Columbus, OH Parking Rules: Towing & Impound Rights (2026)

Chapter 2107 applies when a Columbus law enforcement officer, as defined in Section 2301.01(K), orders a vehicle removed from a street, easement, public right-of-way, sidewalk or other property open to vehicular traffic or parking. Section 2107.01 lists ten grounds, among them a vehicle parked in violation of the Traffic Code subject to Section 2150.02, a vehicle reported stolen, a vehicle whose driver was arrested or refused a police instruction after arrest, a vehicle whose driver was removed because of illness or injury, a vehicle that in the impounding authority's opinion presents a risk of physical harm including one leaking substances into the environment, and a vehicle abandoned after an accident away from the owner's residence.

The fee schedule in Section 2107.06 is the part that belongs only to Columbus. The release service charge is $125.00 for a motor vehicle of not more than 7,000 pounds, $155.00 above 7,000 but not more than 10,050 pounds, $200.00 above 10,050 but not more than 14,999 pounds, and $280.00 above 14,999 pounds, and the code states there is no extra fee when a dolly or rollback is needed to bring a light vehicle in. Extra recovery work such as uprighting an overturned vehicle, clearing excessive debris from the roadway or pulling a vehicle from an obstruction is billed hourly at those same weight tiers. Above 14,999 pounds the schedule switches to $63.00 per quarter hour after the first 30 minutes, $45.00 per hour per worker for extra human effort, $125.00 per hour for a four-wheel-drive wrecker, $250.00 per hour for a crane, $125.00 per hour for a heavy-duty service truck, and $125.00 for a trailer dolly when a trailer is not attached to a tractor. Storage is $18.00 for each 24 hours or fraction thereof below 10,050 pounds gross vehicle rating, and $23.00 per vehicle and per trailer at 10,050 pounds or more.

Three carve-outs cut the bill. A recovered stolen vehicle draws a reduced impounding fee of $55.00, with storage starting only on the fourth day after impoundment once the legal owner or agent has been notified, and that reduction is a one-time reduction per owner. A vehicle under 7,000 pounds held purely for safekeeping after its driver was removed for illness or injury also gets the fourth-day storage start. Under Section 2107.06(d), an owner whom the violations clerk determines to be the victim of a violent crime against a person, or of another special circumstance, is not liable for any towing or impounding fee at all.

Notice and release sit with the officer in charge of the pound. Section 2107.05 sets a twelve-hour clock: if nobody has come to claim the vehicle by then, that officer must notify the owner or driver in writing at the last known place of residence, stating the nature and circumstances of the violation and the amount of the charges for re-delivery, and a claimant must furnish satisfactory proof of right and title. Section 2107.07 runs the other way and requires the safety director to refund the set fee and the accrued storage charge on demand when the trial court finds the person not guilty, when the parking violations bureau finds under Chapter 2150 that the infraction was not committed, or when the case is dismissed.