New York, NY Parking Rules: Towing & Impound Rights (2026)

Two different systems tow cars in New York City, and the money is not the same in each.

The first is the private, DCWP-licensed trade regulated under Subchapter 31 of Title 20 of the Administrative Code. Administrative Code § 20-509 caps ordinary towing charges at one hundred dollars plus tolls, and caps storage at twenty-five dollars for each twenty-four hours or fraction thereof for the first three days and twenty-seven dollars for the fourth day and each day after. Section 20-509(d) adds that no operator may demand any fee "that is not specifically authorized by law or rule," and that nobody without a towing license may charge for towing or storage at all. Two carve-outs sit above that hundred-dollar figure. A tow off private property under a standing contract with the lot owner, governed by § 19-169.1(a), may run to $125 for the removal and the first three days of storage and $15 a day afterward. A tow of a car blocking the driveway of a one or two family house, under § 19-169(c)(8), uses the same $125 and $15 numbers. An arterial tow off a highway by a permittee of the Transportation or Police Commissioner is $125 for the first ten miles and $4 for each additional mile under § 20-509.1. Accident tows in the Directed Accident Response Program are priced by DCWP rule at 6 RCNY § 2-367: $125 for a vehicle registered at ten thousand pounds or less and $140 for one registered above that, plus $4.00 per mile or part of a mile when the car goes somewhere other than the company's own yard, storage at $25 a day for the first three days and $27 after, tolls, and sales tax. Section 2-368(f) allows a further $12.00 per tow truck for each quarter hour of unusual preparation such as winching or righting a vehicle, but expressly forbids that charge on a DARP accident tow, and allows $25 to reposition a stored car for collection by a flatbed capable of carrying three or more vehicles at once.

The second system is the city's own. Under 34 RCNY § 4-08(a)(9), an illegally parked vehicle may be immobilized and then removed to a tow pound. The boot release fee is $185.00 and requires satisfying any parking summonses in judgment first. The removal fee is $185.00 for regular towing of vehicles under 6,500 pounds gross weight and $370.00 for heavy duty towing at or above that weight, with a storage fee of $20.00 for each day the car remains in city possession. If you arrive while the vehicle is hooked but the tow truck has not moved, it must be unhooked, and the vehicle release penalty is $100.00 for a light vehicle or $200.00 for a heavy one, waived entirely if the underlying parking violations are all dismissed. You have the right to an immediate hearing at the Parking Violations Bureau. A car left more than ten days after a mailed request is treated as abandoned. The Sheriff runs a third and much cheaper schedule for recovered stolen cars under 19 RCNY § 42-01: seventy dollars for the tow, fifteen dollars a day for three days, then seventeen dollars a day.

Whoever tows you, several duties attach. Administrative Code § 20-528 requires the operator to tell the local police precinct within two hours of any tow; a private property or driveway tow tightens that to thirty minutes after the vehicle reaches the storage yard. The storage yard must be inside city limits and within ten miles of the pickup point. You may inspect the vehicle before accepting it back, and no operator may make you sign a liability waiver as a condition of release. Payment by credit card must be accepted under § 20-527. Every tow truck carries the licensee's name, the address under which it is licensed, the business telephone number, the permitted rates and the department's complaint number on both sides, in letters at least one and one half inches tall and a quarter of an inch wide, in a contrasting color visible while the truck is moving, under § 20-507(b). Booting a car in a private lot open to the public without charge costs no more than twenty-five dollars to release under § 20-535, the boot must come off within thirty minutes of a release request, and if the car is booted and then towed no separate towing charge may be added.