TAMPA, Fla. (WFTS) — For many drivers, a tow truck arrives during an already difficult moment.
It may be after a crash, an arrest or the discovery that a vehicle has been removed from private property. Once the vehicle is hooked up, another concern quickly follows: how much it will cost to get it back.
Now, two towing-industry organizations are asking Hillsborough County to increase the maximum rates for certain tows, create new charges for specialized recovery work and authorize a temporary fuel surcharge.
Watch report from Jada Williams
The Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners is scheduled to receive a report on the requests Wednesday, Oct. 21. Commissioners will not be voting on a final amended rate resolution during Wednesday’s presentation. Instead, the board will review the industry’s proposals and could direct county attorneys to prepare changes for consideration at a later meeting.
Industry groups ask county to revisit towing rates
The Hillsborough County Towing Association and the Professional Wrecker Operators of Florida submitted the proposals. The groups told county staff that towing companies are confronting higher costs for fuel, insurance, payroll, vehicles, parts, repairs, and taxes.
The request followed a discussion at the Sept. 2 county commission meeting, when Commissioner Miller asked Code Enforcement and the County Attorney’s Office to review rates for non-consensual, law-enforcement-directed towing and return with an update and fee recommendations. Staff was also asked to examine a temporary fuel surcharge.
The resulting report outlines potential changes, but it does not make a formal recommendation or automatically change what towing operators may charge.
For Michael McArthur, the Stepp's Towing director of operations, the discussion is about what it takes to keep trucks available around the clock.
“We’re required to be on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” McArthur said. “We’re required to have a certain amount of equipment inside of these trucks to meet the criteria that the police agencies require, so it costs us a lot of money to do this.”
Why operators want a $25 fuel surcharge
One part of the industry’s proposal is a temporary, flat $25 surcharge on each covered tow when the federally reported price of diesel fuel for the Lower Atlantic region exceeds $4 per gallon. The Lower Atlantic reporting region, known as PADD 1C, includes Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia.
The $25 surcharge is an industry request, not a recommendation from county staff.
County staff found that temporary fuel surcharges tied to diesel prices are becoming more common in other jurisdictions. However, none of the other jurisdictions reviewed uses the flat-fee model being proposed in Hillsborough County. Staff concluded that a flat surcharge “may be reasonable” based on the industry’s explanation of how fuel is consumed during the towing process.
McArthur said the cost is not limited to driving a tow truck to and from a call.
“The price of diesel is affecting us in more ways than anybody could ever possibly imagine,” McArthur said. “Our trucks sit a lot, so while they’re on a job loading, they’re idling, and that uses a lot of fuel.”
He said trucks may burn significant amounts of fuel while loading vehicles, working major crashes or remaining at a scene for an extended period.
“In a lot of cases, the truck will use more fuel idling at a job site, picking up a car or working a major accident,” he said. “It’ll use more fuel during that point than just driving back and forth.”
McArthur also said his company uses more than 1 million gallons of fuel annually and has faced diesel prices between $6 and $6.40 per gallon. Those figures came from his interview and are not independently verified in the county report.
He said the proposed surcharge would not recover all of the company’s additional fuel spending.
“It’ll put a very small dent into what we actually spend,” McArthur said, “but at least it’s something to help the industry get through these times with the fuel prices the way they are.”
How much could towing rates increase?
The proposal goes beyond the fuel surcharge. It would increase maximum allowable charges across several towing, mileage, storage, labor and after-hours categories.
For a Class A vehicle, generally a vehicle weighing up to 10,000 pounds or a vessel measuring 15 feet or less, the maximum flat hookup rate would increase from $160 to $185, a 15.6% increase.
Other proposed changes include:
- Class A mileage would increase from $6 to $7 per mile.
- Class A maximum daily storage would increase from $35 to $40.
- Class B hookup charges would increase from $200 to $230, a 15% increase.
- Class B maximum daily storage would increase from $45 to $50.
- Class C hookup charges would increase from $475 to $545, a 14.7% increase.
- Class C maximum daily storage would increase from $75 to $85.
- The after-hours vehicle release fee would increase from $70 to $80.
The industry is also proposing new or standardized charges for services involving specialized equipment and unusually complicated recoveries.
Those proposed categories include charges for a Landoll trailer, lowboy trailer, roll-off truck, rotator crane service, safety supervisors and specialty equipment such as skid steers, loaders, excavators and forklifts. Some requested categories would allow operators to recover the actual cost of disposing of hazardous or non-hazardous material.
Examples listed in the report include:
- $300 per hour for a Landoll.
- $300 per hour for a lowboy.
- $250 per hour for a roll-off truck.
- $775 per hour for rotator crane service.
- $450 per hour for specialty equipment.
- $185 per hour for a safety supervisor.
- $2,500 for a maintenance-of-traffic support truck or trailer.
Complicated recoveries can require more equipment
Industry representatives also raised concerns about tows requiring extensive work or specialized machinery, including vehicles in ditches, partially submerged vehicles and off-road recoveries.
The report points to high costs associated with Florida’s Rapid Incident Scene Clearance program, which involves complex or extended incidents that can create traffic hazards when vehicles cannot be removed quickly. Those calls may involve tractor-trailers, buses, boats and other large vehicles. They can also require extensive cleanup of debris, broken glass and vehicle fluids within established timeframes.
County staff said establishing rates for new categories could help standardize pricing for specialized services across the local towing industry. However, the report cautions that some of those proposed categories are relatively new and have few direct comparisons in other jurisdictions.
County staff finds many proposed rates are above average
County staff compared Hillsborough County’s current rates and the industry’s proposals with rates listed for Broward, Miami-Dade, Orange, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk and Palm Beach counties.
After reviewing the comparison, staff concluded that the proposed increases to existing rates are generally above average compared with similarly sized jurisdictions that have updated rates in the recent past. The industry, however, pointed to Hillsborough County’s three-year review period as a reason to consider the requested amounts.
Comparisons vary significantly by vehicle type and service.
For example, the proposed $185 Class A hookup rate is 20.5% above the $153.57 average listed in the county’s comparison. The proposed $230 Class B hookup rate is slightly below the $230.78 comparison average. The proposed $545 Class C hookup rate is 44.5% above the listed average of $377.25.
Some individual proposed fees are below comparison averages, while others are considerably higher. County staff did not conclude that every requested rate exceeded the market. Its broader conclusion was that the proposed existing-rate increases, taken together, are generally above average.
Which drivers could be affected?
The proposed changes would not set prices for every towing service.
If a driver has a flat tire or mechanical breakdown and calls a towing company directly, the company sets its own rates for that service.
The county discussion involves two other categories:
- A trespass tow involves removing a vehicle or vessel from private property without the consent of its owner or authorized representative.
- A non-consensual tow includes removing wrecked vehicles from crash scenes or removing vehicles at the direction of law enforcement.
McArthur said that could include a vehicle towed after a crash, arrest or DUI, as well as a vehicle removed after being left where it was not allowed to park.
Florida law requires counties to set maximum allowable rates for towing or immobilizing vehicles and vessels from private property. After the Hillsborough County Public Transportation Commission dissolved in 2017, county commissioners enacted an ordinance covering towing regulations and maximum rates.
Towing operators say the public does not always see the risks
McArthur said towing operators often have to work beside moving traffic, especially while clearing crashes and disabled vehicles from highways.
“We’re on the side of the interstate,” he said. “People don’t really respect the yellow lights like they do the red and blues. So we are definitely subjected to a lot more danger than the average person is.”
For McArthur, the rate discussion is also an opportunity to explain why the bill can be high even before any proposed increases.
“What people don’t understand is we’re not funded by the government like your fire rescue and ambulances and police,” he said. “We’re in this all by ourselves.”
He acknowledged that drivers may be frustrated by the prospect of paying more after their vehicles are towed, but emphasized that companies do not ultimately control the county-regulated rates.
“All of these rates are governed and managed by our city commissioners, county commissioners,” McArthur said. “We put in requests, but we don’t have a say on what the final rates are.”
What happens after Wednesday’s presentation?
Wednesday’s report does not itself increase towing fees.
If commissioners decide they want to modify the existing rate resolution, county staff identifies two potential paths:
- Adopt the industry’s proposed increases to existing rates, establish new charges involving exceptional equipment and authorize a $25 fuel surcharge on covered tows when diesel exceeds $4 per gallon.
- Adopt the increases and new categories but reject the proposed fuel surcharge.
Commissioners could also decline to direct staff to prepare an amended resolution, which would leave the current rates in place.
If the board directs the County Attorney’s Office to draft an amended resolution, the report says it could return as early as the next regularly scheduled county commission meeting. Any revised fees could take effect immediately if commissioners choose to structure the resolution that way.
For towing operators such as McArthur, it is a chance to make the case that the cost of keeping trucks ready, equipped and on the road has outgrown the current regulated rates.
For drivers, it is a warning that the price of an already expensive tow could eventually increase.
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