Towed during a snow emergency
When a city declares a snow emergency, cars on posted routes or the wrong side of the street can be ticketed and towed so plows can get through. These are police or city tows, so the city sets the fees.
What to do now
- Check the city towed-car lookup or call the police non-emergency line.
- Some cities move cars to a nearby street instead of an impound lot. Ask before you go to the lot.
- Bring ID, registration and payment. Snow emergency tows often add a ticket on top of tow and storage.
- Contest the ticket through the city parking hearing process if signs were missing or the declaration came after you parked.
Snow emergency towing by city
Snow tows follow city rules, not state law. These cities run an official program we have checked:
Hearing to contest the tow: all 50 states and DC
| State | Rule |
|---|---|
| Alabama Yes | Before a sale you can contest it by filing a notice of appeal in circuit court in the county where the sale is set. The car cannot be sold while the court decides. Disputes over the cost of towing and storage also go to circuit court. |
| Alaska Partly | There is no statewide tow hearing. A city that removes abandoned or junk cars under its own abatement ordinance must tell owners and lienholders of their right to a city hearing. In Anchorage, a private tow without proper signs or paperwork lets you sue for a full refund of towing and storage. |
| Arizona Yes | After a police impound you can request a poststorage hearing within 10 days of the date on the notice. The hearing is held within five business days, and if the impound was not justified the agency pays the tow and storage costs. |
| Arkansas Yes | If you think a police-ordered removal was not justified, you can seek a review within 30 days after the tow. Depending on who ordered it, you file with the State Claims Commission, the city or county review process, or circuit court. |
| California Partly | If police or another public agency had your car stored, you can ask for a post-storage hearing in person, in writing or by phone within 10 days of the date printed on the storage notice. The agency has to hold it within 48 hours of your request, not counting weekends and holidays, and it pays the tow and storage if it can't show good grounds. The law doesn't say business days, so count calendar days to be safe. Private-property tows get no agency hearing. Your remedy there is a lawsuit, usually in small claims court. |
| Colorado Not verified | Not verified yet. |
| Connecticut Partly | For a car towed by a city or town for breaking a local ordinance, you can ask for a hearing before a municipal hearing officer on DMV form A-25. The tower cannot sell the car while the hearing is pending. You can also file a complaint with the DMV about excessive charges. |
| Delaware Partly | There is no state tow hearing. If a tow broke these rules, you can sue to get back all fees paid plus actual damages, and the court may award attorney fees if you made a fair settlement offer first. |
| District of Columbia Not verified | Not verified yet. |
| Florida Yes | You can file in county court where the car is stored to decide if it was wrongfully taken or fees were wrongfully charged. You can also get the car back first by posting a bond with the clerk of court equal to the charges. |
| Georgia Partly | Georgia has no separate tow hearing. If the company files a petition in magistrate court to foreclose its lien, you can file the court's standard answer form no later than 10 days after you receive a copy of the petition. The judge then holds a trial within 10 days and decides whether the tow was lawful and whether the fees are allowed. You can also sue over a wrongful tow, where damages are presumed to be at least $100 and are tripled for intentional violations. You can complain to DPS about overcharges too. |
| Hawaii Not verified | Not verified yet. |
| Idaho Yes | After a police-ordered tow you can request a tow hearing in writing to the Idaho Transportation Department within 10 days of the first notice, and it must be held within 48 hours. For any tow you can also file a declaration of opposition within 20 days of the first notice to dispute fees, then sue within 10 days. |
| Illinois Partly | There is no state hearing for private-lot tows, but you can file a complaint with the ICC and get a refund of any overcharge. When a town impounds a car and charges an administrative fee, it must offer a hearing, mail notice within 10 days, and hold the first hearing within 45 days of that notice. |
| Indiana Yes | If you think the bill is unreasonable, you can file a complaint with the Indiana Attorney General, pay 75 percent of the invoice, and post a bond for the rest to get the car within 24 hours. You must then file a civil case within 30 days and a judge decides the fair amount. |
| Iowa Partly | If police took the vehicle, or hired a company to do it, you can ask the police agency for a hearing to contest the fees or the planned sale. You must ask, or reclaim the car, within 10 days of the notice. We found no state hearing for purely private tows. |
| Kansas No | State law gives no statewide hearing to contest a tow. Some cities do. In Kansas City, Kansas, you can ask for a tow hearing at municipal court and post a cash bond to get the car back first. In Salina you must ask within 5 business days of the impound notice. |
| Kentucky Not verified | Not verified yet. |
| Louisiana Partly | If a public agency had your car towed and stored, you can ask that agency for an administrative hearing on whether the tow was proper. The request is due within 10 days after the owner notice is mailed and the hearing is held within 3 business days. Complaints about private tow charges go to the Public Service Commission. |
| Maine Not verified | Not verified yet. |
| Maryland Not verified | Not verified yet. |
| Massachusetts Not verified | Not verified yet. |
| Michigan Yes | You can file the petition from the notice with the district court to contest the tow or the reasonableness of the fees. You must file within 20 days after the date of the notice, and you can get the car back during the case by posting a bond or paying the fee and charges to the court. The court schedules the hearing within 30 days. |
| Minnesota No | Chapter 168B does not give a state hearing to contest a tow. If a public tow broke the state rules on when a car may be towed, you can sue the towing authority for the greater of 100 dollars or two times your actual damages. Some cities have their own dispute process. |
| Mississippi Not verified | Not verified yet. |
| Missouri Yes | Within 10 days after you receive the tow company's notice you can file a petition in the associate circuit court in the county where the car is stored to decide if it was wrongfully taken. You can get the car back while the case is pending by posting a bond equal to the towing and storage charges. |
| Montana Partly | Complaints about the Highway Patrol rotation system go in writing to the state tow truck complaint resolution committee. There is no tow hearing for private tows, but a tow company that wants to sell your car for unpaid charges must get a court order, and you can object at that court hearing. |
| Nebraska No | Nebraska's private-lot towing law (sections 60-2401 to 60-2411) has no hearing process for contesting a tow. |
| Nevada Yes | If you think a private-property tow was unlawful, you can file for expedited relief in the local justice court within 21 calendar days of the tow. The court must hold a hearing within 7 days of filing. You can also complain to the Nevada Transportation Authority. |
| New Hampshire Yes | To challenge the fee, the owner may pay the charges to get the car released and then ask the Commissioner of Safety in writing for a review within 15 days of release. Starting January 1, 2027 the window is 30 days from receiving the invoice. |
| New Jersey Partly | There is no tow hearing. If a fee is disputed and the Division of Consumer Affairs finds it unreasonable, the Director may order the company to refund the excess with interest. |
| New Mexico Yes | If you dispute the charges or think the tow was illegal, the tow company must give you a written statement explaining how to file a complaint with the state transportation department. |
| New York Partly | No statewide tow hearing was found. If a tower sends a notice of sale to enforce its lien, you have 10 days after the notice is served to ask a court to cancel or reduce the lien. Outside New York City, a person harmed by a violation of the parking-lot notice law may sue for actual damages or $150, whichever is greater. |
| North Carolina Yes | For police-ordered tows the owner can file a written request with the magistrate in the county where the car was towed, and the magistrate must set a hearing within 72 hours. If there was no probable cause for the tow, the tower's lien ends. For any tow, the owner can sue to contest the lien and get the car back by paying the claimed amount into court. |
| North Dakota Not verified | Not verified yet. |
| Ohio Yes | There is no state tow hearing. When you pick up the car the lot must give you written notice that you may be able to sue under Ohio's tow law if you think the tow was unlawful. You can also file a complaint with PUCO. |
| Oklahoma Yes | The Corporation Commission takes, mediates and decides complaints about rates charged for a nonconsensual tow. |
| Oregon Partly | For a tow ordered by police or another public agency, you can ask that agency for a hearing on whether the tow was valid and the charges reasonable. The request must be in writing within five business days of the notice mailing date. There is no state hearing for private-lot tows. |
| Pennsylvania Partly | There is no statewide hearing for private-lot tows. If your car is processed as abandoned, you have 30 days from the mailing of the notice to ask for a hearing before a civilian municipal officer, and if the car is found not abandoned you can take it within 48 hours without paying the fees. In Philadelphia, Parking Authority tows and their fees are disputed at the Bureau of Administrative Adjudication. |
| Rhode Island Yes | An owner who thinks the tow was improper may file an administrative complaint with the Division to contest it. For a trespass tow, an owner who proves in court that the car was not trespassing can recover the charges from the property owner after paying them. |
| South Carolina Partly | No tow hearing was found in state law. For Highway Patrol rotation tows, you can dispute storage fees in writing and storage charges stop until the dispute is resolved. |
| South Dakota No | State law has no hearing process for contesting a tow or its charges. |
| Tennessee Partly | No general tow hearing was found in state law. The owner or lienholder can appeal a police finding that a car is abandoned or immobile, and a garagekeeper that refuses to release a car after payment can be sued for costs and attorney's fees. |
| Texas Yes | You can ask a justice of the peace court in the county the car was towed from for a hearing on whether the tow was legal and whether you were overcharged. File a written request before the 14th day after the tow, not counting weekends and legal holidays. The hearing must be held within 21 calendar days after the court gets your request. If the tower or lot never gave you the hearing-rights notice, the deadline does not apply. |
| Utah Yes | You can file a complaint with UDOT about overcharges or other violations of the towing rules. |
| Vermont No | Vermont has no tow hearing process. You can file a complaint with the Attorney General's Consumer Assistance Program. |
| Virginia No | Virginia has no statewide tow hearing process. For tows from Northern Virginia (Planning District 8), a tower that breaks the state towing rules or a local towing ordinance faces a civil penalty of 10 times what it charged, collected by the Attorney General and paid to the person towed. Many Northern Virginia localities also take towing complaints. |
| Washington Yes | You can contest the tow or the charges in district or municipal court. The written request must reach the court within 10 days of getting the hearing notice and more than five days before the auction, and you pay a filing fee. If the tow is found invalid, the person who ordered it pays the fees and you can recover the filing fee and damages for loss of use. |
| West Virginia Yes | You can file a complaint with the Public Service Commission. In a formal complaint about a third-party tow, the tow company has to prove its charges are fair and reasonable. |
| Wisconsin Not verified | Not verified yet. |
| Wyoming No | State law has no tow hearing. After a sale, you can go to court within 120 days to claim any money left over after costs. |
Think the tow or the bill was wrong?
Ask the lot for an itemized receipt, compare it to the legal limits, and request a hearing before the deadline. Our step-by-step guide and calculator are free.
More: other situations · find a towed car · what to bring · fee calculator
Questions
Do I have to pay the ticket to get my car back after a snow tow?
Often yes. Many cities require you to pay or post the ticket along with tow and storage before release. Check your city page.