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

The release track runs through sections 72.060 to 72.066. The tow lots operate on a 24-hour basis under § 72.060 and must be secured against tampering, with lot personnel required to exercise reasonable care to prevent damage to vehicles in their custody. Section 72.061 gives a driver a genuine last chance: an illegally parked vehicle may be taken back by its owner or operator at any time before it is impounded or physically attached to a wrecker, and even after hookup the owner may reclaim it before the wrecker leaves the scene, unless an immobilization device has already been applied. The wrecker driver must then issue a written release on a receipt form furnished by the Vehicle Impoundment Division. Kentucky law at KRS 281.924 permits a drop fee of up to half the tow charge in that situation, but Louisville's own section prescribes the release and the receipt without setting a drop figure of its own.

Section 72.062(E) conditions release on payment of all charges plus any parking citations that have become final, collected by the Vehicle Impoundment Division, which must remit what it takes in to the Metro Government Finance Cabinet at least every 72 hours. Subsection (I) spells out who counts as a person entitled to possession besides the registered owner: someone holding a court order, executor paperwork for a deceased owner, a power of attorney, a notarized letter from the owner, a signed title and bill of sale less than 30 days old, proof of a lien, or dealer assignment paperwork. Subsection (H) goes beyond the 21-day stolen-vehicle grace period, waiving all charges regardless of storage length where the owner was hospitalized, on military leave, delayed by probate, guardianship or power-of-attorney paperwork, delayed by a disputed theft insurance claim, or otherwise physically incapacitated.

Because Louisville is a consolidated city-county government, the impoundment power in § 72.128 is written to reach beyond the old city limits. Subsection (A) covers any street or public way within Metro Government jurisdiction, and subsection (B) bars parking anywhere on a public way within Jefferson County once a vehicle has accumulated three unpaid parking citations that are not under appeal and notice has issued under KRS 82.615(2). Section 72.006 routes vehicles parked in an access aisle, or in a designated accessible space without a placard or disabled plate, into the same sections 72.060 through 72.064 and 72.128 machinery, declaring such a vehicle a hazard to those who need accessible parking.

Challenges run through the Parking Citation Enforcement Hearing Board under § 72.129, then to the Civil Division of Jefferson District Court under § 72.130 and finally to Jefferson Circuit Court. The Board may consider the parking citation or a sworn written report by the issuing officer in place of the officer appearing, and treats a refusal or unexcused failure to appear as conceding that the impoundment was valid.

Section 72.066 lets Metro Government declare an amnesty period of up to 30 days, which may not begin less than 365 days after the last one ended, waiving towing and storage fees for owners who collect their vehicles during the window. Amnesty does not reach booted vehicles under § 72.065, vehicles impounded under sections 51.510, 131.15, 123.37 or 156.052, fees imposed by court order, parking citation fees, or vehicles held at a contract lot providing supplemental towing services.

These figures are as printed in the American Legal Publishing S-47 supplement to the Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government Code, stated as current through ordinances approved by the Mayor on May 20, 2026. Section 72.062 itself carries amendments through Lou. Metro Am. Ord. No. 90-2025, approved July 10, 2025, and the section expressly contemplates further written fee schedules and annual increases, so confirm the posted rate with the Vehicle Impoundment Division before relying on a dollar figure. Note also that private-lot towing in Louisville is a separate scheme in Chapter 115, which licenses private tow operators; Chapter 72 governs only tows and impoundments carried out by or on behalf of Metro Government.