SECTIONS 12110-12111 - California Statutes

VEHICLE CODE

SECTION 12110-12111

12110. (a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), no towing service
shall provide and no person or public entity shall accept any direct
or indirect commission, gift, or any compensation whatever from a
towing service in consideration of arranging or requesting the
services of a tow truck. As used in this section, "arranging" does
not include the activities of employees or principals of a provider
of towing services in responding to a request for towing services.
(b) Subdivision (a) does not preclude a public entity otherwise
authorized by law from requiring a fee in connection with the award
of a franchise for towing vehicles on behalf of that public entity.
However, the fee in those cases may not exceed the amount necessary
to reimburse the public entity for its actual and reasonable costs
incurred in connection with the towing program.
(c) Any towing service or any employee of a towing service that
accepts or agrees to accept any money or anything of value from a
repair shop and any repair shop or any employee of a repair shop that
pays or agrees to pay any money or anything of value as a
commission, referral fee, inducement, or in any manner a
consideration, for the delivery or the arranging of a delivery of a
vehicle, not owned by the repair shop or towing service, for the
purpose of storage or repair, is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable
as set forth in subdivision (d). Nothing in this subdivision prevents
a towing service from towing a vehicle to a repair shop owned by the
same company that owns the towing service.
(d) Any person convicted of a violation of subdivision (a) or (c)
shall be punished as follows:
(1) Upon first conviction, by a fine of not more than five
thousand dollars ($5,000) or imprisonment in the county jail for not
more than six months, or by both that fine and imprisonment. If the
violation of subdivision (a) or (c) is committed by a tow truck
driver, the person's privilege to operate a motor vehicle shall be
suspended by the department under Section 13351.85. The clerk of the
court shall send a certified abstract of the conviction to the
department. If the violation of either subdivision (a) or (c) is
committed by a tow truck driver, the court may order the impoundment
of the tow truck involved for not more than 15 days.
(2) Upon a conviction of a violation of subdivision (a) or (c)
that occurred within seven years of one or more separate convictions
of violations of subdivision (a) or (c), by a fine of not more than
ten thousand dollars ($10,000) or imprisonment in the county jail for
not more than one year, or by both that fine and imprisonment. If
the violation of subdivision (a) or (c) is committed by a tow truck
driver, the person's privilege to operate a motor vehicle shall be
suspended by the department under Section 13351.85. The clerk of the
court shall send a certified abstract of the conviction to the
department. If the violation of either subdivision (a) or (c) is
committed by a tow truck owner, the court may order the impoundment
of the tow truck involved for not less than 15 days but not more than
30 days.

12111. (a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), no city or city
and county may impose a business license tax for revenue-raising
purposes on the operation of a tow truck in its jurisdiction if the
vehicle tower maintains no fixed place of business within the
boundaries of the city or city and county.
(b) A city or city and county may impose a business license tax
upon a vehicle tower doing business within its jurisdiction who has
no fixed place of business therein, if the license tax is graduated
according to gross receipts attributable to work done within the city
or city and county.