Greensboro, NC Parking Rules: Towing & Impound Rights (2026)

Greensboro City Code Sec. 16-39 lists 23 specific situations in which city law enforcement officers, or other officials designated by the chief of police, must ticket or impound a vehicle. They include parking within five feet of a fire hydrant, blocking a private driveway or an alley entrance, sitting in a bus stop, parking over a water meter box, parking on a median, parking during snow removal operations, occupying an on-street space reserved for law enforcement vehicles, and a third or later oversized-vehicle offense. Those vehicles are towed and stored in a suitable place designated by the city.

The release path runs through the police department rather than the tow yard. Under subsection (c) no vehicle leaves impoundment until the person claiming it holds a signed release authorization form from the chief of police or a duly appointed official, and that form issues in only two circumstances: the owner has had a hearing on whether the impoundment was lawful and on who owes the towing and storage costs, or the owner was told about that hearing right and elected to waive it and pay. Subsection (d) then adds a separate city administrative fee, set by the city manager. Once that fee is paid, the Greensboro Police Records Division issues a receipt and a claim check, and the claim check authorizes release once the towing and storage fees are paid to the wrecker service company.

Subsection (f) sets the notice clock. The chief of police runs a hearing procedure approved by the city manager, and that procedure must ensure the owner is notified personally or sent notice within 72 hours of the tow, explaining how to assert the hearing right before paying any cost, lien, or fine. Ten days after receipt of that notice, an unexercised hearing right is deemed waived. If the hearing officer finds the tow improper, the city bears the cost or reimburses an owner who has already paid.

Booting is handled separately in Sec. 16-78. The police chief may immobilize with a wheel lock, or tow and impound, any illegally parked vehicle carrying three or more parking tickets that have been outstanding, unpaid, and overdue for 90 days, unless the tickets are current under an approved payment plan. Removing the wheel lock costs a flat fifty dollars ($50.00), and the notice affixed to the windshield must state both the penalties owed and that fee, along with the address and telephone number for payment. If the penalties and the $50 are not paid within 24 hours of the wheel lock going on, the vehicle may be towed to a public or private impound lot, and the police chief must mail an impoundment notice to the registered owner and any known lienholders at the address reported by the state department of motor vehicles. The owner then has seven days from receipt of that notice to request a hearing by certified mail; the police chief serves as hearing officer and issues a written report within three days, with appeal to district court by judicial pleading.

The rate schedule itself lives outside the code. Sec. 16-39(h) puts wrecker fees through a request for qualifications issued by the city, with the fee schedule determined by the city manager and the eligibility rules kept in Appendix A of the Standards for Wrecker Service. For removals from private property rather than city-ordered tows, North Carolina law governs instead: the code prints a state law reference to G.S. Sections 20-219.2 et seq. and 160A-303.