As a legal towing company, can I go pick up a car that I towed for non-payment?
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As a legal towing company, can I go pick up a car that I towed for non-payment?
I know that when we tow a car if the customer won’t pay we don’t drop the car and it is legal to bring it back to our storage lot for non-payment. But my question is, if we tow a car to a house and they say they will have there parents mail a check to us and they don’t can we go back to that house and pick up the car we towed?
Asked on September 22, 2011 under Business Law, Texas
Answers:
FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 13 years ago | Contributor
If you tow a car to a customer's home and the customer represents to you that payment would be promptly made but fails to make the payment, you can use self help to take the car back but to do so most likely will result in a law suit against you.
You cannot use self help to force a customer to pay monies owed by taking his or her vehicle from his or her property. Your option is to bring an action against the customer for payment (most likely in small claims court) after all efforts for an informal resolution have been exhausted.
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