The crash is over. The airbags are deflated, the adrenaline is fading, and a tow truck is backing up to your car. In about ninety seconds, someone you have never met will hook up your vehicle and drive it somewhere. Where it goes — and how fast you get it out of there — will decide whether this accident costs you a tow bill or a tow bill plus weeks of daily storage fees.
This is the guide we wish every Fort Worth driver had read before the wreck: who pays the tow, what Texas actually caps storage fees at, what rights you have at the scene, and the exact playbook for stopping the meter.
The two kinds of crash-scene tows
It matters who called the truck, because that decides who sets the destination and the price.
- A consent tow is a tow you (or someone acting for you) arranged. You call your insurer’s roadside line, a tow company you know, or your body shop — and you tell them where to take the car. Fort Worth’s wrecker ordinance defines a consent tow exactly this way: the truck is summoned by the owner or operator of the vehicle.
- A police-ordered (nonconsent) tow is a tow the officer orders because you can’t arrange one — you’re injured, shaken, arrested, or the car is blocking traffic and has to move now. The truck comes from the agency’s rotation or contract list, and the car goes to that company’s licensed vehicle storage facility, what most of us call the tow yard.
Here’s the part most drivers miss: even when police are on scene, you are not a bystander in the towing decision. Fort Worth’s ordinance carves out a “driver-designated tow” from police-initiated tows — the concept exists in city law because drivers do get a say. Houston’s Motorist Bill of Rights puts it in plain language: you have the option to be towed to a location of your choice, and you should advise the on-scene officer of the location you choose. Arlington’s wrecker ordinance goes further and instructs the officer to ask you first — to designate both the place you want the car taken and any wrecker company you prefer — before calling the contract service.
The exceptions are common sense: if you’re under arrest, if the car is an immediate traffic hazard that has to clear now, or if the vehicle is being held as evidence, the officer decides. But in the ordinary fender-bender where you’re standing on the shoulder with your phone in your hand, speak up. Name your shop. Ask for the tow slip showing the destination.
Who pays the tow: the upfront truth
The tow yard does not care who was at fault, and it does not bill insurance companies at the gate. TDLR’s consumer guidance is blunt: you will need to pay all towing and storage fees at the facility before it releases your vehicle. Bring cash, a debit card, or a credit card — by law, the facility has to accept all three.
So the real question is who reimburses you. There are four paths, and they depend on your coverage and who caused the crash.
1. Your collision coverage — the fastest path
If you carry collision coverage, it pays for accident-related damage to your car regardless of who was at fault, and in practice that includes the tow and the storage tied to the covered loss. You pay your deductible first. If your deductible is $500 and the tow plus three days of storage comes to $900, you cover the first $500 and your insurer handles the rest. If the other driver was clearly at fault, your insurer can then go after their insurer for reimbursement — and you may get your deductible back.
Call your insurer the same day the car is towed. Insurers expect you to keep storage costs down, and your policy almost certainly includes a duty to take reasonable steps to protect the car from further loss. A driver who waits two weeks to call, then asks the insurer to cover fourteen days of storage, is the classic way storage bills become the driver’s problem.
2. The at-fault driver’s liability coverage
If another driver caused the crash, their liability coverage should ultimately cover your tow and storage as part of your property-damage claim against them. You file directly with their insurer — a third-party claim — and include every vehicle cost from the initial hookup to each day of storage.
Speed matters here even more. The other driver’s insurer won’t pay for days that piled up while you sat on the paperwork. Notify them immediately, tell them the car is sitting in a storage lot, and keep every receipt. If they drag their feet or dispute fault, you may pay out of pocket and chase reimbursement later — which is why path 1, your own collision coverage, is usually the faster move even when the other driver is at fault.
3. Towing & labor / roadside assistance — smaller than you think
That roadside add-on on your policy is built for breakdowns, not crash scenes. Under the Texas personal auto policy form, Towing & Labor coverage specifically excludes auto storage charges, excludes towing or storage tied to impoundment, and excludes a second tow arising from the same disablement. It can get your dead battery jumped or your car winched out of a ditch. It will not pay the daily storage meter at the tow yard. Know its limit before you need it.
4. No coverage at all — the out-of-pocket path
If you carry only liability coverage and the crash was your fault, the tow and the storage are yours to pay. If the other driver was at fault but has no insurance and you have no collision or uninsured-motorist coverage, you’re also paying out of pocket and chasing the driver personally. This is the scenario where moving the car out of the tow yard fastest matters most, because every day is your money.
Texas storage rules and the actual fee caps
Texas regulates tow yards more tightly than most drivers realize. TDLR licenses both tow operators and vehicle storage facilities, and it sets maximum fees that apply statewide unless your city sets a lower schedule.
The numbers that matter for a passenger car, per TDLR’s current schedule (adjusted for inflation in 2023):
- Daily storage: $22.85 per day maximum for vehicles 25 feet or less in length — which covers essentially every passenger car, SUV, and pickup. Larger vehicles over 25 feet cap at $39.99 per day.
- The 12-hour rule: the yard can charge for any part of a day your car sits on the lot, except when the car spans two calendar days but was there less than 12 hours total. Towed at 10 PM, picked up at 8 AM the next morning? That’s one day of storage, not two.
- Notification fee: $50, one time. It covers all notices the yard sends you and your lienholder. They can’t charge it per letter.
- Impound fee: $22.85 maximum, and the written bill has to spell out exactly what services were performed and on what dates.
- Banned add-ons: the yard may not charge environmental fees, notary fees, or a fee to let you get your own personal property out of your car. If you see those line items, that’s a red flag.
For the tow itself: private-property nonconsent tows cap at $272 for light-duty vehicles under TDLR’s statewide maximums, with higher caps for medium and heavy-duty. Police-rotation tows at crash scenes follow the law enforcement agency’s contracted or ordinance-set rate schedule — Houston’s, for example, is $232 for the first 20 miles as of January 2026. Your city sets its own, but the storage side stays under the state caps.
Notices, abandonment, and the auction timeline
The yard can’t just keep your car forever and it can’t sell it tomorrow. Texas requires a paper trail:
- First notice: the yard must notify you and your lienholder once the car has been on the lot at least 24 hours — and for Texas-registered vehicles, no later than the 5th day. (Out-of-state registrations get up to 14 days.) If a Texas-registered car’s yard fails to send that first notice, it can only charge you for 5 days of storage, period.
- Second notice: sent between the 15th and 20th day after the first notice was mailed.
- Abandonment: if you don’t claim the car, it’s considered abandoned 10 days after the first notice goes out, at which point law enforcement can take an interest under the Transportation Code.
- Public sale: the yard may sell the vehicle at public sale starting 30 days after the second notice was mailed. (There’s a narrow exception for vehicles over 10 years old that are only good for junking — those can go 30 days after the first notice.)
You also have a formal way to fight back. If you believe the tow was improper or the charges exceed what’s allowed, you can request a tow hearing at the Justice of the Peace court in the county where the tow happened — but you must request it before the 14th day after the car was removed. The court can charge $20 for the hearing and must hold it within 21 calendar days. You can also file a complaint with TDLR online.
How to stop the meter: the 48-hour playbook
Everything above is the law. This is the part that saves you money. Do these in order, starting at the scene:
- At the scene: name your destination. If you’re able, tell the officer where you want the car to go — your body shop, your driveway, anywhere — and ask for a copy of the tow slip showing it. If you have a preferred tow company that can arrive quickly, name it. Tow operators are not allowed to solicit your business at the scene; if one pressures you, tell the officer.
- The same day: call your insurer. Report the claim, say the car is in a storage lot, and ask what they need to move it. The faster the insurer inspects, the faster the meter argument ends.
- Within 24–48 hours: get the car to your shop. This is the single highest-value move. Every day in the yard is $22.85 you’ll have to justify to an insurer that only pays reasonable storage. A shop you chose can receive the car, start the estimate, and hold it as part of the repair process. And remember — Texas law gives you the right to choose your own repair shop; the tow yard is not your repair shop.
- Keep every receipt. The tow invoice, each storage receipt, the tow slip from the scene. If you’re claiming against the at-fault driver’s insurer, these are your evidence.
- Pull your personal property — free. The yard must let you access your vehicle to recover ownership documents and personal property without charging a fee. Don’t leave medications, work equipment, or a child’s car seat sitting in the lot while you sort out the paperwork.
- If the car is totaled, settle fast. Once the insurer declares a total loss and pays, the car is theirs to collect. Dragging out the settlement while storage accrues just grows a bill that comes back to you.
The body-shop angle: why we want your car here, not there
We see the storage trap every month. A customer’s car sits in a tow yard for a week while the claim gets sorted, and by the time it arrives at our lot, the storage bill is bigger than some repair bills. Then the customer learns the insurer will only reimburse a few days as “reasonable,” and the rest comes out of their pocket.
A tow yard stores cars. A body shop repairs them. Get the car to the shop you chose and the dynamic changes: the car is in the repair pipeline, the estimate starts, and the repair timeline — not the storage meter — decides how long it sits. If your car was towed after a crash anywhere in Fort Worth and you’re staring at a storage bill, call us at 973-873-5050. We’ll help you get it moved to our shop in Kennedale and walk you through the claim.
And one more right worth knowing: in Texas, the choice of repair shop is yours, not your insurer’s. We covered exactly how that works in our guide on insurance and body-shop choice in Texas — worth a read before anyone steers you anywhere. For what to do in the first minutes at the scene itself, see our step-by-step for DFW drivers.
Towed after a crash in Fort Worth and not sure what to do next? Contact Sindibad Auto Collision or call 973-873-5050. We’ll help you get your car out of the tow yard and into our shop in Kennedale, TX — and deal with the insurance side step by step.
Frequently asked questions
How much can a Texas tow yard charge per day for storing my car?
For a passenger vehicle (25 feet or less), the state maximum is $22.85 per day under TDLR’s current fee schedule. Larger vehicles over 25 feet cap at $39.99 per day. One-time fees are limited too: a $50 notification fee covering all notices, and a $22.85 maximum impound fee. The yard may not add environmental fees, notary fees, or charge you to retrieve your own personal property.
Who pays the tow bill if the other driver caused the crash?
You pay the tow yard upfront — the facility won’t release your car until the bill is settled, regardless of fault. Then you recover the cost: through your own collision coverage (fastest — you pay your deductible and your insurer handles the rest, possibly recovering from the other insurer), or as part of a third-party property-damage claim against the at-fault driver’s liability insurer. Keep every receipt and notify the insurer immediately, since only reasonable storage days get reimbursed.
Does towing & labor or roadside assistance coverage pay for storage fees?
No. Under the Texas personal auto policy form, Towing & Labor coverage specifically excludes auto storage charges, excludes towing or storage tied to impoundment, and excludes a second tow from the same disablement. It’s built for breakdowns — dead batteries, flat tires, lockouts — with modest per-use limits. Crash-scene tow and storage costs belong to your collision coverage or a claim against the at-fault driver.
Can I tell the tow truck driver where to take my car after a crash?
In most situations, yes. Fort Worth’s wrecker ordinance recognizes consent tows and driver-designated tows — the truck can take the car to the shop or location you name. Houston’s Motorist Bill of Rights states the right directly, and Arlington’s ordinance instructs officers to ask you to designate the destination and your preferred wrecker first. The exceptions: if you’re arrested, the car is an immediate traffic hazard, or it’s being held as evidence — then the officer decides.
How long before a Texas tow yard can sell my car?
The yard must send two written notices to you and your lienholder. Your car is considered abandoned 10 days after the first notice is sent, and the yard may sell it at public sale starting 30 days after the second notice was mailed (the second notice goes out 15–20 days after the first). Vehicles over 10 years old that are only fit for junking can be sold 30 days after the first notice. If you dispute the tow or the charges, request a tow hearing at the Justice of the Peace court within 14 days of the tow.
Towing and storage amounts vary with tow distance, vehicle size, lot rules, and insurer decisions. The steps in this post describe the general process, not a guarantee of how your claim will be handled. For a read on your specific repair, talk directly with your shop.