Guides
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.
Every line on a tow bill is either on a published card or it is negotiable. Learn the five lines that get invented most. Gate fees exist on some cards (Colorado caps the after-hours release at $106.06; California caps it at half the hourly tow rate) and are invented on the rest. Administrative and lien fees are capped where they exist at all (Palm Beach County: $50). Notification fees are capped in Colorado ($75/$150) and imaginary in many other places. Mileage beyond a card's included miles is real (Houston: $4.64/mile after 20) and padded when the route is short. Storage days are counted by the yard's calendar, not yours — a car released within 24 hours in California may be charged one day, not two.
The receipt-reading habit: for every line, ask “which card is this on?” If the answer is a shrug, the line is a claim. The checker's line-by-line table does this comparison for the cards we hold; the kit's dispute packet does it for the argument after.
Compare your receipt now: run the checker.