Kristina Richie and her husband walked out of an event at the Majestic Theatre in downtown San Antonio to find both of their cars missing from the parking lot. By the time they got them back, the couple had handed over $717.22 combined — a bill Richie says she wasn't allowed to see until after she paid it.
Richie and her husband had parked in a downtown lot near North St. Mary's and East Martin streets, and their vehicles were gone when they returned less than an hour and a half later, according to KABB. “We came back and both of our cars were gone,” Richie told the station. Both vehicles had been hauled to Creswell Towing's yard, where she says each car sat for less than 90 minutes, maybe two hours at most, before she retrieved it.
The receipts she shared with the station show $358.61 charged per vehicle, adding up to the $717.22 total. Richie said Creswell wouldn't let her review an itemized breakdown before she forked over the money. “Won't allow me to see what I'm paying for until after I pay it,” she said, according to the station's report. Among the line items she later found was a $25 charge she said was labeled a private property administrative tow fee.
A Viral Video and a Fee Dispute
Richie posted about the ordeal on TikTok, and the video has pulled in roughly 850,000 views, per the same report. She told the station she wanted the attention to raise awareness so Creswell wouldn't overcharge other drivers the way she says it overcharged her and her husband.
The station's reporting also surfaced a discrepancy over what San Antonio drivers should actually owe. KABB reported that San Antonio's own non-consent tow fee is $175, but that the Richies were instead charged the statewide fee, which the outlet put at $272 for a vehicle weighing 10,000 pounds or less. A 2013 San Antonio ordinance page, however, lists the city's fee for vehicles in that same weight class at $177, according to a city code excerpt — a figure that doesn't match either number cited elsewhere, and the available records don't clarify which schedule currently governs.
Texas law caps what a licensed tow operator can charge for a non-consent tow at the amount set under the Texas Occupations Code, while state law also lets individual cities and municipalities set their own towing fees, the station's report notes. The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation states that towing companies must make their non-consent fee schedules available to the public on request. TDLR has separately noted that amendments adjusted the maximum amount towing companies can charge for private-property tows beginning November 1, 2021, according to the agency.
Richie Pursuing a Formal Complaint
Richie said she has reached out to both TDLR and the San Antonio Police Department to file complaints, and she plans to take her concerns to a tow hearing, the station's report states. Texas tow customers can request such a hearing to have a bill reviewed for overcharging. If she prevails, Richie could get her money back, and Creswell could face steep fines, per the report.
Creswell Towing didn't offer a response when the station tried to reach the company. KABB said it was left on hold for more than 12 minutes without anyone picking up, and when a crew visited the property in person, staff asked the reporters to leave.
Not the First Complaint Against the Company
This isn't the first time a San Antonio driver has accused a towing operation tied to the Creswell name of questionable charges. In a 2019 report from News 4 San Antonio, Beverly Ramos said her car was towed from a San Pedro McDonald's even after a worker told her it was fine to leave it there while it overheated. She said she ultimately paid $219 and change to get it back. The same report described another driver, Daniel Decerra, who said he paid $10 to park at River Center Mall only to have his car towed within minutes. Both drivers, the station said, ended up paying more than $200 to recover vehicles they felt had been wrongly taken, and Creswell's Wrecker Service workers at the time told the outlet the manager wasn't available to answer questions.
