Getting Your Car Out of Impound Costs $205 to $721

Get a towed car back from the NYPD tow pound the next day, and the city's bill is $205. Do the same thing in San Francisco after a first tow, and it's $721. Same car, same one night, and a $516 gap that comes down to the city's rate sheet.

I'm Anthony, the lead tech at Supercanic in San Jacinto and Hemet, California. When a car gets towed, the first question is always the same. How much is this going to cost me? The answer depends on three things you can check today. Who towed the car, where it sits, and how many nights it stays there.

What Impound Costs by the Day in 4 Cities

Most impound bills have the same parts. There's a tow fee, a daily storage fee, and often a release fee paid to the city or the police. We took the posted rates for a standard car in four places and added them up by the night. Nobody else prints the totals side by side, so this is our own math from each city's own sheet.

Our math from the posted rates, standard car, no extras. New York is the NYPD tow fee plus $20 a night. Texas is the TDLR state max tow, impound and storage fees, plus the $50 notice fee from day 7. Los Angeles is the cash tow rate, the $115 city release fee and $66 a day storage plus the 10% city parking tax. San Francisco is the first tow admin fee, tow fee and storage. Lien fees are left out. Each source is in the Reading List below.

• New York, NYPD tow pound$325
• Texas private lot, state max$505
• Los Angeles, paying cash$838
• San Francisco, first tow$1,213

Seven nights of storage plus the tow and fixed fees, standard car. Our math from the NYPD, TDLR, OPG Los Angeles and SFMTA rate pages.

Where the Money Goes on an Impound Bill

The tow fee. This is the hook up and the ride to the lot. The NYPD charges $185 for a regular tow. In Los Angeles, the Official Police Garages charge $215 cash or $220 on a card for the first hour. Those rates are set by the city and the Police Commission, and they're the same at every police garage in the city.

The storage fee. This line keeps growing. Los Angeles charges $66 a day cash, plus a 10% city parking tax on storage. San Francisco's SFMTA charges $69 for the first day after four free hours, then $82 a day. In Texas, the state caps storage at $22.85 a day for a car 25 feet long or less, per the TDLR.

The release fee. If the police ordered the tow, the city may want its own fee before the yard lets the car go. In Los Angeles that's $115 a car. San Francisco calls it an administrative fee, and it's the biggest line on the bill at $335 for a first tow or $385 for a repeat.

The extras. Some fees only show up later. In California, a lot can add a lien sale fee once it starts the paperwork to sell the car. The cap is $70 for a car worth $4,000 or less and $100 for one worth more, and it can't be charged on a car picked up within 72 hours, per the Civil Code section the OPG Los Angeles page quotes. Los Angeles also lists a $75 cash EV surcharge and a $12 per mile rate.

Police Tows in Riverside County

Out here, a police tow means two stops, not one. Murrieta is a good example. The Murrieta Police Department charges a release fee of $75.30 for a standard tow. You pay it at the front counter first, and then you go pay the tow yard for the tow and storage.

The car has to be registered, or you need a temporary permit from the DMV with the fees paid. The registered owner has to be there, with a licensed driver. If you pay the police fee by card, a 2.9% processing fee gets added. Can't go yourself? Murrieta takes an original notarized letter that lets someone else pick up the car.

Call the yard before you drive there. Ask for the total as of the hour you'll arrive, not just the daily rate.

What a 30 Day Impound Costs in California

This is the bill that hurts the most. California Vehicle Code 14602.6 lets officers impound a car for 30 days when the driver has no license or a suspended or revoked one. That's how the Montclair Police Department explains it, and Montclair prints every line of the bill.

From the Montclair Police Department's own fee table. Half the lien fee applies through day 14 and when the lien isn't done. The full fee applies once it's done.

There are ways out early. Montclair lists five, including an invalid impound, a stolen car, and the driver getting a valid license and insurance. Owners can also ask for a post storage hearing. In Murrieta, the release fee for a 30 day impound is $245.85, before the tow yard's bill.

How to Pay Less to Get Your Car Back

You can't skip the bill, but you can shrink it. These moves are all straight off the rate sheets.

• Go today. Storage is charged by the night, and New York adds $20 for every night after the tow day.
• Beat the clock in San Francisco. The first four hours of storage are free there.
• In Texas, a car picked up within 12 hours counts as one storage day, even across midnight.
• In California, get it out within 72 hours and no lien fee can be charged.
• Pay cash in Los Angeles. It takes $5 off the tow and $2 a day off storage.
• Ask about waivers. San Francisco waives the admin fee for low income owners and cuts the tow to $111.
• Bring every paper the first time. A second trip is one more night of storage.
• Check each line against the posted rates before you pay.

Fees a Tow Lot Can't Charge

Texas spells this out better than anyone. The TDLR says that beyond the tow itself, a storage facility can only charge four things. Those are a notice fee, an impound fee, daily storage and, in some places, a government fee. It names fees lots can't charge. Those include environmental fees, notary fees, and a fee to get your own things out of the car.

Texas also caps the private property tow at $272 for a car 10,000 lbs or less. The lot must take cash, debit and credit cards. If the impound fee is on your bill, the bill has to say what was done for it and when.

In Los Angeles, the rates are uniform across the city, so a bill that doesn't match the posted sheet is worth a question. Ask for a printed bill with every line on it before you hand over money.

Old Advice That Stuck

Wait until payday. This one costs people the most. A week of waiting in San Francisco adds $492 in storage over a next day pickup. In California, waiting past 72 hours also opens the door to lien fees.

Tow lots charge whatever they want. Not on police tows in most big cities. Los Angeles sets one rate for every police garage, and Texas sets a state maximum. Get the posted sheet and compare.

Just let them keep it. Walking away doesn't make the bill vanish. The lot starts the lien process and can sell the car. You lose the car and whatever you put into it.

Cash or card, it's all the same. Not in Los Angeles, where the cash rate is lower on both the tow and storage. In Murrieta, a card adds 2.9% to the police fee.

Before You Go to the Lot

Run this list before you leave the house. It saves the second trip.

• Find where the car is. Call the police non emergency line, or use your city or state's towed car search.
• If the police towed it, ask if you need a release from them first.
• Bring proof you own it, like the title or registration in your name.
• Bring a photo ID and proof of insurance. Oklahoma, for one, asks for all three.
• Bring a licensed driver if you don't have a valid license yourself.
• Call the yard and ask for the total as of the time you'll get there.
• Walk around the car and take photos before you drive off the lot.

One more catch. If the car was towed because it broke down, it still won't run at the lot. Ask the yard if a mobile mechanic can meet you there. If not, get it towed to your driveway and have the repair done there. Our mobile mechanic cost guide shows what a driveway visit runs.

Find a Mechanic After the Impound

MechanicRank lists 48,076 repair shops and mechanics in 6,647 cities, including mobile mechanics who come to you. Every listing shows the phone, reviews and hours, and the call rings the shop direct. Search your ZIP code once the car is home.

At Supercanic, our own shop, labor is $150 an hour, with a 90 day or 5,000 mile labor warranty.

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