Tucson, AZ Parking Rules: Towing & Impound Rights (2026)

Tucson answers the towing question in two separate places, and which one applies depends on who ordered the tow. Article XXVII of Chapter 7, Sections 7-514 through 7-528, added by Ord. No. 12055 on 11-14-23 and amended by Ord. No. 12099 on 6-4-24, governs a towing carrier that removes a vehicle from private property. Section 7-515 reaches every transaction related to a tow that originates in the city, regardless of the impound lot location, and then carves out the opposite case: "Police- and fire-directed tows, as well as city-directed tows from city property, shall be exempt from this article." Those tows run under Chapter 20 instead.

On price, the answer is that Tucson delegates rather than sets. No dollar amount for a tow appears anywhere in Article XXVII. Section 7-525(a) provides that all services under the article "shall be invoiced and paid in accordance with the maximum allowable DPS contract rate schedule for a metro area," at "the current rates as of the date of the tow." The controlling figure is therefore the Arizona Department of Public Safety contract schedule on the day the vehicle moved, not a rate table the mayor and council adopted. A second ceiling sits alongside it: Section 7-527(j) makes it an offense to charge more than the maximum permitted by Sections 7-525 and 7-526 "or more than the maximum charges posted in the parking area signs, whichever is less," and Section 7-517(b)(3) requires those signs to state the maximum cost to the violator including storage fees and any other charges.

Storage is where Tucson's clock is unusual. Section 7-525(b) bars any storage charge for the first calendar day the vehicle is picked up, defining a calendar day as midnight to midnight. After that first day the carrier may charge storage only if it is actually available to release the vehicle during business hours, and if it was not available, "no storage fee may be charged for that calendar day." Business hours are defined at Section 7-514(a) as 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. on Saturday. Note a drafting quirk a reader will hit: subsections (b), (c) and (d) of Section 7-525 each cite "Section 7-525" for that definition, which is the section itself; the definition is in Section 7-514(a). Section 7-525(c) then requires release within two hours of the claimant's request when the request is made at least two hours before the end of business hours.

Getting the vehicle back is scripted in Section 7-524. Release is immediate on a government issued photo identification plus any one of seven documents: a title in the claimant's name, current registration in that name (a three day restricted use permit does not count), a repossession affidavit with a hold harmless release, an insurance company release under A.R.S. Section 28-4847, a certified motor vehicle record, proof of a bona fide security interest existing at the time of the tow, or a notarized letter from the owner. The carrier must help retrieve ownership papers out of the towed vehicle without charge, must allow immediate access to assess the vehicle's condition and take personal property without charge, must accept cash and credit and debit cards, and may not require exact change. Section 7-527(k) forbids holding the vehicle as security for payment. Under Section 7-526 an attempt that stops before the vehicle is fully secured, removed from the immediate area, and the tow truck enters a public street is an incomplete service call, released free on production of the keys with no payment and no proof of ownership required.

The penalty is what gives the rate cap teeth. Section 7-528 makes a violation of Section 7-527 a class 1 misdemeanor carrying up to $1,000, six months in jail or thirty-six months of probation, and adds a further fine equal to the greater of the maximum charge for towing or the actual charge the carrier collected, with the two fines together capped at $2,500.

Police-ordered tows follow a different track. Section 20-158(1) puts the chief of police in charge of supervising and regulating towing on city streets for disabled, wrecked, abandoned, stolen and unlawfully parked vehicles and vehicles seized as evidence, and provides that where the driver expresses no preference the vehicle goes to a carrier under agreements the purchasing agent procures through competitive bidding. Redemption is governed by Section 20-14: the owner or an authorized agent pays the city $5.00 plus all other costs of removal and storage and any Section 20-203 assessments, and a vehicle not redeemed within thirty days is sold in the manner provided by A.R.S. Title 28. Section 20-13 requires written notice to the owner immediately when the officer can identify one, and where the owner cannot be identified and the vehicle is not returned within three days, a written report goes to the state motor vehicle division.

Unpaid parking tickets bring a third procedure with its own money. Section 20-203(d) lets the city boot or impound a vehicle whose owner has three or more unpaid civil parking infractions, with a hearing before a limited special magistrate within forty-eight hours of the boot or impound, excluding weekends and holidays, and the owner may post a bond covering fees, boot damage and potential fines to get the vehicle back pending that hearing. Section 20-203(d)(8) sets the booting fee at $75.00 and the impound fee at the towing or removal costs plus storage fees, both declared cost recovery measures separate from any civil penalty. If the magistrate rules for the owner the vehicle is released with no booting or impound fee and the bond comes back; if the case is continued the hearing must be reset within thirty days. Section 20-204(b) requires a boot or impound notice on the vehicle at least twenty-four hours in advance where the vehicle is registered outside Arizona and the listing is the sole basis. Arizona's thirty day impound for driving on a suspended or revoked privilege, A.R.S. Section 28-3511, and the post-storage hearing at A.R.S. Section 28-3512, are state provisions administered under state procedure; Section 7-515 keeps them outside Tucson's private-property article entirely.