Downey, CA Business Licensing & Operations: Towing Companies (2026)

Downey runs police-related towing, abandoned and inoperable vehicles, collision tows, and anything blocking traffic, through a franchise system set up in Chapter 12 of the Municipal Code, Sections 6970 through 6977. Section 6970 states the City's purpose plainly: dispatch private operators who hold a valid franchise agreement, and charge those franchisees a franchise fee under Vehicle Code Section 12110(b) that can't exceed the City's actual cost of running the program. Section 6972 is where the licensing bite is: no person may perform towing services for the City without first obtaining a franchise from the City Council, franchises are nonexclusive, and no single agreement can run longer than three years.

The Council keeps full discretion over how many franchises to grant and can refuse to grant any at all if it decides that isn't in the City's and public's best interest, and it can bar an operator from re-applying under a different company name if the ownership is substantially the same. Getting a franchise starts with the Chief of Police publishing a request for proposals in a newspaper of general circulation for at least 30 days under Section 6973, then forwarding the qualified candidates and a draft agreement to the Council.

Section 6974 spells out what that agreement must cover: storage yard standards, tow truck and equipment requirements, vehicle handling and safeguarding standards, release and disposal terms, maximum rates and charges, driver qualification and training, recordkeeping, the franchise term, and conditions for suspension, termination, or non-renewal. Section 6975 lets the Council set the franchise fee by separate resolution, capped at the City's annual cost of administering and enforcing the program, and Section 6976 additionally requires every franchisee to hold a standard City of Downey business license on top of the franchise itself.