Turlock, CA Parking Rules: Towing & Impound Rights (2026)

Turlock's towing rules live in Chapter 4-15 of the Turlock Municipal Code, and the first thing to know is how narrow they are. Section 4-15-102 states that the chapter applies "only to those towing service operators who are placed on the rotation list or on the abandoned vehicle rotation list," so the code reaches police-ordered and abandoned-vehicle tows and nothing else. A tow from a private apartment lot or shopping centre in Turlock is not governed by this chapter at all; it falls under Cal. Veh. Code § 22658, which supplies the one-hour rule for signed lots, the half-price drop fee, and the duty to take a credit card.

On price, the code deliberately points somewhere else. Section 4-15-111(n) says the maximum fees and charges "shall be established by resolution of the City Council," set after a review of rates used in comparable communities and of operating data supplied by the operators themselves, with allowance for extra fees in unusual circumstances. Operators on the rotation list may ask for that schedule to be reviewed, but not more often than once a year. The enforceable half of the subsection is the sentence after it: no rates, charges, or other fees may be charged other than those in the adopted schedule, and each operator must keep full and complete records of everything charged. The consequence is that the current Turlock tow and storage numbers are in a Council resolution on file with the Police Department, not in the code, and a search of the whole Municipal Code turns up no vehicle release fee of the kind Vehicle Code § 22850.5 lets a city impose.

Getting the vehicle back runs through the Police Department rather than the yard. Under § 4-15-111(g) a vehicle towed by the Turlock Police Department "shall be held by the operator until the vehicle is released in writing by the Police Department," and the contents come out only as the Vehicle Code, a court order, or the Department allows. Section 4-15-111(h) requires an attendant on call capable of answering citizen requests for release twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, including holidays, and § 4-15-111(f) requires that employee to be trained in towing, storage and release transactions. The car will not be far: § 4-15-111(a) requires a lot within a three mile radius of the city limits with room for at least twenty vehicles, fenced or walled, locked when not in use and screened from public view, and a secondary lot must sit inside the same three mile ring or the company forfeits its turn on rotation.

Overcharging has its own penalty track. Section 4-15-121(d) makes intentional overcharging, or a pattern of it, cause for suspension, and the suspension runs until the operator has both served the term and given the Police Department proof that the aggrieved customer was reimbursed. Complaints go to the Turlock Police Department under § 4-15-119, which promises a fair and impartial investigation and written notice of the findings to the operator within thirty days of its conclusion. Section 4-15-123 sets the ladder for repeat conduct inside a twelve month window: a written reprimand first, a one to thirty day suspension second, sixty to ninety days third, and termination from the rotation list fourth. Section 4-15-120(e) separately requires an operator to satisfy any court order to reimburse an owner for damage or loss suffered while the vehicle was in the operator's custody.

Drivers keep one choice the code protects. Section 4-15-117 bars any operator from answering a police radio call unless the Turlock Police Department specifically asked for it, but adds that a vehicle owner may name the tow company they want, provided the vehicle is not being towed or impounded at the Department's direction. Section 4-15-118 makes soliciting tow work without a request from the owner or from the Department unlawful, and § 4-15-120(c) and (d) bar gratuities under Vehicle Code § 12110. Rotation operators must reach the scene within thirty minutes under § 4-15-111(i), or tell the Department up front and forfeit the turn without penalty.

Turlock's designated tow-away zones are short and specific. Under § 4-6-302 they are the west side of Johnson Road between Marshall and Merritt Streets and the north side of Merritt Street for 145 feet west of Johnson Road on Tuesdays from 7:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., and both sides of South Broadway between A Street and Market Street and between Market Street and West Main Street on Fridays from 7:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. during May through October. Section 4-6-304 states plainly that a vehicle shall not be removed unless signs are posted, and § 4-6-305 requires each sign to read "No Parking – Tow-Away Zone" and to display the telephone number where information about towed vehicles can be obtained.

One gap is worth naming. The Municipal Code writes out a post-storage hearing right in only one place, § 3-1-1313(b), which covers impounded pedicabs and puts the burden of proving the removal valid on the impounding agency. For an ordinary car, Turlock's code says nothing about a hearing, so the right comes straight from Vehicle Code § 22852 rather than from anything the city adopted.