Knoxville, TN Parking Rules: Towing & Impound Rights (2026)

Chapter 26, Article IV of the Knoxville Code governs wreckers and towing, and it draws a sharp line between a consensual tow, where the owner is present and picks the company, and a nonconsensual tow, defined in Sec. 26-228 as removal without the prior consent or prior authorization of the owner or operator. Only the nonconsensual side is rate regulated. Sec. 26-229 makes it unlawful for a towing service to run a nonconsensual tow off a private parking lot for compensation when the tow originates inside the city limits without complying with the article, and Sec. 26-227 exempts only wreckers passing through, where the tow neither starts nor ends in Knoxville.

Price classes follow federal gross vehicle weight rating rather than the vehicle's actual weight or use. Class A is 10,000 pounds GVWR or less, which covers ordinary cars and pickups, Class B runs 10,001 to 26,000 pounds, and Class C is 26,001 pounds or more. Under Sec. 26-302 the caps of $245, $320 and $435 apply to the initial tow and to any subsequent tow if one becomes necessary, from public or private property to any location. Subsection (c) closes the usual add-on loopholes: the maximum towing charge is inclusive of winching, use of a dolly, spill cleanup, oil absorption, administrative charges and other services incidental to the tow. Storage is the only separately billable item, it cannot start until twenty-four hours have elapsed, and it is capped at $30 per twenty-four-hour period for Class A and $45 for Classes B and C. The figures were last revised by Ord. No. O-112-2024, adopted September 17, 2024.

Two duties protect an owner at the moment of the tow. Sec. 26-303 requires the towing company, before moving a vehicle without the owner's consent or when the owner is not present, to notify the police department of the location the vehicle is being taken from plus its VIN, registration information, license plate, make, model and color, and the department keeps that record open to public inspection, so a driver who returns to an empty parking space can trace the vehicle through KPD. Sec. 26-305 requires the wrecker driver, in all cases and before moving the vehicle, to ask the owner or operator where they want it taken and to deliver it there once towing charges are paid or secured; only if that is refused does the vehicle go to the operator's own storage lot. The same section makes it unlawful to coerce, insist or solicit that an owner sign a work order or repair agreement at the scene.

A separate rate table governs tows the police order. Sec. 26-410 sets rotation list maximums of $145 per unit for a Class A vehicle not involved in a collision taken to the city lot at an officer's direction, and $234 per unit for a Class A vehicle that was in a collision or that goes to the wrecker company's own storage yard within three miles of the city limits. Rotation charges are all inclusive of environmental cleanup, winching, dolly charges, administration and the first forty-eight hours of storage. Extra winching to recover an overturned vehicle or one down an embankment adds $39 for Class A, and unlocking a privately owned vehicle at an officer's request costs $45. Rotation companies must display the current rate card issued by the city wrecker inspector in full view of anyone wishing to inspect it, under Sec. 26-412.

Vehicles taken to the municipal impoundment lot are released by the department of fleet services under Sec. 17-101 on proof of ownership, payment of the impoundment fee and any accrued charges, and, if the vehicle is to be driven away, evidence of financial responsibility. The impound fee itself is not a fixed number in the Code; Sec. 17-100 has the director of fleet services set the basis for calculating it on July 1 each year. An owner who wants to contest the underlying parking or traffic violation may demand a hearing in municipal court under Sec. 17-102 and can get the vehicle out first without prepaying, by posting a cash deposit or a bond equal to the fee and charges. If the court dismisses the violation it may order the deposit returned or the bond released.