Commerce City, CO Business Licensing & Operations: Towing Companies (2026)

Revised Municipal Code § 11-2103 requires any person who drives a tow truck, or a vehicle equipped to provide towing service, to hold a permit from the Colorado Public Utilities Commission; operating without one is unlawful. The same section bars on-site solicitation at accident scenes: a tow truck cannot be driven to, or stopped at or near, the scene of an accident, fire, explosion, or other disaster unless the property owner, the owner's authorized agent, an insurance carrier, or a police officer attending the scene called it there.

Separately, § 11-44 governs non-consent tows from private property: an owner or lessee, or a written agent, can have an abandoned motor vehicle removed from their property without the vehicle owner's consent by having a PUC-licensed operator tow and impound it. The operator who takes possession from a private tow must immediately notify the Commerce City Police Department of the operator's name, the impound lot's location, and a description of the vehicle including its make, model, license plate, and vehicle identification number, so police can check whether it was reported stolen.

If the vehicle turns out to be stolen, police recover and secure it and notify the owner, and can recover reasonable recovery costs from the owner. Otherwise, the operator must dispose of the vehicle under Colorado's abandoned-vehicle statute, C.R.S. § 42-4-1801 et seq., within 72 hours of learning it wasn't reported stolen. An operator who tows and stores a vehicle under this article holds a first and prior possessory lien for recovery, towing, storage, and appraisal costs, but only if registered with the Colorado Department of Revenue.