Chattanooga Towing Ordinance: Who Sets the Number on Your Tow Bill

Information, not legal advice. Every figure below is a published ceiling as read on the date shown beside its source, and each one links to the page it came from.

Four tows, four rule books

The same car on the same street can be billed under four different sets of rules depending on who ordered the truck. The table is the whole page in one glance; the sections after it carry the detail.

GVWR is the gross vehicle weight rating, the loaded-weight figure on the sticker inside the driver's door jamb. Nearly every car, pickup and SUV sits under 7,000 pounds.

A police-called wrecker: the Class A table

Inside the city, a wreck or breakdown the police handle goes to a district wrecker, a company holding a city permit and taking its turn on the police rotation. Sec. 35-160 sets what that call may be billed. For a Class A truck, the kind that hauls cars, pickups and SUVs, the daytime tow is capped at $245 and a night, weekend or holiday tow at $273. Both figures carry an asterisk: the ordinance provides an increase every January based on the prior inflation figure, approved each year by the Wrecker Board, so the number on a 2026 bill may sit a little above the printed one. Extra winching is $100 an hour flat, spill cleanup labor $75 an incident and oil absorbent $10 a bag. Storage is $35 a day and starts after eight hours; no district wrecker of any class may charge storage if you reclaim the car inside those first eight hours. Two fees sit outside the tow itself: a gate fee of $50 during business hours or $150 after hours or for an emergency release, and a $75 administration fee. Dollies may be charged only when a wrecker rather than a rollback does the tow, and the ordinance allows no extra charge for a rollback.

Three protections ride with the table. If you ask, the driver must write a bill before towing, on the company's printed billhead, with an estimate that may be adjusted afterward only for good cause; the company keeps the duplicate a year, open to the Wrecker Inspector. A bill above the schedule must itemize the worker-hours, the vehicle-hours and every special charge. And under Sec. 35-163, once you pay or secure the charges, the wrecker must pull the car to any place in the city you name, and nobody from the wrecker may pressure you at the scene to sign a repair order. Any dispute over whether a rate was reasonable goes to the Wrecker Board. The rate section was last amended by Ordinance 14334 on March 10, 2026. The accident recovery page covers what happens at the scene before any of this is billed.

Towed off a private lot: the $125 rule

A car hauled out of an apartment lot, an office lot or a downtown garage without your consent falls under Sec. 35-171, and its ceiling is lower. For a two-axle vehicle under 7,000 pounds GVWR the tow may not exceed $125, and that figure is all inclusive: no add-on for dollies, a trailer, a lift, a slim jim, any other equipment, or mileage. Heavier vehicles run $250 by day or $285 at night, on a weekend or on a holiday when 26 feet and under, and $425 or $500 when over 26 feet. Storage is capped at $20 a day with nothing charged for the first 24 hours, plus a single $15 processing fee if the car sits more than ten days. Once you or your agent asks, the car must be released within two hours, and no fee may be charged for meeting that deadline. The Wrecker Inspector issues each non-consent operator a rate card with these maximums, and the card must be displayed where anyone can read it.

If you reach the car while the truck is still there, timing is everything. Before the car is connected you may drive it away and owe nothing. After it is connected but before it leaves, the car may not be towed, and the most the operator may charge to drop it is $75 for two axles or $150 for three or more; that drop fee must be posted on the boom or rear of the truck in letters two inches high. The lot itself must carry a sign saying unauthorized vehicles will be towed at the owner's expense, with the recovery location, the phone number, the cost and the form of payment, unless it is residential property of four units or fewer. The operator must report the tow to the Chattanooga Police Department within an hour, with the VIN, plate, make, model and color. The rate schedule was last amended by Ordinance 12941 on May 5, 2015.

Since 2025 a state law sits on top of the city rule: the MOTION Act of 2025, Public Chapter 457. T.C.A. 55-31-204 says nobody may tow a vehicle without the owner's express written authorization unless one of four conditions holds, among them a notice posted at each entrance and exit of a lot open to the public carrying the garagekeeper's name and phone number, or a request from a law enforcement officer. A driver who has begun a tow must release the car at once if it has not left its parking spot and you pay a release fee. T.C.A. 55-31-207(e) then caps that release fee at $100, bars any fee above the maximum approved by the Tennessee Highway Patrol district for the same service, and bars a gate, access or release fee during normal business hours on any day storage is also charged, all for a vehicle towed or stored without the owner's written authorization.

Two of these sources do not agree on one line. The city's Class A table lists a $50 gate fee during business hours; the 2025 act bars a gate fee during normal business hours on a day storage is charged, for a tow made without the owner's written authorization. Which one governs a given bill is a question for the Wrecker Board or a lawyer, not for this page. If a bill shows a storage day and a business-hours gate fee together, ask about it before paying.

A crash the Highway Patrol works: the company's own rate form

On I-24 and I-75 a wreck the Tennessee Highway Patrol handles is cleared by a company on the THP rotation list, and the city table does not apply. The rule book there is the THP's Towing Service Standards Manual, revised January 2017. Section XIV says a company's rates must be comparable to the other certified companies in its THP district and fair to the owner, and that it may charge anything from $0 up to the maximum on its own Tow/Storage Rates Disclosure form, SF-1118, which it posts at its office and files with the District Wrecker Lieutenant. The manual adds four rules the city table lacks: storage begins 24 hours after the tow, there is no charge for hook-up, there is no charge for normal highway cleanup such as glass and fluids, and a truck used only for winching bills winching time to the quarter hour and no tow. The state posts a filled-in copy of the form under the name "Tennessee Max Rate": Class A at $375 flat for an in-zone tow, $375 an hour for winching, $6 a loaded mile out of zone and $40 a day for storage. An owner who believes a bill broke those rules files a written complaint with the District Captain, who may order a refund or a release at no charge or a reduced amount; rate violations sit in the manual's severe category. The after-accident checklist covers the paperwork to gather at the scene so a complaint has something to stand on.

A tow you call for yourself

None of the above touches the tow most people order: the call you make after a breakdown on Brainerd Road. Sec. 35-160 is written for calls that come from the police department under the rotation, Sec. 35-171 for tows made without the owner's consent, and 55-31-207(e) for a vehicle towed or stored without the owner's written authorization. When you order the tow, you are the authorization, and the quote you accept is the only ceiling. That is why this site prints its ranges, $75 to $125 hookup plus $3 to $5 a mile for a local tow, on the towing cost page, and why a request sent through this site goes to an independent local company that states its own figure before the truck moves. One line from Chapter 35 is still worth knowing on a tow you order: Sec. 35-163, written for district wreckers, says a wrecker that has been paid or had its charges secured must pull the car to any place in the city the owner designates. Pick the shop on the first call.

Three storage clocks in one county

The same car can start costing storage at three different moments depending on who ordered the tow. After a police-rotation tow inside the city, storage at $35 a day may begin once eight hours have passed, and none at all if you reclaim the car inside those eight. After a private-lot tow, $20 a day, nothing for the first 24 hours. After a Highway Patrol tow, storage begins 24 hours after the tow under the THP manual, at whatever daily rate the company filed, with $40 the figure on the state's posted maximum form. The impound release guide walks the paperwork in order; these three clocks are why it tells you to move the same day.

Where every figure above came from

• Chattanooga City Code, Sec. 35-160, Billing and charges for district wreckers (Municode; history through Ord. 14334 of March 10, 2026). Read November 8, 2026.
• Chattanooga City Code, Sec. 35-163, Vehicles to be towed to place designated by owner (Municode). Read November 8, 2026.
• Chattanooga City Code, Sec. 35-171, Non-consent towing from private property (Municode; history through Ord. 12941 of May 5, 2015). Read November 8, 2026.
• Tennessee Code § 55-31-204 (2025), Towing (Justia; Acts 2025, ch. 457). Read November 8, 2026.
• Tennessee Code § 55-31-207 (2025), Fees (Justia; Acts 2025, ch. 457). Read November 8, 2026.
• Tennessee Highway Patrol, Towing Service Standards Manual (revised January 2017; sections XI, XIV, XV and XVI). Read November 8, 2026.
• Tennessee Department of Safety, Tow/Storage Rates Disclosure, "Tennessee Max Rate" (form SF-1118, Rev. 11/16). Read November 8, 2026.

The ceilings above move: the Wrecker Board may approve a January increase on the Class A table, the General Assembly may amend the act, and a company's filed THP form may sit below the state's posted maximum. The dates beside each source are the day the figure was checked, nothing more.