Newport News, VA Parking Rules: Towing & Impound Rights (2026)

Newport News writes its towing rules in two separate tracks, and this page covers the police track. Sec. 26-16 lets officers remove a vehicle that is illegally parked, that is left unattended on a street or public property as a safety hazard, that is immobilized by weather or another emergency, or that has sat for more than ten days on public property or on private property without the property owner's permission. Sec. 26-16.1 adds obstruction tows from driveways and parking areas. Once the vehicle is gone, Sec. 26-17 controls the bill.

The schedule is a closed list. Beyond the towing charge itself the ordinance allows $45 per tow for a tow dolly, $30 per tow for gojacks, and an extra $25 per instance for a tow performed between 7:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. or on a Saturday, Sunday or holiday. Recovery and cleanup costs are capped item by item: $125 for the notifications state law requires, $20 for a tarpaulin, $50 for vehicle wrap and $50 for cleanup, with credit card processing recoverable up to three percent and never above what the merchant actually paid. The section then closes the door with the sentence "No charges other than those specifically authorized by this section shall be permitted." Notification to the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles or to a lienholder cannot even be started before the third consecutive day of storage, which keeps that $125 off a bill settled quickly.

Catching the tow truck in time is worth real money in Newport News. Under Sec. 26-17(a)(5), an owner who comes back while the truck is hooking up or already has the vehicle attached can take it back for a service fee of $35 for a light vehicle, $85 for a mid-size vehicle or $125 for anything over 18,000 pounds, plus the $25 administrative charge. Nothing above that may be charged as long as the vehicle has not been moved off the lot or block where it was parked, and paying it does not wipe out the parking fine. Sec. 26-17(b) also puts a duty on the police department to make a reasonable effort to tell the owner what those costs will be.

The second track, private lot towing under Sec. 26-17.4, runs on different numbers: a $175 basic charge for a light vehicle, no charge at all for dollies or gojacks, and notification costs capped at $75 and barred before the fourth day of storage. Both tracks sit under Code of Virginia Sec. 46.2-1233, which lets a locality set its own reasonable limits by ordinance, and both undercut the state default in Sec. 46.2-1233.1 of $210 for a hookup and initial tow with a $30 night and weekend surcharge. Newport News reviews these figures through a standing advisory board created by Sec. 26-16.2, made up of the police chief, the fire chief and the director of codes compliance as voting ex officio members plus three towing industry representatives and three citizens appointed by council to two-year terms. The fee schedule has been amended repeatedly, most recently by Ord. No. 8147-26.