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The Pennsylvania rule set

Turn on the Pennsylvania rule set to get lien clock milestones, release and private-property checklists and notice templates built from Pennsylvania statutes and PennDOT publications, and see what it leaves out.

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OwnerDispatcherAdministrator
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Business
Towing

Checked against Pop Dispatch 0.1.0

The Pennsylvania rule set is a starting point for a towing business in Pennsylvania. Once it is on, the yard shows dated milestones for the lien clock, the release form and the private-property screens carry Pennsylvania checklists, and two notice templates are ready to print. You will be able to see where every item comes from and edit the wording to fit your business.

Have your attorney check it. This rule set gives you a starting point built from official sources, and it leaves legal advice to your attorney. Laws change, and your business stays responsible for the rules that apply to it, including rules of your own city or borough.

Before you start #

You need the owner or manager role to switch the rule set on. Dispatchers can read it.

Switch it on #

On the Mac, open Settings, find Compliance rules, choose Pennsylvania and choose Save. The yard record then lists the dates in its Lien section and the checklists in its Checks section, and a private property impound shows its checklist. The steps below do the same through the API.

  1. Send PATCH /settings/rule-set with {"rule_set": "pennsylvania"}. Send {"rule_set": "sample"} to go back to the sample numbers.
  2. Open a yard record. The countdown now names the Pennsylvania pack, and the milestones list shows each step with its citation.
  3. Read the whole rule set at GET /compliance/pennsylvania: sources, milestones, checklists and templates.

The lien clock #

The yard counts days in your time zone from the day a vehicle came in.

MilestoneDaysCounted fromSource
Send the abandoned vehicle report to PennDOT2 days (48 hours)the day the vehicle came in75 Pa.C.S. section 7304
The owner's 30 days to reclaim, to ask for the police report and to ask for a hearing end. This is also the earliest day PennDOT can authorize disposal.30 daysthe day the owner notice was mailed75 Pa.C.S. sections 7305(b) and 7307
A vehicle left on your lot 20 days counts as left without consent on private property, and you may file the report (only for vehicles towed from a private lot)20 daysthe day the vehicle came in75 Pa.C.S. section 7311.1(b)

The 30 days run from the day the owner notice was mailed, so the yard shows no end date until you log that day. Log it in the notice log as a letter with its date. When you have logged several letters, the clock uses the latest one, so the date can only move later.

A phone call or email in the notice log never starts the 30 days.

The checklists #

  • Release (printed on the vehicle release form for you to tick by hand): charges itemized in writing; release during the posted hours unless police asked for a hold; cash, a credit card from a common issuer and an insurance company check accepted; reasonable access to inspect the vehicle, with no storage charged for a period when access was refused. Source: Act 110 of 2012, section 3.
  • Facility: fees and hours posted at the storage facility; business name, address and phone number on each tow truck, with each truck registered with PennDOT; a physical street address. Source: Act 110 of 2012, section 3(a).
  • Accident scene: written notice with where to retrieve the vehicle; no signature asked for on a repair authorization, or on a storage authorization over 24 hours, as a condition of the tow. Source: Act 110 of 2012, section 3(b) and (d). A tow ticket for an accident call prints this notice.
  • Private property: signs at each entrance with the letter sizes in 67 Pa. Code section 212.115; the restriction posted before the tow; the property owner's report to local police before removal when the vehicle is processed as abandoned; storage at or below the municipality's own charge, and at $25 a day or less where the municipality sets none (75 Pa.C.S. section 3353(c)).
  • Abandoned vehicles: the police report in the file; the report to PennDOT within 48 hours; publication when the owner and lienholders cannot be identified; storage counted from the day the report went to PennDOT.

Notice templates #

Two templates come with the rule set. See pennsylvania-notice-templates for the fields each one must keep and how to edit them.

What the rule set leaves out #

These items could not be confirmed from an official source on 2026-11-01, so Pop Dispatch does not encode them. The full list is in docs/research/pa-towing-rules.md.

  • Philadelphia Code and Philadelphia Parking Authority rules for tow operators and lots. The city's code website refused access, and the copies the City publishes date from 2018.
  • The current amount of the abandoned vehicle reclaim fee. The statute, PennDOT's manual and PennDOT's sample notice show different amounts.
  • A general lien wait period and sale procedure for tows other than abandoned vehicles and accident tows.
  • Whether Philadelphia counts as a city of the first class for the 5 and 10 business day investigation and removal times in section 7304.1.
  • A notice to the owner about storage fees that are building up, and a rule on access to personal belongings.

Act 46 of 2026 sets penalties for some tow and storage practices and takes effect 150 days after its approval on July 20, 2026. Confirm the calendar date of the effective date before you rely on it.

Sources #

Each was read on 2026-11-01. The address of each is in GET /compliance/pennsylvania.

  • 75 Pa.C.S. Chapter 73 (sections 7303.1, 7304, 7305, 7306, 7307, 7311, 7311.1)
  • 75 Pa.C.S. section 3353
  • Act 110 of 2012, section 3
  • Act 46 of 2026 (18 Pa.C.S. section 7332)
  • 67 Pa. Code section 212.115
  • PennDOT Salvor Manual, PUB 460
Technical details
  • The setting is rule_set (sample or pennsylvania). GET /compliance/rule-sets shows the choice.
  • The yard record's lien holds pack, milestones (key, label, days, counts_from, citation, due and countdown) and compliance (the checklists). sale_earliest and sale_countdown are empty until the mailing day is logged.
  • Private-property impound records carry the same compliance block.
  • Code: core/src/towing/pa.rs. Its tests cover the 2 and 30 day counts, month ends, leap years, the 20 day step and the required template fields.

On the web console #

  1. Open Settings, then "Compliance rules". The "Rule set" menu offers the sample rules and Pennsylvania. Owners and managers choose and save.
  2. With Pennsylvania on, the page lists the dates it counts, its sources with links, the checklists, and the two notice wordings.
  3. Open a notice wording, change the title or the words and choose Save. The page shows which required merge fields are still missing, and Save waits until all are present.

If something goes wrong #

  • The yard shows no earliest sale date: log the owner notice as a letter with the day it was mailed.
  • "rule_set must be sample or the id of a rule pack": use sample, pennsylvania or the id of another pack. See rule-packs-overview.