Dearborn, MI Parking Rules: Towing & Impound Rights (2026)

Two separate bodies of Dearborn law govern a tow. Article VI of Chapter 18, sections 18-810 through 18-821, is Dearborn's own wrecker ordinance and controls what a towing company may do and charge. Sections 18-367 through 18-375, adopted by Ordinance No. 06-1063 on February 21, 2006, restate the Michigan abandoned-vehicle framework at MCL 257.252a and following, and control the notice, hearing and sale process once police treat a car as abandoned.

Under section 18-815 a wrecker service may remove a car from a private road, driveway or lot only when the vehicle's own owner or custodian asks, or when the property owner or that owner's agent or licensee specifically requests the tow. The ordinance expressly excludes the towing company itself from acting as that requesting agent, so a lot cannot hand the calling decision to the tow operator. Section 18-814 applies the same consent-or-authorization rule on public streets, where only a police officer or another designated city official may authorize removal. Section 18-813 adds a duty found in few codes: a wrecker driver clearing an accident scene must simultaneously remove and carry away all glass, metal and debris cast onto the street, and section 18-812 requires the operating name to be permanently lettered on both sides of every wrecker and visible at all times.

The right that matters most in the parking lot is in sections 18-817 and 18-818. A wrecker operator may not block a vehicle to stop the owner from driving it away. Once a car has been prepared for towing, defined as the attaching of any device or object designed to assist in moving it, the operator must release it to an owner who appears before it has been towed onto a public street or highway, on payment of a service run fee no greater than the council-authorized maximum. If the owner shows up before the car has been hooked up at all, the operator must release it with no fee, provided the owner promptly removes it from the property. Section 18-369(b) sets the parallel rule for police-ordered tows: the vehicle is disconnected from the tow truck, and the owner pays a reasonable service fee and gets a receipt for it.

Section 18-819 is the consumer-protection core, strengthened by Ordinance No. 23-1784 on January 24, 2023. The city council, not the tow company, fixes the maximum private-property tow charges, and the chief of police must review the allowable towing fees of other municipalities and give council an annual summary with a recommendation on whether Dearborn's caps should change. Commercial motor vehicles as defined in section 18-63.1 are carved out of the caps. The operator must accept a major credit card and must hand over a receipt bearing, in at least 11-point type, a statement that private-property towing in Dearborn is regulated by the city and that permitted fees can be confirmed by calling the Dearborn Police Department at (313) 943-2240. Section 18-820 exempts a lawful repossession from sections 18-815 through 18-820.

Section 18-821 governs the storage lot. An impounded vehicle must be protected from theft, vandalism and damage, and the operator may do nothing to render it inoperable beyond removing the ignition key and locking it. Personal property in the car that is not attached or accessory to it must be safeguarded and surrendered on demand, and the towing service has no lien on those items. Every wrecker and towing service doing business in Dearborn must carry a garage keeper's legal liability policy with an occurrence limit of not less than $35,000.00, on top of any coverage state law requires.

On the abandoned-vehicle track, section 18-367(g) lets an owner redeem the car by paying a $40.00 fee plus accrued towing and storage charges to the custodian, who forwards $25.00 of that to the Secretary of State for the abandoned vehicle fund. The owner has 20 days from the Secretary of State notice to redeem or to petition the district or municipal court, which section 18-371(a) requires to schedule a hearing within 30 days, and section 18-371(b) puts the burden on the police agency to show by a preponderance of the evidence that it followed the procedure. The court may find the towing and daily storage fees unreasonable and order an appropriate reduction, or find the agency non-compliant, release the car and make the agency pay the accrued charges. Section 18-373(b) caps collectible storage fees on a vehicle released for disposition at the least of the contracted daily rate, the facility's own daily rate, or $1,000.00, and that cap does not reach commercial vehicles or vehicles owned or leased by an entity rather than an individual.

Signage sits in section 18-375. Before a private property owner may authorize a non-consent tow, a notice must be prominently displayed at a point of vehicular entry, with at least one notice per 100 feet of road frontage where the property lacks curbs or access barriers, in letters not less than two inches high on a contrasting background, naming the towing service and its telephone number, permanently installed with its bottom not less than four feet from the ground, and maintained continuously for at least 24 hours before any vehicle is towed. Property appurtenant to and obviously part of a single-family or two-family residence is exempt, as is a case where the driver was personally told the space was unavailable.

Two Dearborn-specific tow triggers sit outside Article VI. Section 18-357 lets the mayor declare a snow parking ban, after which any car left on a covered street may be cited and towed at the owner's risk and expense by an authorized employee or agent of the police department or the department of public works, and enforcement may occur after the emergency ends if evidence shows the car was parked during it. The section directs residents to CDTV, 313.943.2085, or the Snow Hotline at 313.943.2444. Separately, section 13-527 treats a street-racing vehicle as a public nuisance, and a settlement to reclaim a seized car may carry a redemption fee of $900.00 for a first seizure, $1,800.00 for a second and $2,700.00 for a third, each plus towing and storage fees. That schedule is a forfeiture redemption charge set by the Wayne County Prosecuting Attorney or the city's Corporation Counsel, not a tow rate, and by its own terms it does not apply to drag racing cases.