Atlanta, GA Parking Rules: Towing & Impound Rights (2026)

Chapter 162, Article IV of the Atlanta Code of Ordinances governs wreckers and towing services, and Sec. 162-227 is the consumer facing rate section. Subsection (a) forbids a firm from charging more than the state maximum, citing O.C.G.A. Sec. 44-1-13 and, in text that predates the current regulator, "Georgia Public Service Commission Transportation Rule 11-1 of $125.00." Because the same sentence incorporates the state figure "as it may be changed from time to time," the $125.00 printed in the code is a stale reference point rather than an independent Atlanta cap. The same is true of the older numbers that survive elsewhere in the code: the sign wording prescribed by Sec. 162-223(d)(4) still says a vehicle may be removed at a maximum cost of $85.00 and stored at a maximum of $10.00 per day, and the fee schedule in Appendix B still lists $95.00 for nonconsensual removal from private property and $10.00 per day storage, with a note that those maximums do not apply to vehicles weighing more than two tons. Treat all of those figures as historic and check the current state tariff for the number a firm may actually collect today.

Subsection (c) is the piece unique to Atlanta. Nonconsensual towing and storage fees are to be set annually by the city council on the recommendation of the department of finance, and every nonconsensual towing firm must file its actual removal and storage costs with the chief financial officer by October 31 each year. The council therefore holds the power to set a lower local ceiling than the state allows, and that October 31 cost filing is the record the power is meant to rest on.

The operational rules carry more force than the printed rates. Under Sec. 162-232, a wrecker that removes a private vehicle at the request of anyone other than an on duty police officer must report the removal to the police department by electronic communication within one hour of depositing the vehicle at its storage point, including the vehicle description, the vehicle identification number and the tag number. Sec. 162-233 requires every wrecker service to keep an impound lot inside the city limits and to have an attendant there 24 hours of every day with authority to release a vehicle to an owner who meets the legal requirements. The lot needs a sign at the entrance nearest the office, at least 24 inches by 24 inches, painted white with red lettering, stating the towing charge, the daily storage rate, that checks and credit cards are accepted in lieu of cash at no extra fee, and that no storage fee may be charged for a vehicle held under 24 hours. Lighting must average at least two maintained foot candles at grade, and the lot must keep records of the call time, the caller, the tow time and place, the arrival time, the release time and the names of the driver and helper, available for police inspection 24 hours a day.

Sec. 162-234 is the drop fee rule: a wrecker summoned to tow a vehicle from a street, public property or private property may not tow it and may not charge any fee if the driver returns before the wrecker has left the location and moves the vehicle immediately. The single exception is a vehicle immobilized for three or more unsatisfied delinquent parking tickets under Sec. 150-88(c)(6), which is towed after the 24 hour grace period whether or not the driver is standing there.

Booting is treated as impoundment in Atlanta. Sec. 162-251 defines impound to include immobilization, Sec. 162-260 caps a private vehicle immobilization service at $75.00 per day for boot removal, all inclusive, with a $50.00 per day late fee for failing to return a self release device that cannot exceed $600.00 per device, and Sec. 162-258(h) requires the service to reach the vehicle within one hour of being contacted between 5:01 a.m. and 9:59 p.m. and to release it within one hour of payment. When the city itself immobilizes a car for three or more delinquent tickets, Sec. 150-88(h) caps the removal charge at $50.00 per day. A vehicle the police impound is held 60 days before the advertisement and sale process in Sec. 150-88(d) begins, and an owner may request a title hearing before the police chief, who must set it within ten days. At Hartsfield-Jackson, Sec. 22-86 sets a separate schedule of $25.00 per vehicle impounded plus $2.50 for each day after the first.