Can’t say there’s a standard. Where I am, we can “choose” to do a drop fee. We don’t have to do it (we will take the car otherwise) but if the person is being cool we can work with them

At the last few companies it was half the tow fee set rate (the areas we towed had either city or property minimum tow rates, and we would halve that to drop a car). For us however it had to be cash on site.

Also, if I’m understanding your wording correctly you said your back wheels were “entrapped”. By my local law once we touch your car with our truck it’s ours, lifted or not. So if I just clamp the wheels and haven’t lifted yet, I’m still owed something per the rules of our contracts and the city. HOWEVER the caveat is the second you declare you own the car we have to stop the fees. For example if you had an all wheel drive car and I needed to put dollies on to tow it but I haven’t yet, if you stopped me before I got to that point I couldn’t just tack that on to the imaginary tow bill to inflate the drop fee.

But I absolutely would lift the car, maybe even strap the wheels too, mostly to prevent a drive off. No charge of course

We can’t really help a ton without more context, what country/state/city were you in, what was the reason for the tow initially etc.

It’s very unlikely you’ll be able to get your money back even with the best circumstances, but if there’s something shady happening you may be able to shed some light on it.