About Towed Help

Last updated: October 27, 2026

Why I built this

My name is Ryan Levihn-Coon. In 2022, while I lived in Los Angeles, my vehicles were towed several times. Some of those tows followed the rules. Some, I believed, did not.

Each time, I had to learn the rules from scratch. I read the California Vehicle Code, the city's rules and the forms for tow hearings and lien sales. I had no one to represent me, so I represented myself (in California this is called appearing "in pro per"). I asked for hearings, wrote letters asking for my money back, gathered photos and public records, and, when I had to, went to court.

Here is what I learned:

• The deadlines are short and easy to miss. Some are counted in days, and missing one can end your options.
• Nobody explains your rights at the tow yard. The rules exist, but they are spread across state law, city codes and agency forms.
• Paper wins arguments. Photos, receipts, the exact rule and its citation, and a calm letter sent on time did more than anything I said on the phone.
• Public records help. Records requests showed me how the system actually works.

Some of what I tried worked. Some of it didn't, and much of it took months. In 2022 I started a free website, suecalitowthugs.com, to share what I had learned with other people in California. Towed Help is the careful version of that idea: every rule is checked against the official text, dated and linked, so you can check it yourself.

I now live in Austin, Texas, where I built the Texas tools.

What I got back, and what it means for you

• A demand letter. On July 14, 2022, the City of Los Angeles had our family's Corolla towed to Absolute Towing's Hollenbeck yard, and I paid $534 to get it back. In early August I sent the company a 4-page demand letter. Absolute Towing wrote me a $600 refund check dated August 12, 2022, and on August 18 it released our family's camper trailer for $0, dropping a $1,335 balance.
• A City hearing. With the registered owner's written permission, I presented the Corolla's post-storage hearing myself on July 26, 2022, and won. The City of Los Angeles refunded the $534 towing and storage fee (check dated October 18, 2022).
• 2 hearing wins, and 1 loss. Two hearings I asked for were decided in my favor; one went the other way.
• Lien sales stopped. The oppositions I filed with the DMV kept my truck from being sold.
• $30,000 in settlements. In 2024, in court without a lawyer, I reached settlements with a tow company and a lien-sale processor. The companies admitted no liability.

This was my experience, not a promise. My cases were in California, under California law, before this tool existed, and many took months. Your situation, your city and your state's law will be different. Your result may be different, and you may get nothing back. The tools show you which rules apply to your tow; they don't predict what will happen. We publish every result people report, good and bad.

Towed Help doesn't file anything for you, doesn't go to hearings for you and doesn't negotiate for you. It shows you the rules and deadlines and helps you write your own letters and hearing requests, sent in your name.

Proof

The documents are shown as they were printed, with personal and banking details blacked out: bank, check and account numbers, signatures, my street address, plates and the VIN.

What I built, and how we check it

• The rules for your city and state, written from the official text of the law, each with its citation and the date we checked it. How we check the law explains where the rules come from and how we fix mistakes.
• Your deadlines. For example, in Texas the written request for a tow hearing must be delivered to the court before the 14th day after the tow, not counting Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays (Occ. Code § 2308.456).
• Your own letters and forms, which you choose to send, or not.
• A public Library of towing records, rates and law changes. Many of the records came from public-records requests we filed ourselves.
• English and Spanish throughout.

We don't say that any company broke the law. We show what the rules require and what the records say, with a link so you can check.

Who runs it

Towed Help and its city tools are run by TS LaGrange LLC, doing business as Towed Help (and, in its Austin, Houston and San Antonio tools, as Towed in Austin, Towed in Houston and Towed in San Antonio), a small for-profit company in Austin, Texas, that I own and manage. Mailing address: 7301 N FM 620 Rd, Ste 155-117, Austin, TX 78726. The ".org" is just our web address: we are not a nonprofit and not a government office. Each city tool's page shows a short site name, such as "Towed in LA" (towedinla.org, a website we run) or "Towed in DFW"; it is the name of that Towed Help tool.

What we don't do

• We are not a law firm and not a government website. We give general legal information, not legal advice.
• We don't represent anyone in a hearing, a claim or a court case.
• The tools don't decide whether a tow broke a rule, and they don't choose for you. You choose which rules to include, what to say, and whether to send anything. The tools can show the figures (for example, how far a charge is above a posted maximum); you decide whether to use them and what to ask for.
• In Texas: these products are not a substitute for the advice of an attorney (Tex. Gov't Code § 81.101(c)).
• We are not affiliated with any police department, city, county, state agency, court, DMV or tow company.

Why it's free, and how we make money

• Free to use, everywhere. Every question, rule, deadline and on-screen letter is free in every tool, and every tool except Austin, Houston and San Antonio is free from start to finish.
• Optional paid packets, one time. Only in the Austin, Houston and San Antonio tools: a complete PDF packet ($29), or Packet + Send ($49), which also mails one letter for you by Certified Mail (each further letter is $12). There are no subscriptions. The refund rules are in our Terms (for example, 30 days for any reason for a packet).
• No ads, and we don't sell your information. We don't show ads, sell leads, or sell or rent anyone's information. See our Privacy Policy.
• No referral fees. No one pays us to send you to them.

If you need more than a tool

If you want advice about your own situation, talk to a lawyer or a legal aid organization. In Texas, TexasLawHelp.org explains towing law and lists free legal aid. Please don't send me the details of your case: I can't give you advice about it.

Contact

• Questions about a tool: help@towedhelp.org (the Los Angeles tool: help@towedinla.org).
• A mistake in a rule, amount, date or citation: corrections@towedhelp.org.
• Privacy requests: privacy@towedhelp.org.
• Mail: TS LaGrange LLC, 7301 N FM 620 Rd, Ste 155-117, Austin, TX 78726.

General legal information, not legal advice. Past results don't guarantee future results.