To assist with the ongoing disaster recovery efforts in response to recent severe weather events and catastrophic loss or injury to property and life throughout Texas, Governor Greg Abbott has temporarily suspended all necessary statutes and rules related to the physical requirements for establishing a licensed Vehicle Storage Facility (VSF). The emergency suspension will allow VSFs to open temporary storage lots and expedite the storage of vehicles after a licensed facility has run out of space.

This suspension applies only to currently licensed VSFs and allows them to utilize an additional temporary lot beyond those currently in use, on which to store damaged, destroyed, flooded, and otherwise abandoned or inoperable vehicles that were subject to a nonconsent tow. This suspension applies only in counties within Governor Abbott’s April 30, 2024, Disaster Declaration and its subsequent amendments of May 2, 7, 15, 20, 26, and 30, 2024 and as listed below. It also applies to any additional counties that the Governor may subsequently add to the disaster declaration following this notification.

The suspension is in effect until the Office of the Governor terminates it or until the disaster of April 30, 2024 is lifted or expires.

Licensed Vehicle Storage Facilities must submit to TDLR by e-mail the address of each additional storage lot on which vehicles are being stored and include their license identification number to: towing@tdlr.texas.gov.  

If you have questions or need assistance, please call (800) 803-9202 between the hours of 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. CST or email towing@tdlr.texas.gov.

The specific technical requirements in suspension are:

85.1000              Technical Requirements—Facility Fencing Requirements;

85.1001              Technical Requirements—Storage Lot Surface;

85.1002              Technical Requirements– Storage Lot Lighting;

85.1003              Technical Requirements—Storage Lot Signs

The counties in which the suspension is effective are:

Anderson, Angelina, Austin, Bandera, Bastrop, Baylor, Bell, Bexar, Blanco, Bosque, Brazos, Brown, Burleson, Burnet, Caldwell, Calhoun, Chambers, Cherokee, Clay, Coleman, Colorado, Comal, Concho, Cooke, Collin, Coryell, Delta, Denton, DeWitt, Dickens, Eastland, Ellis, Falls, Fayette, Freestone, Galveston, Gillespie, Gonzales, Gregg, Grimes, Guadalupe, Hamilton, Hardin, Harris, Haskell, Hays, Henderson, Hill, Hood, Houston, Hunt, Jasper, Jefferson, Johnson, Jones, Karnes, Kaufman, Kendall, Kerr, Kimble, Knox, Lamar, Lampasas, Lavaca, Lee, Leon, Liberty, Limestone, Llano, Madison, Mason, McCulloch, McLennan, Medina, Menard, Milam, Mills, Montgomery, Montague, Nacogdoches, Navarro, Newton, Orange, Panola, Polk, Robertson, Rusk, Sabine, San Augustine, San Jacinto, San Saba, Shelby, Smith, Somervell, Sutton, Tarrant, Travis, Trinity, Tyler, Van Zandt, Walker, Waller, Washington, Wichita, Williamson, and Wilson Counties.

The suspension is in effect until terminated by the Office of the Governor or until the disaster declaration of April 30, 2024 is lifted or expires. It applies only to currently licensed Vehicle Storage Facilities.

All fees charged by VSFs are regulated by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) and are set according to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) during the preceding state fiscal biennium.

Starting on January 1, 2024, the allowable daily storage fees will be not more than:

• $22.85 for a vehicle that is 25 feet or less in length (this is raising from the previous fee of $21.03)
• $39.99 for a vehicle that exceeds 25 feet in length (this is raising from the previous fee of $36.80).

The one-time impoundment fee will increase to $22.85.

VSFs may not start charging the higher fees until January 1, 2024. Consumers charged the higher fees before January 1, 2024 may file a complaint with TDLR.

You’ll need to have an email address where we can send you the results of the inspection. Please make sure that your email in TOOLS is current.

If you do not have an email address on file when we inspect your business, your inspector will ask you to provide an email address when they arrive for the inspection. Please be prepared to provide a business email address to your inspector.

DO NOT use these forms before July 4; we posted them early for your knowledge and convenience.

DO NOT use the VSF-11 form on or after July 4, 2022.

• VSF 12: This form is used by insurance companies, tow companies, and companies exempt from licensing through Unified Carrier Registration (UCR) or other exemptions to pick up vehicles from a vehicle storage facility. When a vehicle owner or the owner’s authorized representative presents this form filled out, presents payment, and presents a valid state or federally issued ID, the vehicle storage facility must release the vehicle.
• VSF 13: When a vehicle owner or the owner’s authorized representative presents this form filled out, presents payment, and presents a valid state or federally issued ID, the vehicle storage facility must release the vehicle.

Real TDLR inspectors will:

• introduce themselves;
• show their State of Texas employee ID card;
• provide their contact information upon request; and
• provide their TDLR business card upon request.

Real TDLR inspectors cannot and will not:

• accept payment for license fees;
• request money for violations; or
• charge for inspections.

If someone posing as a TDLR employee approaches or calls you, please contact TDLR and law enforcement immediately. Impersonating a public servant is a third-degree felony in Texas.

Please note that no changes were made, and Towing program licensees are still required to obtain continuing education (CE) credits as specified in the program rules.

The Commission also adopted amendments to 16 Texas Administrative Code, Section 85.722, changing the allowable impoundment fee and daily storage fee that vehicle storage facilities can charge starting on November 1, 2021.

Licensees may start employing the new fees listed above on November 1, 2021.

If a municipality has an ordinance regulating vehicle parking, the designated municipal employee may request removal of a vehicle that is parked illegally, or parked legally and has been unattended for more than 48 hours and the employee has reasonable grounds to believe is abandoned.

H.B. 914 took effect September 1, 2021. Read the bill here.

S.B. 860 amends Section 2308.002(11) of the Occupations Code to redefine “tow truck” to exclude “a car hauler that is used solely to transport, other than in a consent or nonconsent tow, motor vehicles as cargo in the course of a prearranged shipping transaction, or a commercial transaction for transport of a damaged vehicle arranged or authorized by an insurance company and delivered to a salvage pool operator as defined by Section 2302.001.”

TDLR-licensed VSFs must release a vehicle to a car hauler who meets the above definition (including UCRs) and who provides a valid state or federally issued ID, payment, and one of the instruments of release for the vehicle.

Read more about S.B. 860 here.

If the VSF agrees to accept a transfer, it can then exercise its existing statutory authority to sell the property after providing notice to the property owner as prescribed under current law. S.B. 1181 preserves all existing notice requirements to the property owner. Before taking possession of the vehicle, a VSF may wish to request a copy of the rental agreement and verify that it authorizes the transfer.

S.B. 1181 is effective September 1, 2021. Read the bill at Texas Legislature Online.