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

170 regulates any 'vehicle towing service,' defined as a business licensed to operate within the City that tows vehicles from one location to another. Subsection A caps the maximum fee any such service may charge for towing and storing a vehicle illegally parked on private property within Norwalk at the amount the City Council periodically sets by resolution, rather than letting the operator name its own price; the Council reviews that cap periodically. Subsection B supplies the enforcement teeth: a towing service that charges more than the Council-set maximum, or that fails to promptly refund an overcharge once the person who paid it demands the money back, faces revocation of the business license the operator needs under Title 5 of the Municipal Code to operate in Norwalk at all.

A revoked operator is barred from applying for, or being issued, a new business license for a full year after the revocation. Because the section is triggered by any tow from private property, it reaches the tow trucks that clear apartment complexes, shopping centers and other private lots of vehicles the property owner has not authorized to park there, not vehicles the City itself removes from a public street. 170(B) for the City's remedy against the operator.