Hampton drivers could soon pay significantly more to retrieve a towed vehicle, as City Council prepares to vote Wednesday on a revised fee schedule that softens — but doesn’t scrap — a push from local towing companies for their first rate increase since 2000. The standard tow rate, currently $125, could climb to a flat $240 fee under the updated plan, with other proposed hikes scaled back after council members balked at passing steep new costs on to residents.
According to The Virginian-Pilot, Hampton City Council will discuss and vote on the updated towing-fee proposal Wednesday. The city currently charges $125 for a standard tow, $285 for a heavy-vehicle tow and a $10 after-hours surcharge, per the same report. The new $240 figure would replace that structure with a single flat fee for all vehicles, built by combining the $210 state default towing rate with a $30 default after-hours surcharge.
How the Compromise Differs From the Original Ask
The original proposal, pitched by the Hampton Towing Advisory Board in September, was considerably steeper. The Daily Press reported that standard tow rates would have doubled from $125 to $250, daily storage fees would have jumped from $28 to $55, and after-hours surcharges would have risen by $15 — figures first detailed in a Daily Press report from September. That same proposal would have pushed specialized-recovery rates for extraordinary services, like unusual debris cleanup, from $62.50 to $125 per half hour.
The revised version headed to council Wednesday keeps those extraordinary-service recovery rates and the processing fee at their current levels, according to the Pilot’s reporting. It also eliminates the heavy-vehicle category entirely for vehicles such as buses and tractors, and would create an appeal process through the city manager’s office for any tow or related charge. A standby fee — charged when a requested tow isn’t immediately needed and the driver has to wait — could also be scrapped as part of the compromise.
Why Towing Companies Say They’re Owed a Raise
Towing company representatives have framed the request as long overdue. “We have not had a raise since the year 2000,” Abbott told WTKR. Hampton City Council is the body that ultimately sets how much towing companies get paid, the station noted. The Daily Press reported that supporters of higher rates point to inflation, more complex vehicle recoveries and rising diesel costs as reasons local operators have been short-changed for a quarter-century of flat pricing.
Not everyone on the dais is sold on passing those costs straight through to drivers, though. Council members raised concerns during the September discussion that customers shouldn’t have to shoulder even higher prices for their vehicle, the Daily Press reported. That tension between compensating towing operators and protecting residents’ wallets appears to be exactly what the scaled-back Wednesday proposal is trying to resolve.
How Hampton Stacks Up Against Its Neighbors
Hampton’s rates have stayed frozen even as other Hampton Roads cities moved on theirs. Newport News raised its fees in 2024 to a maximum of $175 per standard tow and $40 per day of storage, while Virginia Beach increased its rates that same year to $200 per standard tow and $60 per day of storage after the first 24 hours, according to the Daily Press. A City of Virginia Beach webpage separately describes a $200 towing cost with daily storage ranging from $60 to $100 depending on the vehicle’s gross weight.
State law also sets guardrails around some of these charges. Under Code of Virginia § 46.2-1233.1, localities may add no more than $30 per instance for towing done between 7 p.m. and 8 a.m. or on a weekend or holiday, with no more than two such fees applied to a single vehicle. Separately, § 46.2-1233 requires localities in certain planning districts to set a hookup and initial towing fee of no less than $135, within the ceiling set by the surcharge statute — the same state default figures that factor into Hampton’s proposed $240 flat rate.
A Hampton spokesperson, Michael Holtzclaw, declined to comment on the revised proposal ahead of Wednesday’s council discussion and vote, according to the Pilot. Whether the council adopts the $240 figure, some other rate, or further revises the standby-fee and appeals provisions remains to be seen when members take it up this week.
