Section 22513.

(a) Except as provided in subdivision (b) or (c), the owner or operator of a tow truck who complies with the requirements of this code relating to tow trucks may stop or park the tow truck upon a highway for the purpose of rendering assistance to a disabled vehicle.

(b) It is a misdemeanor for the owner or operator of a tow truck to stop at the scene of an accident or near a disabled vehicle for the purpose of soliciting an engagement for towing services, either directly or indirectly, or to furnish any towing services, unless summoned to the scene, requested to stop, or flagged down by the owner or operator of a disabled vehicle or requested to perform the service by a law enforcement officer or public agency pursuant to that agency's procedures.

(c) It is a misdemeanor for the owner or operator of a tow truck to move any vehicle from a highway, street, or public property without the express authorization of the owner or operator of the vehicle or a law enforcement officer or public agency pursuant to that agency's procedures, when the vehicle has been left unattended or when there is an injury as the result of an accident.

(d) This section shall not apply to the following:

(1) A vehicle owned or operated by, or under contract to, a motor club, as defined by Section 12142 of the Insurance Code, which stops to provide services for which compensation is neither requested nor received, provided that those services may not include towing other than that which may be necessary to remove the vehicle to the nearest safe shoulder. The owner or operator of such a vehicle may contact a law enforcement agency or other public agency on behalf of a motorist, but may not refer a motorist to a tow truck owner or operator, unless the motorist is a member of the motor club, the motorist is referred to a tow truck owner or operator under contract to the motor club, and, if there is a dispatch facility which services the area and is owned or operated by the motor club, the referral is made through that dispatch facility.

(2) A tow truck operator employed by a law enforcement agency or other public agency.

(3) A tow truck owner or operator acting under contract with a law enforcement or other public agency to abate abandoned vehicles, or to provide towing service or emergency road service to motorists while involved in freeway service patrol operations, to the extent authorized by law.

(Amended by Stats. 1991, Ch. 1004, Sec. 3.)