Lexington, KY Parking Rules: Towing & Impound Rights (2026)

Lexington and Fayette County operate as one merged government, so there is no separate county towing code: the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government (LFUCG) Code of Ordinances reaches every street and every private parking lot in Fayette County, inside the old city limits and outside them. Two different parts of that code answer the two ways a car gets taken here.

When the government itself tows, Sec. 18-112 declares an unoccupied vehicle parked in a prohibited place, in a prohibited manner, or for a prohibited length of time, or parked in a designated fire lane on private property in violation of KRS 227.300 and KRS 227.320, to be an obstruction and a public nuisance. A police officer, an urban county safety officer, a parking control officer employed by or under the control of the Lexington and Fayette County Parking Authority, or a firefighter assigned to the fire marshal office may order it removed to the depository the urban county government maintains. Sec. 18-176 adds a separate power to impound any vehicle with a record of currently outstanding delinquent parking citations, and defines impoundment for Article XII as either removal to a secure location or immobilization at the site by a device attached to the vehicle, which is the boot.

The owner side of Article XII is the part worth knowing. Sec. 18-177 lets the owner, or anyone else entitled to possession, request a hearing in writing before the LFUCG Parking Citation Enforcement Hearing Board. That hearing must be conducted within ten business days of the request. LFUCG keeps the vehicle in the meantime unless the owner posts a bond equal to the fines and fees accrued as of the date of the hearing request, or $150.00, whichever is less. An owner who cannot pay even that bond gets an expedited hearing within seventy-two hours. The board must give at least five days written notice of the hearing date, and anyone who fails to appear without good cause is treated as having conceded that the impoundment was valid. Where the board finds the impoundment was not justified, it orders the vehicle released and every fine, fee and bond amount returned.

Sec. 18-178 carries the appeal to the Civil Division of Fayette District Court within seven days of the board decision. The case is tried de novo and the burden sits on the urban county government to establish that the impoundment was justified, with a further appeal available to Fayette Circuit Court. Sec. 18-179 sets the clock on an unclaimed car: ten business days after impoundment with no claim and no hearing request, LFUCG mails certified notice to the registered owner and any lienholders of record, giving ten days to claim the car or request a hearing under KRS 82.625, and stating that the vehicle is deemed abandoned unless the charges are paid within forty-five days of receipt. Sec. 18-180 then escheats the vehicle to the urban county government.

When a private lot has a car towed instead, Sec. 14-88 gives the driver a drop fee right. If the owner returns after the wrecker arrives but before the car is fully hooked up, releasing it is mandatory. Once the car has been physically raised to normal transport height by a truck registered to carry that weight, or partially loaded onto a flatbed rollback, or has tow pans affixed where a wheel lift is used, the operator may charge a fee not to exceed one-half of the maximum towing fee posted at the storage yard. Before asking for that money the operator must hand over a copy of Sec. 14-88 itself and a Private Impound Cost Schedule, the pre-printed itemized rate sheet Sec. 14-85 defines, signed at the bottom by the operator who provided it. Sec. 14-87.1 forbids the tow at all unless the lot carries a sign of at least twelve inches by eighteen inches in bold lettering at or near each entrance, with a reflective border at least one-quarter inch wide around its entire circumference, naming the times a vehicle may be impounded and the storage yard address and telephone number, or a number reachable twenty-four hours a day that will give that out.

Notice clocks differ by which provision applies. Sec. 18-112 requires whoever removes a vehicle from a private parking lot under KRS 189.725 to notify the division of police reports desk within one hour, with the make, model, color, year, plate number and state, where the car was taken from and where it now is, the date and time of removal, and the name, address and telephone number of the person who can authorize release. Sec. 14-89 gives a licensed private impound tow truck service two hours to report a removal to that same reports desk, matching the statewide clock in KRS 281.924. Sec. 14-93 separately bars an operator from making an owner wait more than one hour after contact for release of the vehicle, and from denying access to personal items in the car whether or not the owner is able to reclaim it that day.