have been towed, nearly all of which are small claim matters that we cannot assist with.
Initially we considered taking down our articles due to the overwhelming amount of daily calls from people who have been towed. However, that would be letting the many bad apple tow companies win and many callers have expressed their thanks for the information our articles provide.
If you have been towed and you were not physically injured and your car was not damaged, your issue with the tow company is a small claim matter, which we cannot assist with. Instead, we wrote this article to tell you want you can do if you were illegal towed as hundreds of Floridians are every day.
Florida’s Towing Problem – The Police Do Not Enforce the Law
At the outset, you are not alone! It does not matter if you were only parked for a few minutes, that someone could have easily asked you to move the car, that where you parked did not bother/interfere/harm anyone, or that there were other cars parked in the same way but they were not towed.
Why? This is all about making money ($$$). You got it and the tow companies want to take it. While there most likely are many decent tow companies in Florida who are only seeking to make a living, its seems many, many, more are out to victimize Floridians by essentially stealing your car and forcing you to pay a ransom in order to get it back.
As the hundreds of phone calls we get each year have shown, “illegal” towing is a HUGE problem all across Florida. Although the tow statute clearly states that violating it is a criminal offense, a misdemeanor or a felony depending on the provision violated, you will discover that the police do not enforce this law.
There are several reasons for this, including lack of knowledge or training on the law but in some instances the police actually have financial ties with tow companies. Instead, the police will incorrectly attempt to tell you that being towed is a “civil” matter and they cannot do anything. The tow companies know this so, as would be expected, these companies do whatever they want, whenever they want.
What Can If I Have Been Wrongfully Towed? I Have NOT Paid the Tow Company Yet.
If you have not gotten your car back yet, and you are convinced the tow did not comply with the law for whatever reason, we still suggest contacting the police. Although in our experience the police are usually not helpful in such matters, it is possible that the calls we receive do not tell the full story. It is possible that the police do occasionally enforce the tow law but we would never hear about those instances because there would be no need to call us.
However, if you have unsuccessfully attempted to get the police to assist you, then there is only one way to get it back without paying the tow company. You need to get a copy of the tow bill, take that bill to your County’s courthouse, and tell the clerk you were illegally towed and want to dispute it.
You will have to then pay the amount of the bill to the court as a “bond.” This often confuses people, because “posting a bond” is most often used in the context of criminal proceedings. Unlike bonds in criminal proceedings, you must pay the full amount of the tow bill to the court, not 10% of some number.
Once you do, the court will hold the money you post. You will get a case number and a court order informing the tow company you posted a bond and ordering them to release your car to you. You should make a copy or take a picture of the order. Finally, you then take the order you received to the tow company and present it to them. You then drive off into the sunset.
The tow company then has a certain time to file something with the court if they believe the tow was lawful. If they do not, the money gets ultimately gets returned to you. If the tow company does respond, then you will have an opportunity to argue that the tow was unlawful before a judge. The prevailing party is entitled to recover attorney fees.
What Can If I Have Been Wrongfully Towed? I Already Paid the Tow Company.
If you have already paid the tow company and gotten your car back, then you should contact the consumer protection agency in your County to file a complaint against the tow company. Simply Google “YOUR COUNTY consumer protection” to find if your county has such an agency.
For your convenience, we list links to consumer protection agencies in some of Florida’s larger Counties:
Miami-Dade County Office of Consumer Protection
Broward County Environmental and Consumer Protection Division
Palm Beach County Consumer Affairs
Duval County (Jacksonville) Office of Consumer Affairs
Orange County Consumer Fraud Office
Hillsborough County Office of Consumer Protection
Pinellas County Office of Consumer Protection
If your County does not have a consumer protection agency, instead please contact the Florida Attorney General’s consumer protection department to obtain assistance.
Additionally, you should contact the property owner or the owner’s agent, such as a property management company to ascertain why you were towed. Sometimes they will offer to reimburse the tow charge when the situation is explained to them.
If they do not offer ask. You can try in person or by phone first but follow up with a written request if they don’t initially agree.
Complain to Your Elected Officials to Change the Law
Ultimately, the laws regulating tow industry needs to be completely overhauled. However, that is not going to happen unless people state contacting their elected officials to complain about what is happening and demand that they take action to change the law.
Part of the reason things have gotten so bad is that not enough people think to do this. Therefore, our final suggestion, which we strongly encourage, is that you forward your experiences with the tow company to your elected officials.