Nashua, NH Parking Rules: Towing & Impound Rights (2026)

Nashua's tow-and-hold rule is § 320-89 of the Nashua Revised Ordinances, sitting at the end of Chapter 320, Vehicles and Traffic. The codified text shows it amended three times, on 10-13-2015 by Ord. No. O-15-069, on 8-13-2024 by Ord. No. O-24-014, and most recently on 4-8-2025 by Ord. No. O-25-052, so the version described here is the 2025 text as published on eCode360.

Subsection A sets a money threshold rather than a ticket count. Any time an owner has unpaid non-moving fines totaling $100 or more, that owner becomes subject to an additional $100 fine plus all towing fees incurred, and the vehicle will be towed and will not be released until all fines and all towing fees are paid in full. The section writes in no partial-payment path, no payment plan, and no bond or hardship release.

Subsection B then runs two separate repeat counters on a calendar-year basis. Exceeding four repeat non-moving violations within a calendar year brings a flat $100 fine on every violation thereafter and makes the vehicle subject to towing at the Parking Manager's discretion. Exceeding three repeat violations in Nashua's more serious fine classes, named in the ordinance as Public Impact, Life Safety, Major Life Safety, Snow Emergency and Handicapped, brings the same flat $100 fine but removes the discretion: those vehicles will be subject to immediate towing and all associated fees.

Subsection C is the part drivers most often miss. For those same serious classes, and for anyone who has previously been towed under them, both paid and unpaid preceding fines going back up to three years count toward the repeat total. Paying a ticket settles the ticket but does not clear the counter that leads to a tow.

What feeds those counters is the fine table in § 320-87B. Base citation amounts in the first 15 days run $15 for Revenue offenses such as an expired meter or misparking, $25 for Nuisance offenses such as overtime and overnight parking, $30 for Public Impact offenses such as a no-parking zone, a loading zone, or a blocked bus stop or taxi stand, $50 for Life Safety offenses such as double parking, sidewalk obstruction, blocking a driveway or an unregistered vehicle, $100 for Major Life Safety offenses covering crosswalk obstruction, fire lanes and fire hydrants, $200 for a snow emergency or snow-removal violation, and $250 for a handicapped violation. Each amount then steps up at 16 to 30 days, at 31 to 89 days, and at 90 days or more. A $30 Public Impact ticket becomes $40, then $80, then $100. A $250 handicapped ticket becomes $350, then $500, then $600. A single aged handicapped citation therefore clears the $100 tow threshold in § 320-89A on its own.

The way out before a tow is § 320-87C. A driver contests a violation by filing a citation review request form available on the City's website, and anyone who wants a hearing must request one within seven days, at which point a complaint is entered in City District Court. After a hearing determination, failure to pay before the close of business on the next business day drops the owner back under § 320-88, which routes the matter to the general penalty in § 1-12 and states in terms that this could include up to towing at the discretion of the Parking Manager.

Storage charges live elsewhere in the chapter. The snow-emergency provision at § 320-67D makes the owner of a towed or moved vehicle responsible for towing or moving fees and all other associated costs, requires payment in full before the vehicle is released, and starts a daily storage fee after 24 hours. Section 320-89 sets no separate storage clock of its own. What a private tow operator may charge on a tow taken without the owner's consent is a different question, governed by Chapter 306 and by state law, not by § 320-89.