Woodbury, MN Business Licensing & Operations: Towing Companies (2026)

Woodbury doesn't run its own impound lot: § 15-32(a) authorizes the city council to contract with one or more towing companies to provide all the towing service the city needs to enforce its ordinances and state law. Once under contract, § 15-32(b) obligates the towing company to take immediate possession of any vehicle a police officer has ordered impounded and ticketed for a traffic or parking violation, tow it to the car pound, and immediately notify the police department of the vehicle's description, license number and other identifying details.

No impounded vehicle may be released without the police department's authorization. Section 15-32(c) puts the notice burden on the police department itself: it must mail registered or certified notice to the vehicle's owner of record, describing the vehicle, its location and the city's intent to dispose of it after 30 days unless it's released. Subsection (d) requires the officer ordering an impound of an unoccupied or damaged vehicle to prepare a written condition report, which the towing company must check and countersign as its receipt for the vehicle and any property inside it.

Redemption and sale run through § 15-33: the towing company can't release a vehicle until the owner pays the required impounding and storage fees, and must issue a written release stating the date and the charges. Any vehicle unclaimed 30 days after notice is sold at public sale, with proceeds applied first to handling, storage and sale costs and any surplus refundable to the former owner who claims it within six months.