After forgetting to reapply her parking decal after a windshield replacement, Lark resident Abby Hatton returned home to find her car booted by Superior Towing, the company that patrols the popular apartment complex.
The 20-year-old UF tourism, hospitality and event management sophomore said she had to pay the fine despite already coughing up a monthly $130 for parking.
“It was $80 to get it removed at my own apartment complex,” Hatton said.
The practice, known as roam towing, consists of employees surveying private parking lots in search of illegally parked vehicles.
Superior Towing, UF’s towing partner and one of Gainesville’s most prominent, wants to put a stop to the practice.
According to a media statement, the company no longer wants to decide who gets towed. Instead, it would require the property owner or “authorized agent” to call and request a tow. The company said it believes this would allow the process to be more accountable and prevent what it sees as unnecessary tows.
In a proposal submitted to the Gainesville City Commission, Superior Towing called for a parking enforcement contract that includes call-in tows and call-in immobilization, set at $85 per year. The proposal recommends only property owners or their authorized agents be allowed to initiate tows.
According to public records, there have been over 500 call-in tows in Alachua County in 2024 and 2025 so far. Superior Towing appears in more than 300 of these records, the highest number for any company.
Steve Kirk, 50, is the owner of Towing Solutions. The company has been around for two years and does contract towing for the city, such as removing cars from accidents, roam towing and immobilization, or booting.
For a property to have a vehicle towed, the property owner has to submit a contract to the city listing the towing company and services they want, Kirk said.
Kirk said the Gainesville Police Department is working to separate the roam towing contract from the immobilization contract. A contract costs $85 per property. However, while Towing Solutions has been mentioned in discussions about ending roam towing, Kirk said he hasn’t been directly involved in conversations to stop it.
Kirk said he disagrees with claims that roam towing is “predatory,” arguing it’s necessary for property owners to maintain access to limited parking spaces.
“When they’ve got 10 parking spaces, and nine of them are taken up by someone that’s at an event, their customers could drive right on by because there’s no place to park,” Kirk said.
It’s similar for apartment complexes, he said. Most apartment complexes have more tenants than parking spots, forcing residents who pay for parking to compete for limited spaces, who often return home to find their spots taken.
Ava Wood, a 20-year-old UF sports management sophomore, lives at Ufora and pays $300 a month for a parking spot. At the beginning of the semester, he was booted in the parking garage because her decal was missing.
“I told them I pay to have a space there,” Wood said. “They told me there’s nothing they can do.”
Although Wood said her car had the garage gate code visible, she still had to pay around $80 to have the boot removed.
At the April 3 Gainesville City Commission meeting, commissioners voted to postpone setting new towing and immobilization fees, pushing the discussion to when students return for the Fall 2025 semester. The commissioners agreed at the meeting that they want to approach the topic holistically and gain more knowledge on the subject.
The proposed fee changes would raise Class A trespass tows from $100 to $160, Class B from $133 to $250 and Class C from $288 to $650. A $75 admin fee would also be added. GPD said its goal is to match the fees of Alachua County to ensure consistency and fairness. GPD breaks down the classes by light, medium and heavy-duty vehicles, according to its website.
Contact Olivia Shehadi at oshehadi@alligator.org. Follow her on X @OliviaS111.
