Tigard, OR Parking Rules: Abandoned Vehicles (2026)

Chapter 7.60 of the Tigard Municipal Code defines the terms first. Under § 7.60.010 a vehicle is abandoned if it has remained in the same location for more than 24 hours and it has an expired license plate, appears inoperative or disabled, or appears wrecked, partially dismantled or junked. A vehicle is stored if it has remained in the same location for a minimum of 72 hours. The Chief of Police includes any authorized law enforcement officer, including code enforcement officers.

Section 7.60.015.A makes it unlawful to abandon a vehicle on any public right-of-way or other public property within the City of Tigard, and makes the owner responsible for the cost of removal, storage, detention, maintenance and disposition. Subsection C covers repeat cases: when a vehicle has been identified as abandoned or stored on two prior occasions within a one-year period and the owner was given notice both times, it is deemed a threat to the traveling public and can be towed and impounded immediately without prior notice, with a notice mailed within 48 hours of impoundment, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays.

The ordinary process runs through other sections. Section 7.60.020 has the city affix a notice to tow, and allows immediate removal when a vehicle is an imminent hazard or obstruction to traffic. Under § 7.60.030 a vehicle that has not been moved a minimum of 500 feet within 24 hours of the request or notice, holidays, Saturdays and Sundays not included, can be removed. Section 7.60.055 gives the owner a hearing on written request within five days of the mailing date, and the city sets it within 72 hours of the request. An unclaimed vehicle stored more than 15 days and appraised at $750 or less, or stored 30 days or longer, can be sold under § 7.60.070, and § 7.60.130 bars storage charges beyond 60 days.

Private property is a different section. Section 6.02.220.B prohibits keeping inoperable or partially dismantled automobiles, trucks, buses, trailers or other vehicle equipment in a state of disrepair on any real property, except in a fully enclosed storage facility, building or garbage receptacle.