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

Dayton runs its towing and impound rules out of Chapter 76 of the Revised Code of General Ordinances, the same chapter that handles junked vehicles. Section 76.07 gives Department of Police members the impound and immobilization power, and § 76.08 lists the sixteen situations, lettered (A) through (P), in which they may use it. Several of those are specific to Dayton rather than generic. A vehicle left on public property for 48 hours or longer without the permission of the Director of Police may be taken under § 76.08(E). A vehicle tagged under § 72.12 that is still in the same spot four hours later may be taken under § 76.08(K). Under § 76.08(J), a vehicle whose owner or lessee has collected two or more tags or notices of liability under §§ 72.12 or 70.121, the photo-enforcement section, and has not paid the civil penalties within 30 days of the second violation, may be towed or immobilized. Recovered stolen vehicles get a courtesy the others do not: under § 76.08(I), if the registered owner is identified and notified, the owner has one hour from actual notice to arrange private removal before the city impounds.

Where the vehicle goes is fixed. Section 76.09 says every impounded vehicle shall be removed to the nearest place of safekeeping designated by the Police Department, and to no other place. Section 76.10 then holds the car until a written release order signed by the Police Chief or an authorized agent issues, and conditions that order on payment of all impoundment costs and accrued storage charges.

The notice duty in § 76.11 is a 72-hour clock and it is itemized. The notice must carry the registered owner name and address, the license plate number, the reason for the action, the location, date and time of the tow, contact information for the entity that will release the car, and the time, place and manner for starting a hearing. Ordinary mail is enough unless the Police Chief chooses certified mail.

Section 76.12 is the owner rights section. The hearing request must be in writing, filed within 20 calendar days of receiving the notice of impoundment and no more than 25 calendar days after the tow, and it must arrive with a $50.00 cash bond. No bond, no hearing, and missing the window waives the right to contest the tow at all. The hearing officer must sit within ten business days of the city receiving the request, and the owner gets written notice of date, time and place at least five calendar days out. The city carries a rebuttable presumption in its favor: citations plus a signed statement from the Finance Director are prima facie evidence the tow was proper. If the officer upholds the tow, the $50 bond is forfeited to the city. If the officer finds it improper, the bond comes back and the owner owes nothing for the tow or the storage. Storage fees keep running during the appeal either way, the hearings are open to the public, and the written order is mailed within ten days of the hearing.

Getting the car back is a documents exercise under § 76.13. Police release to a registered owner or a representative on photo identification plus a certificate of title, and the ordinance expressly refuses a jumped or signed-over title. Anyone who is not the registered owner and holds no security interest needs a notarized power of attorney on a form prepared by the Department of Law. A lienholder needs proof of the security interest plus a signed hold-harmless release, also on a Law Department form. If whoever collects the vehicle cannot lawfully drive it, § 76.13(D) requires it to leave the impound lot on an insured towing service. Vehicles nobody claims are disposed of under § 76.14, which routes to R.C. § 4513.62.

Two nuisance-vehicle tracks sit outside Chapter 76 and carry a much steeper release price. Under § 136.09, an officer with probable cause that a car facilitated a sexual-activity-for-hire offense may impound it, with notice hand delivered on the spot or mailed to every registered owner within three business days. The parallel drug provision is § 139.17. In both, § 61.10 and § 136.11 set release at a $500.00 cash bond plus all towing and storage costs, credited later against whatever the hearing officer assesses. Section 136.09(D) carves out three exemptions: a seizure under R.C. Chapter 2981, a vehicle operating as a common carrier, and a rental from a leasing agency for a term of no more than 30 consecutive days.

One thing Chapter 76 does not do is set a price. Dayton fixes no dollar figure for the tow itself or for the per-day storage rate anywhere in the impound chapter; it simply requires that impoundment costs and accrued storage charges be paid. For non-consent tows from private property, which are a separate track from a police-ordered city tow, the maximum charges are set by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio in Ohio Admin. Code 4901:2-24-03 rather than by any Dayton ordinance, and R.C. 4513.601 governs private tow-away zones while R.C. 4513.60 covers removals a law enforcement officer orders from private property.