Updated for June 2022: Find current laws, regulations, forms and guidance you need to sue illegal and predatory tow truck companies in California.

Sue Cali Tow Thugs has the most comprehensive collection of information in a single place for anybody seeking to recover money and vehicles from illegal tow operators in California, including City-specific laws, permit requirements, police commission regulations, and more for Los Angeles. City-Specific information for San Diego and San Francisco is coming soon.

We created this site after being taken advantage of by illegal tow operators in Los Angeles. We struggled to find the help and resources we needed to seek justice and get our money back. While we were able to find some helpful resources, it took loads of work to uncover all the resources we needed. So we decided to create this site so that people like us could find EVERYTHING you need in order to deal with the horrible experience of being taken advantage of by tow thugs in California. And a great deal more.

For example, many people find that a basic understanding of the relevant sections of the California Vehicle Code (read: Law) and a few forms to file with the court is enough to get back the money they lost to the tow thug. In addition to this, many folks want to know how and where to file a complaint with the entities that are responsible for regulation tow companies, or with the Better Business Bureau, the police, etc. Throughout all this, you're living through the god-awful experience of being taken advantage of by a nefarious, conniving, and often very disrespectful tow operator who seems to have either essentially stolen YOUR vehicle and/or won't let you get it back and/or is charging some ridiculous or illegal amount.

People often feel conflicted as well. They want justice and their money returned, but at the same time, they don't want to give another minute of their life to the criminal or degenerate who put them through this humiliating and distressing experience to begin with. We've talked to more people than we ever would have imagined who have said in one way or another their experience of having their car towed by a rogue tow truck driver was ONE OF THE WORST EXPERIENCES OF THEIR LIFE. Seriously.

We've been there ourselves: car gone, trying to find out what happened to it, often thinking it was stolen, going to impound lot (that often feels like a jailhouse reception center, being treated like dirt by somebody behind bulletproof class who demands an exorbitant sum (often in cash only) to release our car, paying this ransom, finding our car has been damaged by the tow company, seeking assistance from the police and being told they can't do anything because it's a civil matter, and you know the rest. In other words, you get treated like trash and your car is gone, many time after doing nothing wrong, and then have to pay some disrespectful asshole way too much money to get your car back, and all the while, no matter where you turn, nobody seems to care.

This is where we come in. You've come to the right place. We Care. We have compiled and created EVERYTHING you need to get through this terrible encounter with a tow thug. You don't have to spend any money or much time. There is not a single thing you need or even consider needing that is not on our website. If after reading through some of the guidance and taking a look at some form, links, sample documents, etc., you're feeling better about making the move to get your money back, you are welcome to purchase our complete kit. It's cheap and it's complete.

Before we go any farther, we want you to know something most victims of tow thugs don't know. Because nobody tells them! The laws in force today in California are so comprehensive and so protective of individuals who have had their vehicles towed, it is VERY DIFFICULT FOR A TOW COMPANY TO TOW LEGALLY TOW AND STORE A CAR. This is so true and so important, it's worth saying again: TOWING A VEHICLE LEGALLY IS HARD TO DO IN CALIFORNIA. A brief history of the law reveals that our legislators in Sacramento, our Police Commissions, our City Council members, etc. DO KNOW that too many tow truck operators have towed too many cars in sketchy ways. In response, over the past two decades, the laws and regulations governing tow operations have gotten very and strict. And many of the laws don't provide any wiggle room: if a tow operator fails to comply with one little thing, then they can lose the right to collect any money from you and lose the right to hold your vehicle. In many if not most cases, the law also requires that they pay you between one and four times any amount you had paid them for the towing and storage.

The only reason everybody doesn't know the reality about the laws, and a big part of the reason we believe tow operators act like tow thugs so often, is because not enough people who have been victimized take the steps to hold tow thugs accountable. And we get it. You've already wasted enough time and money dealing with the tow thug. And it seems confusing and/or time-consuming to do anything about the rogue operator. The great news is we can help here, too. We can provide all the guidance and resources you need to get your money back, plus give you the confidence you need to know you're not overlooking anything, and none of it will cost you much time or money.

We learned that a principal reason we struggled to find ALL of the information we needed On our site you can find the