How to dispute a tow in Memphis
Think a tow near Memphis was wrong? Memphis and Tennessee both give you real, specific leverage.
What Tennessee law says
Tennessee doesn't run one statewide towing complaint hotline, but the rules that exist give you real leverage if a company breaks them. The clearest one: under Tennessee law, a garagekeeper or towing firm needs express written authorization before towing or storing your vehicle, from a law-enforcement officer, the vehicle owner, or the property owner or agent for a private-property tow. Skip that step and it's a Class B misdemeanor. Inside Memphis city limits specifically, the City's own Wrecker Rules and Regulations add teeth: a company that tows without proper authorization, or that's found overcharging, owes the same remedy either way, reimburse everything paid, or release the car for free. Every wrecker company operating inside the city first needs approval from the Memphis Transportation Commission, which meets the first Thursday of every month, and companies on the MPD Wrecker Rotation list carry substantial insurance requirements and answer to a 30-minute response standard on accident scenes; miss it too often and a company drops down the rotation or gets flagged for investigation. Report a specific violation, an unauthorized tow, an excessive rate, any rule broken, in writing to the Permits Administrator or Wrecker Coordinator at (901) 636-6735 or permits@memphistn.gov. Two or more sustained complaints against one company triggers an Administrative Hearing, and penalties run from a fine to a suspension of up to 10 days at the Administrator level, longer if it's referred to the Transportation Commission, up to revoking the company's permit entirely. Quick Tow Memphis is a towing referral service, not the Permits Office or the police. We can't resolve someone else's dispute or waive fees, but we can help with transport once it's sorted out.
How it works in Memphis
- 1 Check whether authorization was on file
Every tow needs written authorization from a law-enforcement officer, the vehicle owner, or the property owner or agent. No authorization on file is a real violation.
- 2 Compare what you were charged
Memphis wrecker companies have to comply with a fee schedule the City prescribes. If a charge feels inflated, ask the company to justify it before you pay.
- 3 Know the overcharging remedy
A company found overcharging owes the same remedy as one that towed without authorization: reimburse everything paid, or release the car for free.
- 4 Report it to the Permits Office
File a written complaint with the Permits Administrator or Wrecker Coordinator at (901) 636-6735 or permits@memphistn.gov if the tow happened inside Memphis city limits.
- 5 Know what a pattern of complaints triggers
Two or more sustained complaints against one company triggers an Administrative Hearing, with penalties up to suspension or revocation of the company's permit.
- 6 Retrieve your vehicle and keep your paperwork
Keep the invoice and any records of what happened. Quick Tow Memphis can't resolve someone else's dispute since we're not the yard.
What this looks like around Memphis
A disputed tow in {c} usually traces back to Memphis's own permitted wrecker system. Report a violation to the Permits Administrator or Wrecker Coordinator at (901) 636-6735 or permits@memphistn.gov.
Memphis runs on freight, and that shapes almost everything about how a tow works here. FedEx's Superhub alone moves roughly 250 flights a night, most between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m., feeding steady heavy-duty and commercial recovery calls on top of ordinary residential ones. Whichever agency orders the tow, Memphis Police, the Shelby County Sheriff's Department, or Housing and Community Development, it lands at the same lot: 465 Klinke Avenue, open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, at (901) 636-8200. The fee is $135.00 to get a vehicle out plus $30.00 a day in storage, cash or credit card. Wrecker companies working the city must be approved by the Memphis Transportation Commission, and an emergency wrecker has to reach an accident scene within 30 minutes of dispatch or the call rolls to the next company in the rotation. Any private-property tow needs express written authorization under Tennessee law, a Class B misdemeanor if a company skips it. The city's own on-scene wrecker rate schedule is referenced in that same rulebook but wasn't published anywhere in our research, so ask for an itemized rate before agreeing to anything.
Memphis is our hub city, the busiest call area on the map, running from Downtown and Midtown through North Memphis, Berclair, and the Airport District out to the Shelby County suburbs and across two state lines into DeSoto County, Mississippi and Crittenden County, Arkansas. Each of those areas carries its own dedicated page. The city's defining call type comes from the two river crossings: I-40 crosses the Mississippi on the Hernando de Soto Bridge and I-55 crosses it a few miles south on the Memphis & Arkansas Bridge, and a breakdown mid-span on either one is a real hazard, not an inconvenience, since neither bridge has a shoulder to pull into. The FedEx World Hub at Memphis International Airport runs roughly 250 flights a night, mostly between 10pm and 5am, so the line and the operators we dispatch cover those overnight hours for the logistics and shift workers who keep the Superhub moving. A poverty rate above 23 percent citywide skews the vehicle fleet older and more breakdown-prone than the national average, and winter ice storms, the kind that knocked MLGW power to over 200,000 customers in both February and December 2022, strand cars on bridges and overpasses most winters. A steady share of the calls here are theft-recovery tows tied to MPD's Vehicle Storage Lot at 465 Klinke Ave, and we treat the driver getting their car back as the customer, not a suspect, no judgment attached. Calls here cover Downtown, the FedEx/airport corridor, and the I-240 loop, and the operator gives you an arrival estimate when you call. The operators we dispatch run flatbed for bridge calls and anything with sensitive electronics, wheel-lift for the ordinary breakdown everywhere else.
Common Memphis questions
Who do I contact to dispute a tow in Memphis?
Inside Memphis city limits, file a written complaint with the Permits Administrator or Wrecker Coordinator at (901) 636-6735 or permits@memphistn.gov.
What happens if a company towed my car without authorization in Memphis?
Under Tennessee's Tennessee law, that's a Class B misdemeanor, and Memphis's own Wrecker Rules require the company to reimburse everything paid or release the car for free.
Is there a state agency I can file a towing complaint with in Memphis?
Tennessee doesn't run one dedicated statewide towing complaint agency. Report a specific violation to the jurisdiction that permitted the tow; in Memphis, that's the Permits Administrator's office.
Can Quick Tow Memphis settle my tow dispute in Memphis?
No, we're a towing referral service, not the Permits Office or the police. We can't resolve a dispute or waive fees, but we can help with transport once it's resolved.
Related help for Memphis
Disputing a tow in the rest of the Memphis Core area
Need your car towed once it's released in Memphis?
We can't waive the yard's fees. The operators we dispatch can tow it home the moment it clears.