Edison, NJ Parking Rules: Towing & Impound Rights (2026)

Section 11-28 of Edison Township's Revised General Ordinances is the township's towing licensing and rate ordinance. It was adopted under N.J.S.A. 40:48-2.49, rewritten by Ordinance No. O.2021-2018, and amended by Ord. No. O.2051-2019 and Ord. No. O.2100-2021. It governs towing agencies that remove and store vehicles at the request of any Township of Edison employee, on public or private property alike, which is what makes it a non-consensual towing rule rather than a contract matter. Two carve-outs at § 11-28.1e matter to a reader: tows the Division of Police orders that end in a police impoundment are excluded, and so are township-owned or leased vehicles. Police impoundment, the impound yard and abandoned vehicles run on a separate track at § 10-23. Everything else dispatched off the police rotation list is priced by § 11-28.19.

The fee schedule is written by weight class and by clock. Under 10,000 pounds, a standard tow or flatbed run is $90 between 0800 and 1700 hours Monday through Friday and $110 at every other hour, including the six holidays named at § 11-28.20 (New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day). From 10,000 to 32,000 pounds the two figures are $210 and $250; above 32,000 pounds they are $375 and $425. Roadside service with no tow, meaning a tire change, fuel delivery, jump start or lockout, is $60 in that weekday window and $70 otherwise, plus $0.75 per gallon of fuel delivered against a receipt kept on file with the invoice. Waiting time, defined at § 11-28.2 as time the operator spends at the scene beyond the tow itself, such as time held for an EMS crew or a police investigation, is $40, $80 or $120 per hour by weight class and is billed in quarter-hour increments. Winching is billed at $20 per quarter hour per man. Uprighting or crane work carries a flat $80, $150 or $200 by weight. Debris cleanup is $35, $50 or $65, and hazardous debris disposal is direct cost plus a five percent handling charge.

Mileage is free inside Edison and free on any run to the towing agency's own storage lot. Past that it is $3.50, $4.50 or $5.50 per mile measured from the pickup point to the customer site or storage facility, and anything beyond 25 miles must be set by a predetermined rate negotiated with the customer. Storage is $40, $50 or $80 per day by weight class, billed in six-hour increments, and § 11-28.19g1 waives storage entirely when the vehicle is retrieved within six hours of the tow. A calendar day only counts as a chargeable storage day if the yard was open and staffed to release vehicles for at least seven and a half hours, or four hours on a Saturday. Subsection 11-28.19j then closes the list: no fees may be imposed other than those specified. Subsection 11-28.19k requires the agency to accept cash, major credit cards, and in-state personal and in-state business checks, with starter and third-party checks excluded.

Edison also puts a price-disclosure duty on the operator. Under § 11-28.16h the towing agency must verbally detail the anticipated expense to the vehicle operator before rendering any service. That is waived only when the driver cannot speak because of a medical condition or was removed from the scene before the truck arrived, and in that case the agency has 24 hours to reach the owner, operator or lessee by telephone, with a detailed voicemail counting as compliance. If the call fails, written notice of the towing and storage charges and of how to obtain release must go out by certified mail, return receipt requested, with a copy by regular mail to the Edison Police Department Traffic Bureau. An agency that skips this step may charge storage for only the first 24 hours. Section 11-28.21 separately requires the agency, before payment in full, to let the customer into the vehicle for important personal papers and effects including wallets, purses, insurance documents, identification and banking documents, but not parts, license plates or other property stored in or on the car. Insurance adjusters and company representatives get access to stored vehicles during normal business hours at no charge, and § 11-28.9d requires a rate card naming the business, its owner, the tower's license number, location, phone numbers, hours and rates to be handed to the vehicle owner at an accident scene.

Response and siting standards sit at §§ 11-28.13 and 11-28.14. A licensed agency must run its business premises and own its storage lot inside Edison or within six road miles of the Edison Township Municipal Complex at 100 Municipal Boulevard, must have room for at least 15 vehicles, and may not use shared or satellite lots or store a towed vehicle on any street or public right-of-way. From 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. a light or medium duty truck has 20 minutes from the call to be on location and a heavy duty truck has 30; from 8:01 p.m. to 5:59 a.m. those windows become 25 and 35 minutes, every day of the year absent extraordinary weather. Miss it and the Police Department may call the next agency on the rotation, and the late tower is entitled to no fee at all for its response. A customer who asks for their own towing service is the one recognized exception to the rotation list under § 11-28.17c2.