A towing bill can keep growing even while the insurance companies are still deciding who is responsible for the crash. The immediate problem is practical: find the vehicle, learn the daily rate, and decide where it should go next. The legal question of who ultimately pays may take longer.
In Louisiana, payment can depend on the type of tow, the available insurance coverage, fault for the collision, and whether an insurer later takes title to a totaled vehicle. Those are separate issues. A yard’s right to collect a charge does not necessarily decide which insurer or driver must reimburse that charge.
Start by identifying the tow
Ask whether the tow was consensual or nonconsensual. A tow arranged through police or another public agency generally falls within Louisiana’s nonconsensual towing framework even if the driver asked the officer for help. The Louisiana Public Service Commission publishes rates and requirements for Commission-regulated nonconsensual towing. A privately negotiated tow does not become subject to that rate schedule simply because it happened after a wreck.
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| Situation | Question to answer | Documents to keep |
|---|---|---|
| Police or agency arranged the tow | Was it a regulated nonconsensual tow, and does the invoice match the current LPSC schedule? | Tow ticket, dispatch or crash report, itemized invoice, yard rate sheet |
| You chose the towing company | What rate and services did you authorize? | Estimate, authorization, text messages, receipt |
| Your own insurer is handling the vehicle | Does your policy cover towing, labor, collision, or storage, and what limits apply? | Declarations page, policy language, claim emails, payment explanation |
| Another driver caused the crash | Can the tow and reasonable storage be documented as crash-related property damage? | Invoice, photos, notice to the liability carrier, transfer records |
| The vehicle is a total loss | Has an insurer taken title, and who is coordinating payment and removal? | Valuation, title request, payoff information, storage cutoff correspondence |
The LPSC motor carrier page links to the current nonconsensual towing rates and the governing order. The Commission’s December 20, 2024 order allows annual adjustments, so an old screenshot or invoice from another year is not a reliable substitute for the current schedule.
Who may pay the tow and storage bill?
Several payment paths may exist, but none should be assumed without checking the policy and the facts.
- Your own policy: Towing or roadside coverage may pay some towing charges. Collision or other physical damage coverage may also affect how the vehicle and related charges are handled. Limits, deductibles, and policy wording matter.
- The at-fault driver’s insurer: Reasonable towing and storage caused by a collision may be part of a property damage claim. The carrier may still question the tow, the daily rate, or how long the vehicle remained at the yard.
- The vehicle owner: A yard may look to the owner for payment before releasing the vehicle. Paying a charge to obtain release does not necessarily end a later reimbursement or overcharge dispute, but the receipt and invoice should be preserved.
- An insurer that takes title: Louisiana law addresses towing and storage obligations when an insurer succeeds to legal title after a covered loss.
Louisiana Revised Statute 22:1292 says an insurance policy cannot be read to let an insurer take legal title without assuming the insured owner’s credit obligations for towing and storage associated with the covered incident. The statute also permits collection of certain towing or storage debts from an insurer that succeeds to title. This title-based rule is important in a total-loss claim, but it does not mean every insurer automatically owes every charge from the first day.
For help organizing the vehicle portion of a claim, see the firm’s Louisiana property damage claim guide. If the vehicle is being repaired rather than totaled, the separate question of transportation during repairs is discussed in Louisiana rental car and loss-of-use claims.
Charges that deserve a closer look
An itemized invoice is more useful than a single total. Ask the yard to identify the tow charge, mileage or transit time, recovery work, daily storage, gate fee, fuel surcharge, and any administrative or other line item. Then determine which rules apply to that tow.
Under Louisiana Revised Statute 32:1734, a gate fee is a charge for releasing a vehicle before or after normal business hours. The statute defines normal business hours as 8:00 a.m. through 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. It also prohibits a fee for retrieving contents during normal business hours. Outside those hours, a towing or storage company may charge only the amount determined by the LPSC for that retrieval.
A narrower rule applies to nonconsensual towing from private property. Act 768 of 2026, effective August 1, 2026, requires companies conducting those tows to make the vehicle or personal property available outside normal business hours, except legal holidays and exempted hours. If a company is unavailable for timely release, it cannot charge the requester storage for the closure or unavailability day, subject to those exceptions; future storage fees remain suspended until the next normal business day. The act authorizes State Police rules, including exempted hours. This provision should not be treated as a blanket storage-fee waiver for every crash tow.
Section 22:1292 contains another limitation within its scope: the daily storage fee is the only fee for storing the vehicle. It bars added charges for locating or viewing the vehicle, taking photographs, removing items, and similar activity that does not require towing or moving the vehicle during regular business hours.
Why the 90-day rule is often misunderstood
Louisiana Revised Statute 32:1728 is part of the process for disposing of a stored vehicle. It requires a final notice after 45 days in the circumstances described by the statute and generally says a towing, storage, or parking facility may not charge storage past the 90th day. An exception allows charges through issuance of a permit to sell when the permit application was submitted before day 90.
That provision does not make the first 90 days automatically reasonable, covered, or reimbursable. It also does not give an owner 90 cost-free days to leave the vehicle in storage. The owner and insurer should still address removal as soon as practical.
Download the towing and storage checklist (PDF). It covers yard details, daily rates, invoices and messages to the insurer.
What to do while the claim is pending
- Locate the vehicle. Record the facility name, address, phone number, stock number, and date the vehicle arrived.
- Ask for the current balance and daily rate. Request an itemized invoice and the written requirements for release.
- Notify every potentially responsible carrier in writing. Provide the yard information, daily charge, and claim number. Ask who will inspect, move, or release the vehicle and by what date.
- Protect the vehicle and its contents. Photograph the damage and remove personal property during allowed hours when it is safe and lawful to do so.
- Make a transfer plan. If the vehicle can be moved to a repair shop, owner-controlled location, or lower-cost storage, get any necessary approval in writing and arrange the transfer promptly.
- Keep proof of delay. Save emails showing when you supplied authorization, title documents, payoff information, or access to the vehicle.
Do not wait for a phone promise that someone will take care of the bill. A short email can establish the vehicle’s location, the known daily charge, what you authorized, and what response you requested. If an insurer later argues that storage continued unnecessarily, those dates will matter.
Be careful with a property damage release
A check for the vehicle does not always resolve towing and storage. Before signing a release or endorsing a check marked as full settlement, ask for a written breakdown showing whether towing, storage, taxes, deductible, salvage, and other property damage items are included.
A property damage settlement can also be distinct from an injury claim, but the wording of the release controls. The article on accepting a property damage check before an injury claim is finished explains why the document should be read before it is signed.
When legal help may be useful
A lawyer may be able to help when a yard refuses release despite compliance with its stated requirements, an invoice appears to exceed a governing rate, an insurer has taken title but will not address the storage balance, or the parties blame each other while the daily charge continues. The first task is usually to gather the invoice, tow ticket, claim correspondence, and title or release documents.
If towing and storage are becoming the bottleneck in a Louisiana crash claim, call Babcock Injury Lawyers at (225) 500-5000 or use the contact form. Bring the most recent invoice and the messages showing when each insurer learned where the vehicle was.
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Sources checked: September 29, 2026. Last reviewed: September 28, 2026.