Albany, NY Parking Rules: Towing & Impound Rights (2026)

Article III of Chapter 353 licenses tow operators through the Albany Police Department, and Section 353-63 is the part that governs the bill. The $150 ceiling attaches to the weight of the vehicle rather than the reason for the tow, and the same maximum rates apply to a disabled vehicle pulled off an Albany street even where the driver did ask for the tow. Section 353-65(L) makes charging above the filed schedule its own violation, and Section 353-65(M) requires the company to hand over a receipt listing its license number, the tow and retrieval dates, the plate and make, the starting and ending location of the tow, an itemization of every fee, the phone number of the Albany Police Department Traffic Safety Division, who authorized the tow, and the stated purpose of it. Those records must be kept a year and are open to the Chief of Police at all times.

For a tow from a private lot, Section 353-60 puts conditions in front of the hook. A lot holding five or more vehicles must post a sign at the entrance or another conspicuous spot, repeated every 30 parking spaces where applicable, naming the towing company, its location and telephone number, the cost of towing and the Traffic Safety Division number, all in lettering at least two inches high. The towing company must file a copy of its service agreement with the City and must tell the Police Department the reason for the tow and the party authorizing it before the vehicle moves.

A driver who reaches the scene in time keeps the car. Section 353-65(E) bars an operator from towing once the owner appears, asks that the vehicle not be taken and is able to correct the condition, even if the vehicle is already connected to the truck, so long as the truck is not yet in motion, and no fee may be charged. The one exception is a call answered between 6:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m., where the operator may collect at most $20. Operators may not solicit work at accident scenes or cruise the streets for it, may not refuse to tow a disabled vehicle to a destination within 10 miles if the driver can pay the charges, may not store a towed vehicle on a public street, and are responsible for damage done while the vehicle is in their hands. Storage yards must be reasonably illuminated and fenced, and a company must have an employee on the premises or on call 24 hours a day. Response to a police-ordered assignment must be 20 minutes or less under Section 353-61, and a company called to an accident must sweep up the debris without charging for it under Section 353-62.

City-ordered impounds run on a separate track. Chapter 359 Article X lets the Chief of Police remove, immobilize or store vehicles, but not for unpaid parking obligations unless the vehicle has accumulated over $200 in outstanding fines or traffic warrants, and Section 359-95 releases the vehicle once those are satisfied plus a $40 administrative surcharge for the immobilization device. Booting is otherwise banned citywide by Section 353-65(U). Section 353-59 gives the City a lien and a $50 per vehicle towing charge on impounded vehicles under General City Law Section 20(30), while Section 353-64 leaves a private company towing at police request to the garage lien in Lien Law Section 184. New York's General Business Law Section 399-v reaches Albany because it carves out only cities of a million or more, and it is that statute's allowance for local rate-setting the Common Council exercised here. The current figures date from the amendment of June 3, 2024 by Ord. No. 1.12.24.