Most people learn how towing law works at the worst possible moment. Here is what Missouri actually requires, before you need it.
A quick note on who is writing this. We are a towing company, so we have an obvious interest — and the reason we publish it anyway is that most of the complaints people have about towing come from companies that count on you not knowing any of the following.
The governing statute is Missouri Revised Statute § 304.154. In plain terms, a towing company may charge a one-time tow fee plus daily storage, and in exchange it has obligations:
Storage accrues daily, including partial days. A vehicle towed at 11pm has already run up a full day’s storage by midnight, and a second day begins. If your car is towed on a Friday night and you cannot get there until Monday, budget for the days, not the hours.
A police evidence hold stops you collecting. If the vehicle is part of an investigation, police can hold it — and you cannot take it until they release it. Storage may continue accruing during that hold even though the delay has nothing to do with you. If you are in that position, contact the investigating agency directly and ask when it will be released, because nobody else is going to chase it for you.
A public tow happens when police or another authority orders your vehicle removed — typically because it is blocking traffic, creating a hazard, or you were unable to arrange your own tow quickly enough after a breakdown or collision. In that situation you do not choose the company or the destination.
A private tow is the one from an apartment lot, a business parking lot or a tow-away zone. Different rules and different paperwork, but the same core obligations on the company: posted rates, access to belongings, itemized charges.
If you called the company, you choose where the vehicle goes. That right is worth knowing about, because people frequently assume otherwise at a collision scene.
If it was towed from a public road, the local police department for that jurisdiction will know. If it came off private property, ask the property manager.
Get the tow fee, the storage rate and the current total. Ask whether they take cards — some yards are cash-only and that is a bad surprise to have at the counter.
Registration or title, and photo ID. Without those you will be sent away and pay another day of storage.
Every day you delay is another day of storage. This is the single most expensive mistake people make.
You are entitled to one. It is also what an insurer will want if a claim is involved.
If there is damage that was not there before, you want a dated record of it.
Raise it with the company first, in writing, and ask for the itemization if you were not given one. A surprising number of disputes are a billing error rather than bad faith.
If that goes nowhere, the Missouri Attorney General’s Office handles consumer complaints about unfair business practices, including towing. Keep the paperwork — the itemized bill is the center of any complaint.
One local detail worth knowing. St. Charles County licenses towing businesses under County Chapter 608. A company based in the county, or doing more than half its tow work here, needs that license — approved by the County Chief of Police and renewed yearly. It is a reasonable thing to ask about before you hand over your keys.
Most of it comes down to who makes the call. If your vehicle breaks down and you arrange your own tow promptly, you keep control of the company, the destination and the price. If you wait long enough that police have to order the vehicle moved, all three of those decisions are made for you.
So if you are broken down somewhere you should not be, call somebody. Even if it is not us.
We run 24 hours a day across St. Charles County — St. Charles, St. Peters, O'Fallon, Wentzville and everywhere in between, plus the highway corridors. Call (636) 466-8097.
Broken down in St. Charles County? Call us before it becomes somebody else’s decision. 24/7.
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