Miami, FL Parking Rules: Towing & Impound Rights (2026)

Miami's towing rules sit in Chapter 42, Article IV, which the code itself names the "towing company and immobilization contractor licensing and regulating ordinance of the City of Miami" and which Sec. 42-101 grounds in Fla. Stat. §§ 715.07(2)(b) and 323.002. Sec. 42-110(a) is the rate provision, and it is a pure adoption rather than a city schedule: the ceiling for non-consent towing, police towing, Miami Parking Authority towing and storage is whatever the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners has set in County Code section 30-476, moving up or down with the county without a city vote. Sec. 42-110(b) then forbids charging any type of fee other than the specific rates the county commission has established. Sec. 42-119 applies the same ceiling, and the same 25 percent city add-on, to police tows and Miami Parking Authority tows.

Before the truck leaves, Sec. 42-108(b)(6) gives the driver a right to stop the tow. A licensed operator may not tow a vehicle when the registered owner arrives at the scene first, unless that person refuses to move the vehicle or, where the vehicle is already connected to the towing apparatus, refuses to pay a service fee of not more than one-half of the posted rate. Sec. 42-108(b)(7) bars towing a vehicle with a person inside it, and (b)(15) prohibits a property owner or tow company from employing "spotters" who report unauthorized parked vehicles for purposes of towing.

Where the car ends up is capped. Sec. 42-108(b)(11) forbids storing or impounding a towed vehicle more than a ten-mile radius from where it was picked up, stretching to a twenty-mile radius only where no licensed operator is located within ten miles. Sec. 42-108(b)(10) requires the vehicle to go directly to the operator's storage site with no temporary holding area, and (b)(12) requires the operator to let the registered owner onto the storage lot to remove and carry away the goods, chattels, things and documents inside the vehicle. Sec. 42-111 requires the storage facility to accept a valid bank credit card or cash, and to keep enough money on the premises to make change.

For a law enforcement impound, Sec. 42-112 sets a notice clock and a hearing. The tow company must telephone the registered owner within two business days where the number is readily available, and otherwise make a good faith effort to mail the Fla. Stat. § 713.78 lien notice within three business days, in no case later than seven working days after the tow. The notice must give the vehicle's location, the methods of redeeming it, and the right to an adversarial hearing before an administrative hearing officer, requested within seven working days of receiving the notice. The city schedules that hearing within 30 days, and at it the city rather than the owner carries the burden of showing probable cause for the recovery and the validity of the towing charges. If no probable cause is found, the city is liable for the towing costs; if the hearing officer finds the tow company's notice inadequate, its storage charges cannot be collected and are refunded. No vehicle may be disposed of before the hearing concludes, and an owner can retrieve the vehicle immediately by posting a cash or security bond with the Miami Police Department equal to the accrued towing and storage fee.

A separate track runs under Article V when police seize a vehicle for controlled substances, prostitution or illegal dumping. Sec. 42-121 requires hand delivery of notice at the scene and certified mail to other interested parties within 48 hours excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays, and offers the owner either a $500.00 cash bond plus towing and storage to retrieve the vehicle while contesting, or outright payment of a $500.00 administrative penalty plus towing and storage. Under Sec. 42-122 the written request for a preliminary hearing is due within five days of notice, the special master hears it within ten days, and the final hearing is held no later than 30 days after the seizure. Sec. 42-125 allows an appeal to the Eleventh Judicial Circuit within 30 days of the final order.