Quincy, MA Parking Rules: Towing & Impound Rights (2026)

Quincy runs two separate towing regimes and § 325-83 is the public-way one. It is enacted under MGL c. 40, § 22D, the statute that lets a Massachusetts city authorize removal of illegally parked vehicles to a convenient place, and § 325-83A carries the statutory exemptions across with it, so a vehicle that MGL c. 40, § 22D shields is not subject to removal even when it sits in a Quincy tow-away zone. Tows from private lots are a separate matter, governed by § 196-15 and MGL c. 266, § 120D.

Only one office can order the tow. Under § 325-83B, the moving or towing of any vehicle under § 325-82 or § 325-83 is by and at the direction of the Chief of Police, or an officer of the rank of sergeant or higher whom the Chief designates from time to time. That single sentence also folds Quincy snow-removal tows into the same chain of command, because § 325-82 removals run through § 325-83B as well.

On price, Quincy deliberately set no number. § 325-83C imposes on the vehicle owner a removal or towing fee and a storage fee, each written as not to exceed that which is provided in or as authorized by statute law. The Council wrote a pointer rather than a schedule, because the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities fixes the statewide ceiling for involuntary towing at 220 CMR 272.00 and a city cannot price above it. A Quincy tow bill is therefore measured against the DPU maximum in force on the day of the tow, not against anything printed in the City Code. § 325-83D adds the one liability Quincy did write for itself: the towing contractor is liable to the owner for any damage arising out of negligence caused to a vehicle in the course of removal and storage.

§ 325-83E lists the eight standing tow-away conditions on any Quincy way: impeding the removal or plowing of snow or ice, on a sidewalk, on a crosswalk, within 20 feet of an intersecting way except alleys, within 10 feet of a fire hydrant, on the roadway side of another vehicle already stopped at the curb, in front of a public or private driveway, and anywhere the parked vehicle fails to leave a clear and unobstructed lane at least 10 feet wide for passing traffic. § 325-83F then names specific streets outright, among them Berlin Street on both sides, Cleverly Court on both sides, DesMoines Road on the southerly side, East Howard Street on the easterly side, Newport Avenue on the easterly side and on the westerly side between Brook and Beale Streets, South Street on both sides from Washington Street to East Howard Street, and Winter Street and Woodbine Street on both sides.

The signage rule is the practical defense. § 325-83G makes Subsection F effective only during such time as a sufficient number of official traffic signs bearing the legend Tow-Away Zone are installed, erected, maintained and located so as to be visible to approaching drivers, those signs being appended above or incorporated into the legend of the parking prohibition signs. An unsigned or unmaintained § 325-83F street is not an operative tow-away zone.

Every tow generates a record, and § 325-83H says what is in it. The Police Department must keep, for one year, the registration of the vehicle, the location it was towed from with the time and date of the tow order, the location it was moved to, the fee charged for towing, the name of the towing contractor, and the name and rank of the officer who authorized the tow. Those six fields are what an owner disputing a Quincy tow should ask the Department to produce.

Getting the car back runs through § 325-83I. The vehicle is held until all charges lawfully imposed for its removal and storage have been paid. A second hold can stack on top of that one: where five or more parking notices in the aggregate have been affixed to the vehicle under MGL c. 90, § 20C across the calendar year of the tow and the one immediately preceding it, the vehicle is also held until due notice is received that those fines are paid or security for them has been deposited. Quincy may also remove and store a five-notice vehicle on the strength of that ticket history alone, without any fresh parking violation.