HB 184: Georgia Consumer Protection Towing Act; enact

Currently, when a Georgia towing company cannot locate a vehicle's owner, the law requires the company to buy newspaper advertisements describing the vehicle before it can foreclose a lien and sell it. This bill would set up a statewide 'towed motor vehicle database,' built by the Department of Revenue or a licensed nonprofit industry group, where owners could look up a towed vehicle by VIN or license plate. Towing companies would have to enter each towed vehicle's VIN into the database within three days, and doing so would count as legal notice instead of running a newspaper ad. The bill also shortens the deadline for sending the official notification letter to owners from 15 days to 7 days, but lengthens the time an owner has to respond to a foreclosure petition from 10 days to 30 days. If a towing company skips required notice steps, the vehicle can be re-impounded to fix the problem, and any storage fees charged before that re-impoundment are wiped out. Most of the bill takes effect July 1, 2026, but the notice and database-use requirements in Part II do not start until January 1, 2028.

• Requires the Department of Revenue (or an approved nonprofit industry group) to build a statewide towed motor vehicle database searchable by VIN and license plate, operating by January 1, 2027.
• Requires towing and storage companies to submit a towed vehicle's VIN to the database within three days and treats that submission as sufficient legal notice to the owner instead of a newspaper advertisement.
• Shortens the deadline for sending an owner the required notification letter from 15 calendar days to 7 days after a vehicle is towed.
• Extends the time an owner has to answer a lien foreclosure petition from 10 days to 30 calendar days after notice is sent.
• Allows a vehicle to be re-impounded if a towing company, repair facility, or salvage dealer fails to follow notice rules, and cancels any storage fees charged before that re-impoundment.
• Requires the database operator, if a private nonprofit, to carry a $1 million surety bond and undergo independent data security audits.

Vehicle owners whose cars are towed from public or private property, towing and storage companies, repair facilities and salvage dealers that place liens on vehicles, the Department of Revenue, magistrate courts that handle lien foreclosure cases, and any nonprofit industry group that might operate the database.

Owners would be able to search online for a towed vehicle instead of relying on companies to find them or on newspaper ads few people read, potentially making it easier to recover a car before it is sold. Towing companies would face a faster notice deadline but also new database duties and a two-year phase-in for the notice changes.

• Section 1-2 requires the Department of Revenue to establish the towed motor vehicle database by rule no later than October 1, 2026, functional by January 1, 2027.
• Section 1-2 lets a qualifying nonprofit trade association operate the database if it maintains a $1 million surety bond, internal controls, and CPA-conducted data security audits, and keeps records for five years.
• Sections 2-1 and 2-2 add a requirement that towing firms submit a vehicle's VIN to the database within three days of removal from public or private property.
• Section 2-3 shortens the owner notification letter deadline from 15 calendar days to 7 days and eliminates the newspaper advertisement requirement, replacing it with timely database entry as sufficient notice.
• Section 2-3 adds a new subsection (g) allowing re-impoundment of a vehicle for notice noncompliance and voiding storage fees charged before that re-impoundment.
• Section 2-4 extends an owner's window to file an answer to a lien foreclosure petition from 10 days to 30 calendar days and removes the newspaper-advertisement path for serving unlocated owners.
• Section 3-1 sets the general effective date at July 1, 2026, but delays Part II's notice and database-use changes until January 1, 2028.

1. 2026-03-03House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
2. 2025-02-03House Second Readers (House)
3. 2025-01-30House First Readers (House)
4. 2025-01-29House Hopper (House)

• Eddie Lumsden (R, HD-012)Primary sponsor
• Clint Crowe (R, HD-118)
• Bruce Williamson (R, HD-112)
• Brian Prince (D, HD-132)
• Bill Hitchens (R, HD-161)

• towing laws
• vehicle liens
• consumer protection
• Department of Revenue
• magistrate court procedures