The new towing law stops at your parking lot
The new towing law stops at your parking lot
2026-09-15 · Pennsylvania · Legislation
What happened. Pennsylvania enacted its first towing-abuse statute on 20 July 2026. Act 46 of 2026 adds 18 Pa.C.S. § 7332, "Unlawful towing and towing storage facility practices," and takes effect 150 days later, on 17 December 2026.1 It does not apply to a car towed from a condominium or homeowners association parking lot.
The definition that does the work
The limit is in the definitions, not in an exclusion anyone would think to look for. Section 7332(f) provides: "'Tow.' To move, remove or recover a motor vehicle at the scene of a motor vehicle accident, regardless of whether the owner or operator of the motor vehicle consents…" and "'Towing storage facility.' The location or business where a motor vehicle has been towed as a result of a motor vehicle accident…"2
The improper-conduct provision carries the same limit on its face. Subsection (b) opens: "At the scene of a motor vehicle accident, a tow truck operator commits an offense if…"2
A car towed for parking in a reserved space, for an expired decal, or for sitting unmoved on common ground has not been in an accident. Every operative provision of the new section passes over it.
What the act does cover
Within its accident-scene scope the act is substantive. Subsection (a) sets operational requirements: a physical street address, PennDOT registration, the operator's name, address and telephone number on the truck, and posted fees. Subsection (b) reaches crash-scene solicitation and the practice of obtaining a 24-hour repair authorisation signature at the scene. Subsection (c) covers refusal to release a vehicle during posted hours, refusal to itemise charges in writing, refusal to accept cash or a credit card, and storage fees charged for a period when access was unreasonably refused.
The penalties, and who they reach
Violations of subsection (a) carry up to $750 for a first offence and $1,500 for a repeat. Violations of (b) or (c) carry up to $2,500 and $5,000. On a third or subsequent (b) or (c) violation, a law enforcement officer may impound the tow truck itself until the penalties are satisfied. The act also preserves municipal authority: "Nothing in this section shall preclude a municipality from enacting a rotational towing ordinance."2
That last clause is the one with a route into association territory, and it points at the municipality rather than at the association. A township that adopts a towing ordinance reaching private lots is not preempted by Act 46.
What actually governs a tow from association property
Nothing new. The framework is unchanged from what it was before July 2026, and it is contractual and municipal rather than criminal:
- The declaration and rules. An association's authority to tow comes from its own governing documents and its power to adopt and enforce rules about the common elements. If the declaration or rules do not authorise removal, the tow is exposed regardless of what a sign says.
- Signage and notice. Whatever the municipality's ordinance requires — and this varies by township, which is why a template borrowed from another community is a poor idea.
- The towing contract. The association's own agreement with the operator, which is where indemnification, fee schedules, release-hours and photographic-evidence obligations either exist or do not.
- Consumer protection generally. Unfair or deceptive practices remain actionable independently of Act 46.
The practical point for a board is that the safeguards Act 46 imposes by statute on an accident-scene tow — itemised charges in writing, a requirement to accept a credit card, a bar on storage fees accruing while the owner is locked out — exist on association property only if the board negotiated them into the towing contract. Most towing contracts are signed without anyone reading them, and they are drafted by the operator.
The asymmetry worth naming
A Pennsylvania driver whose car is towed after a collision will, from December, have a statutory right to an itemised bill and a criminal remedy against an operator who refuses one. The same driver, towed from their own condominium's visitor parking over a decal dispute, has whatever the association's contract with the operator happens to say. The legislature did not decide that association tows deserve less protection; it wrote a definition aimed at a different problem, and association lots fell outside it.
What to watch next
Two things. First, whether municipalities use the preserved ordinance power to reach private lots — that is the realistic near-term route to any change, and it will happen township by township rather than statewide. Second, whether a future session broadens the definition of "tow." No bill doing so is currently before the General Assembly, and the session ends 30 November 2026, so nothing can happen on that front before 2027 at the earliest.
In the meantime, the version of these protections a board can actually obtain is the one it writes into its next towing contract. Renewal is the moment to ask for itemised written charges, mandatory card acceptance, defined release hours, photographic documentation before hook-up, and a fee schedule that cannot change without notice.
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