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

4 defines an Official Police Garage as a towing and storage business the City selects to remove vehicles at the direction of LAPD, Port Police, Airport Police, or Housing Authority Police officers. The Board of Police Commissioners, with City Council approval, awards five-year contracts covering 18 geographic service areas (boundaries on file with the City Clerk under Council File 08-0418) plus heavy-duty towing contracts, using the City's standard bid process; each request for proposals must be approved by Council resolution and must weigh a bidder's past performance if it previously ran an Official Police Garage.

Every contract must set towing and storage fees that are uniform citywide, set annually with the LA County Transportation Index as a factor, and carries a five-year renewal option. Interim operators who held a garage contract as of February 28, 1996 continue under written interim contracts until the competitive award is complete. Each Official Police Garage must remit to the City's general fund a fee equal to 7% of all revenue from its police-garage activities, including towing, storage, and lien-vehicle sales, filed twice monthly with the Office of Finance; fees unpaid within 15 days are delinquent and draw a 25% penalty. No operator may hold more than two Official Police Garage contracts at once, and any transfer of a majority ownership interest requires Council approval.