Shoreline, WA Business Licensing & Operations: Towing Companies (2026)

Shoreline adopts the Washington Model Traffic Ordinance, Chapter 308-330 WAC, by reference under § 10.05.010, which in turn incorporates the state's tow-truck operator registration, permit and business-location requirements at RCW 46.55.020 through 46.55.240 as the rules governing towing companies operating in the city. Rather than leave those provisions untouched, § 10.05.030(B) locally amends RCW 46.55.010's definitions of 'junk vehicle' and 'unauthorized vehicle,' the two triggers that let a registered tow operator remove a vehicle without the owner's consent. An unauthorized vehicle on private, non-residential property that is properly posted under RCW 46.55.070, or on residential property at all, is subject to removal immediately; on unposted private, non-residential property, removal is allowed only after 24 hours.

Vehicles meeting the junk-vehicle test, three years old or older, extensively damaged, apparently inoperable or worth only its scrap value, are handled the same way under the amended definition. Because Shoreline contracts police services from the King County Sheriff's Office, deputies and city-authorized tow operators apply this locally amended timing when directing a non-consent tow, and complaints about improper towing or storage fees route through the RCW provisions on operator recordkeeping, notice and lien rights that the city adopted alongside these local amendments.