The North Carolina Supreme Court ruled in King v. Town of Chapel Hill that municipalities cannot cap towing fees for vehicles removed from private property, establishing that private property towing fees are a matter between the property owner, the tow company, and the vehicle owner rather than a municipal regulatory question, according to legal analysis. The ruling has been cited in subsequent legislative efforts to create state-level fee caps.
Operator takeaway
A Supreme Court ruling that municipalities cannot cap private property tow fees creates a regulatory gap — and that gap is exactly what HB 199 and subsequent state-level legislation is designed to fill.