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

Two separate books govern a Mobile tow, and which one sets your bill depends on where the vehicle ends up. Chapter 63, rewritten in full by Ord. No. 63-036-2025 on July 15, 2025, governs the wrecker companies on the city's rotation list. Chapter 61, Division 4, governs the police impound.

On the Chapter 63 side, Sec. 63-39 is a rate cap rather than a reasonableness standard. Beyond the $200 class A tow, a class B tow of 10,001 to 26,000 pounds is capped at $400, class C over 26,000 pounds at $600, and a rotator-equipped class C at $800. Rescue work such as righting and winching bills a first hour at the class rate, $75 for class A, $200 for class B, $350 for class C, then prorates in ten-minute increments of $12.50, $33.33 and $58.33. Standby time is billable only after a delay of more than 15 minutes that is not the operator's fault. Storage for medium and heavy duty vehicles runs $75 per day. A tow beyond the city boundary adds $5 per mile, plastic crash wrap is $30, oil dry is $5 per ten pounds, and a card surcharge may not exceed 4 percent. No storage fee accrues on a day the lot is open fewer than four hours. Lien sale processing, including the NMVTIS search and certified notices, is capped at $150, and the operator's entry in the ALDOR portal must occur between 48 and 120 hours after the tow. The police traffic unit reviews every figure each January and sends recommended changes to the city council.

Section 63-39(g) draws the boundary that matters most: these caps reach only nonconsensual tows dispatched off the wrecker selection list, and a tow you arrange yourself is unregulated by the section. Section 63-17(4) adds a right that survives a fee dispute, letting you reclaim belongings from a stored car during business hours without paying anything that has accrued under Sec. 63-39. A dispatched wrecker must reach the scene within 30 minutes under normal driving conditions, or one hour for a class C truck, and must give the owner the company's name, address, phone number and tow-rate information at the time of service.

On the Chapter 61 side, Sec. 61-101 authorizes removal for obstruction, disablement, illegal parking, unpaid prior citations, and for any vehicle left on a designated Mardi Gras parade route beginning two hours before the parade. Where immobilization is chosen instead, Sec. 61-102(b)(3) holds the boot on for 48 hours and then tows. Redemption under Sec. 61-104 is $125 plus $20 per day after the first 24 hours, figures last amended by Ord. No. 61-043-2007 and therefore older than the 2025 wrecker schedule. Section 61-105 then offers two paths: pay, take the car, and litigate the fees later with a refund processed by the city legal department, or demand a hearing on immediate possession that the municipal court must hold within 24 hours excluding holidays and weekends. If the judge finds you not responsible, the city absorbs the tow and up to 72 hours of storage, plus any further delay that is the city's fault. That choice must be posted conspicuously wherever owners come to recover vehicles and at every police precinct, naming the clerk's office at 51 Government Street.

Alabama's own framework, Ala. Code § 32-13-2, sets only a 48-hour trigger and a reasonable fee standard for private-property tows, with no rate cap and no drop fee. Mobile supplies the numbers the state leaves blank. Private-lot tows still run through Sec. 61-268, which requires a prior warning by sign or word of mouth and carries a $70 fine, and Sec. 63-13 requires the wrecker company to report a trespass tow to the police communications center within 30 minutes with the VIN, tag, description, requester, origin and destination. Section 63-14 imposes the same reporting duty before a repossession tow.