Cars & light trucks
Towed from your apartment? The authorization audit
Apartment tows fail on paperwork more than on parking. Who signed for your tow, what the signage said, and the two questions that void a tow.
Police-ordered tows: different tow, different rules
When an officer orders the tow, rotation lists and published program rates replace the free market. What changes, what doesn't.
Booted? The city module
Booting is a city game — New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and a handful of others write the rules. Fees, release clocks, and who takes the complaint.
Your medication is in the car: the property-access right
Twenty states guarantee access to everything in your car, free, before you pay a cent. How to use the right at the window.
You arrived while it was still there: the drop rule
If you reach your car before it leaves, many states cap what the release costs — or ban the tow from proceeding at all. The rule, state by state.
How to read a tow receipt, line by line
Every line on a tow bill is either on a published card or it is negotiable. The five lines that get invented most — and what a real card looks like.
Heavy Truck
What a clean tow costs: the ATRI benchmark page
The industry measured itself: 490 real invoices. The average clean crash tow, the average predatory bill, and the exhibit to cite in a no-cap state.
Cargo is not the tower's hostage
The freight is usually worth more than the truck. Which states force its release, what 'promptly' means, and the words that start the clock.
The consent-form trap at the scene
ATRI documents towers pressuring drivers to sign at the scene — a signature that can move the whole event out of the protected class. What signing changes.
Pay under protest, bond it out, fight from possession
Indiana's 75%-plus-bond release is the model. How to get the truck earning first and dispute second, without waiving the dispute.