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

Detroit rebuilt its towing chapter from scratch. Ordinance No. 2021-34, effective October 18, 2021, repealed the old Division 5 of Chapter 46, Article II (Secs. 46-2-81 through 46-2-89, carried forward from the 1984 City Code) and enacted the Division 5 in force today. Section 46-2-81 states that residents and visitors are entitled to a safe and well-managed vehicle towing system for non-consensual tows, and assigns enforcement of the whole division to the Police Department. Sec. 46-1-5 defines a "police authorized tow" as a tow performed for a fee by a tower summoned by the police, reaching wrecked or disabled vehicles, abandoned or illegally parked vehicles, and vehicles impeding traffic on a street, highway or freeway.

The dollar figures are deliberately not in the code. Sec. 46-2-93(a) forbids a police-authorized tower from charging fees in excess of the rates set by resolution of City Council, and describes only the shape of those rates: a flat hook-up fee, an additional charge for each mile beyond the first mile, and storage on a per diem basis. The same subsection lets Council set maximums for dolly tows, a standard rate for tows to the City auto pound in place of the normal rates, charges for excess time spent at the scene, separate fees for accident and non-accident tows to the curb or nearest side street, and "dry runs" where the tower answers a police call but performs no compensable work through no fault of its own. Sec. 46-2-94 permits the rates resolution to limit a vehicle moved in stages, from the traveled lane to the curb and then onward, to a single hook-up fee. Once adopted, the rates must be published in a daily newspaper of general circulation and in the Journal of the City Council, kept available at the Police Department and the Office of the City Clerk, reviewed at least once every two years, and take effect at the start of the next fiscal year (Sec. 46-2-93(c) through (e)).

Setting those rates runs through a standing body. Sec. 46-2-91 creates a Towing Rate Commission of five seats: the Auditor General as chairperson, the Director of the Buildings, Safety Engineering, and Environmental Department, the Chief of Police, a public representative appointed by the Mayor, and a towing-industry representative appointed by City Council. It must review the administrative, towing, service and storage fees at least every two years and report its recommendation to Council by October 1 of the review year; if it misses that date, Council may adopt the rates by resolution without it. Subsection (c) required any tow contract initiated after calendar year 2021 to be evaluated for whether an income-based rate structure or a tow hardship policy is feasible, with the findings sent to Council by resolution.

Detroit engages its police-authorized towers by contract rather than permit. Sec. 46-2-92 gives the Board of Police Commissioners the job of setting qualification standards, including insurance and bonding, and requires the Police Department to keep a current list of qualified towers, with a separate list allowed for towers handling abandoned vehicles under MCL 257.252a through 257.252m. The Board's rules must provide, as nearly as practicable, for equitable distribution of police-authorized towing among the listed towers. Every qualifying tower must be Detroit-based, which the section defines as paying City income taxes on its profits and City property taxes on its storage lot, yard or garage. Procurement is run by the Office of Contract Procurement, and the contracts are approved by the Chief Procurement Officer, the Corporation Counsel and City Council. Tow trucks must carry the company's name, address and telephone number, and may not bear wording that suggests they are City or police vehicles.

At the scene, Sec. 46-2-95 requires written permission on a Department-approved form, either from the driver or owner or from the investigating Detroit officer once the investigation is complete, and the completed forms, which must show the total fees charged, are kept six months. The tower must also hand the owner or driver a copy of the Council-approved rate schedule. Sec. 46-2-96 limits where the vehicle may go: the curb or nearest side street, a destination the owner requests, the City auto pound or a precinct station, or the tower's own lot inside the city boundaries, and that last option only where the driver is incapacitated or otherwise unavailable to decide. For a tow to the tower's lot, the tower prepares a signed inventory of contents and equipment on a multi-copy Police Department form, the officer in charge signs as witness, the Department keeps the original, the form states where the vehicle may be reclaimed, and a copy is mailed to the owner within 48 hours.

Recovery runs through two separate fee regimes. Sec. 46-2-98 requires prompt and willing release on proof of ownership and payment of the permissible towing, storage and administrative charges, and Sec. 46-2-97(b) requires towers to take cash, cashier's checks, debit cards and at least three major credit cards, and to give an itemized receipt. At the City auto pound, created under Sec. 46-2-61 by the Chief of Police with an attendant on duty during designated hours, Sec. 46-2-64(a) sets redemption at the towing charge plus an impoundment fee that stays flat for the first 24 hours and then adds a per diem storage cost for each additional day or fraction of a day. Sec. 46-2-70 then gives Detroit an unusual on-the-spot remedy: the officer in charge must tell the claimant the nature and circumstances of the violation, and if the owner protests the fee the pound marks the receipt "Paid Under Protest," the officer with knowledge of the facts must bring the underlying charge in court, and once the case is disposed of the Chief of Police must refund the protested fees.

A separate track applies to unpaid tickets. Under the Parking Scofflaw Program at Secs. 46-1-61 through 46-1-73, six or more unanswered parking violation notices trigger a warning notice mailed 15 days after the sixth, seven days to have it rescinded by paying in full or entering a payment plan, and then a final notice that adds a $25.00 administrative fee. The Municipal Parking Department may immobilize the vehicle or tow it to its own pound. The owner has 21 days to pay or to request a hearing before the Administrative Hearings Tribunal; where the Bureau cannot schedule that hearing within three business days, the vehicle is released on a cash deposit capped at $500.00 under MCL 257.606(4). A vehicle unclaimed 21 days after the impoundment notice is deemed abandoned and disposed of under MCL 257.252g. Sec. 46-1-70(c) states plainly that these scofflaw fees are not the same as the police impoundment and police towing fees.