Bessemer, AL Business Licensing & Operations: Towing Companies (2026)

Bessemer Code of Ordinances Sec. 106-296, added by Ord. No. 3281 in 2005, governs impoundment of vehicles driven by unlicensed, suspended or revoked drivers and sets the operating rules for the wrecker company handling the tow. Subsection (h) requires the person redeeming the vehicle at the wrecker lot to pay the established towing and storage fees, plus an administrative fee that the wrecker company must forward to the city, meaning the private tow operator collects the city's cut at the point of release rather than the city billing separately.

Subsection (i) authorizes the wrecker company to sell any vehicle impounded under this division that remains unredeemed after 60 days, for the fees owed, following the procedure set out in the Alabama Abandoned Motor Vehicle Act, Code of Ala. 1975 Sec. 32-13-1. The section also builds in protections limiting when a non-consent impound tow can happen at all: a vehicle cannot be impounded if the driver's license expired within the preceding 90 days and the driver was otherwise properly licensed, or if the vehicle owner or a family member present in the vehicle holds a valid license, or where impoundment would jeopardize life or limb in a medical emergency.

A related fee structure appears in Sec. 106-262(c), which states the standard towing charges for privately owned vehicles impounded generally are established by ordinance or resolution of the city council and published in a fee schedule kept in the office of the city clerk. Redemption after a general impoundment under Sec. 106-261 requires paying a fee set by the chief of police to reimburse the city's removal and storage costs.