Audits, reports, rules and contracts from the City of Los Angeles and other agencies, each with a short summary in plain words and a link to the agency's own copy.
These are government documents. We link to the official copies for now and will post our own copies later. Summaries are ours; read the record itself before you rely on it.
Between June 24 and September 1, 2026, the Council approved new contracts for police tow yard Service Areas 6, 14, 16 and 18. On September 2, 2026, it adopted a new standard contract for future tow yard contracts. City contracts signed after January 8, 2025 are posted on RAMP LA instead of the City Clerk's site.
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This is the current rulebook for towing in the City of Los Angeles. It holds the Board's rules for all permitted tow companies, the rules for police tow yards (Official Police Garages), the list of police tow yards with their auction days and places (section 10), and the rate charts for 2020 to 2026 (section 100).
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The Board set the 2026 police tow yard rates at its December 9, 2025 meeting: $220 for the first hour of towing and $68 a day for storage, for credit card payment ($215 and $66 by other means). The same chart is in the TOPS manual (section 100) and in a City procurement document.
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The rate chart cites Board report BPC #25-326, but the report posted under that number is about another topic. We have not found the Board's rate report itself.
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After a 2022 federal court ruling, LADOT stopped towing and booting legally parked cars just for having 5 or more unpaid parking tickets. This report says the list of such cars grew from about 27,000 cars owing about $40 million to more than 70,000 owing about $128.5 million. It also reviews other ways the City collects, such as registration holds.
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The City Council asked whether police tow yard fees could be waived for people detained by federal immigration agents. The Commission advised against expecting the yards to work for free. It suggested that a family member pay quickly to stop storage charges, with possible repayment from a Council office's funds, and it explains who is allowed to pick up a car.
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The Board's 2025 request for proposals to run police tow yards, which the City Council adopted on August 20, 2025. Documents like this set what a police tow yard must do for the public, such as hours, storage lots, rate limits and complaint handling.
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The Board report that set the 2025 police tow yard rates: $195 for the first hour of towing and $60 a day for storage, for credit card payment. That was about 34% more for the tow than in 2022.
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By a 12-0 vote, the Council told LADOT to report on what the pause in towing and booting cars for unpaid tickets was costing, and on other options. LADOT's October 2025 report (listed above) answers part of this request.
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This LADOT report records the COVID-19 pause, starting March 16, 2020, on tickets and tows for street sweeping, 72-hour parking, expired registration and more. It proposed restarting those tows on October 1, 2020, and tows for unpaid tickets on January 1, 2021.
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This study looked at towing in 12 cities in Los Angeles County, such as Baldwin Park, El Monte and Inglewood. It does not cover the City of Los Angeles. It found many of those cities could not say how many cars they impounded or sold, and it describes how unlicensed-driver impounds became a source of money for some cities.
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Covers 12 other cities in LA County, not the City of Los Angeles.
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This audit covers all 59 kinds of police permits, including the permits tow companies and tow drivers need. It reports that the Police Commission's investigators rated tow permits high risk for overcharging and theft, but kept complaints in a form that could not be analyzed. It recommended letting the public look up permits online.
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This Board report made the first changes to the police tow yard rules since 1994. Among other things, it raised the value of cars that must be kept at the main yard from $2,500 to $4,000, to match the contracts.
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The only full City audit of the police tow yard (Official Police Garage) program we have found. It found service met contract standards, but most yards left lien fees out of the money they reported, shorting the City about $1 million in fees, and no one checked what the yards paid in. It also gives a short official history of how the City moved to tow yard contracts, and the 2007 rates.
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We are reviewing these before we post them: