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

Chapter 5.67, added by Ordinance 3480, applies only to a "towing operation" as defined in Section 5.67.020: towing and storing a vehicle for compensation without the owner's implied or express consent, under Vehicle Code Section 22658(a) (illegal parking on private property) or Section 22953(b) (parking within 15 feet of a fire hydrant, in a fire lane, or in a disabled-parking stall), and only when the tow is not directed by the Huntington Beach Police Department. Tows the police order instead fall under Chapter 5.66 and sit outside this chapter entirely.

Section 5.67.020(B) carves out five categories the chapter does not reach: tows performed only for an association or auto club that pays the sole fee; free tows of vehicles the towing business itself owns or operates; tows of the company's own leased or rented vehicles billed on a nonprofit basis or folded into the lease; consensual, nonemergency tows of collision, breakdown, or convenience vehicles authorized by the registered owner, driver, or other person in control; and any tow directed by HBPD under Chapter 5.66.

The chapter's core protection is the fee cap in Section 5.67.030. Acting under Vehicle Code Section 22658(i) and (j), the City Council sets nonconsensual towing rates and charges by resolution, and Section 5.67.030(B) states that no tow fee charged shall be higher than the fees the resolution authorizes. The chapter creates no separate towing-company permit; it layers a rate ceiling onto operators who already do business in the city, so a vehicle owner disputing a bill should compare the invoice against the Council's current towing-rate resolution.