Huntsville, AL Parking Rules: Towing & Impound Rights (2026)

Huntsville rewrote its entire towing division on April 24, 2025. Ordinance No. 25-310 repealed the old sections 25-71 through 25-93 and enacted the current Article II, Division 2 of Chapter 25, so the rate ceilings and owner protections described here are recent rather than inherited from the 2005 and 2011 versions the code comparative table still lists. Alabama does not publish a statewide non-consent tow rate schedule, which makes section 25-94 the operative number for a Huntsville resident whose car is hooked by a police-dispatched wrecker.

The ceiling is tiered by vehicle weight. A two-axle vehicle weighing 10,000 pounds or less tows for a maximum of $175.00, a two-axle vehicle from 10,001 through 26,000 pounds for $225.00, and anything at 26,001 pounds or more, or any vehicle with more than two axles, for $375.00. A trailer or second vehicle towed in tandem adds $75.00 apiece. The ordinance attaches a note stating that the towing price already includes cleaning debris from the roadway and delivery of the vehicle to any destination inside the city limits, and paragraphs (6) and (14) fold oil dry and the no-keys situation into the tow price as well, closing off three of the line items that inflate a tow bill elsewhere. Only tows to a destination outside the city carry mileage, at $5.00 a mile on the regular haul roster and $8.00 a mile on the large haul roster.

Recovery work is billed by the hour and prorated in ten minute increments. Righting a vehicle of 26,000 pounds or less runs $200.00 for the first hour, and the ordinance works the arithmetic itself, offering an hour and 38 minutes as $200.00 plus $133.33 for a total of $333.33. A second wrecker attached simultaneously may add $100.00 an hour. For vehicles at 26,001 pounds or more the figures are $450.00 and $225.00. Winching is $75.00 an hour for the lightest class, $200.00 for the middle class and $350.00 for the heaviest, with a matching second-wrecker rate. Lifting by airbag is priced at $0.035 per pound lifted, and forklifts, backhoes and trackhoes bill at commercial rental rates plus ten percent per hour, not counting the operator. Section 25-94 defines winching narrowly, excluding routine winching needed to get a car onto the truck, and allows a second wrecker charge only when both trucks are actually hooked and pulling in tandem.

Storage is $40.00 for the first day, which ends at midnight on the day of the tow, and $40.00 for each day after that, beginning at midnight the following day. Large haul storage is $100.00 per day per piece. The gate fee provision is the one most worth knowing: bringing the vehicle from the lot out to its owner, or letting the owner pull personal belongings out of it, is free during regular business hours, and only an after-hours retrieval costs $50.00. Section 25-91 backs this up by letting anyone with proof of identity and proof of ownership or written owner authorization inspect the vehicle and take personal belongings without charge during normal business hours. Fees for entering the vehicle on the Alabama Department of Revenue unclaimed vehicle portal cannot be passed on at all if the car is redeemed within two calendar days, and are capped at $75.00 after that. Every company on the roster must take cash, credit and debit, may not charge anything for a debit transaction, and may add no more than three percent on a credit card.

Getting the car back is governed by sections 25-80 and 25-84. Release follows payment of removal and impoundment costs plus a reasonable storage amount, and the registered owner must show a valid driver's license plus the original title, a copy of both sides of the title, or a current tag receipt in their name. An owner without a license may substitute photo identification but has to bring along someone with a verified valid license, and a representative needs a notarized authorization from the registered owner. The contract wrecker company holds a lien on the vehicle for those amounts, and the chief of police may advertise and sell a vehicle left unclaimed for 45 days or more under Ala. Code 1975, section 32-13-1.

Section 25-85 is the owner's real leverage. Anyone whose vehicle was towed from a city street or a city parking facility is entitled to an immediate due process hearing before the chief of police or a designated officer of sergeant rank or above, and that hearing comes before any towing or storage fee is paid rather than after. If the hearing officer finds the tow was made in error, or that neither the owner nor anyone lawfully entitled to possession caused the car to be towable, the vehicle is released with no charges at all. A person unhappy with the outcome has five days to file notice with the municipal court clerk for a hearing before a municipal judge, and a judge trying a related citation may order fees already paid to be refunded.

The city also polices where towed cars end up. Under section 25-89, a roster company's storage lot must hold at least ten vehicles, stay continuously lit during darkness, sit inside an area fully enclosed by six foot chain link or equivalent fencing, and be located within the city limits or within ten miles of the city administration building, with the qualifying map kept on file by the city clerk-treasurer. Roster companies must open the lot on request between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday at no additional charge, carry $1,000,000.00 in general liability and garage liability plus $50,000.00 each in on-hook and garage keepers coverage, and give every customer a sequentially numbered written receipt with an itemized list of all service charges under section 25-92. Section 25-93 requires a wrecker on scene within 40 minutes, or 50 minutes if the operator calls the communications center ahead of time with a delay.

One limit is worth stating plainly. Section 25-94(b) says the rates do not relate to or regulate consensual wrecker services where the owner picks a specific company instead of using the rotation roster, so a tow you arrange yourself is priced by agreement and not by this schedule.