What changed: California and Los Angeles towing updates
New laws, rules and rates that affect people whose cars were towed, newest first. Each item is our own short summary with a link to the official source.
New state law: tow yards must take debit cards starting January 1, 2027
The Governor signed AB 2437 on September 30, 2026 (Chapter 942). Starting January 1, 2027, tow and storage yards must accept a valid bank debit card, not just cash or a credit card. The law also changes the fee notice that yards must post, and it limits the extra papers a yard can demand from a car's legal owner, such as a lender.
Signed September 30, 2026. Takes effect January 1, 2027.
Governor vetoes bill on leftover lien-sale money (SB 1029)
SB 1029 would have changed what happens to leftover money after a car is sold at a lien sale: starting in 2030, money nobody claimed in three years would have gone to the State Controller. The official bill history shows the Governor vetoed it on September 30, 2026. So the current rule stays: if your car sold for more than you owed, you can claim the extra money from the DMV within three years (Civil Code section 3073).
Vetoed September 30, 2026. Current law does not change.
City Council adopts a new contract for police tow yards
The Los Angeles City Council adopted a new standard contract for future Official Police Garage (police tow yard) contracts. Contracts like this set what a police tow yard must do for the public. Between June 24 and September 1, 2026, the Council also approved new tow yard contracts for Service Areas 6, 14, 16 and 18.
New LA tow rules: a 60-minute wait at the scene, and lists before lien sales
The Police Commission's reissued rules for tow companies took effect September 1, 2026. Under Rule #10, if you reach your car before it leaves and dispute the tow, the driver must call police and wait at least 60 minutes with no charge for the wait; if police do not come in that time, the tow may continue (the old rule was 30 minutes, and the tow could not continue). Under Rule #14, every LAPD-permitted tow company must send LAPD a list of cars it plans to sell or scrap at least 7 days before the sale.
In effect since September 1, 2026 (TOPS manual, section 200).
LA private tows: half a day of storage if you come within 4 hours
Also since September 1, 2026, Board Rule #5 says that after a private-property tow, a City-permitted tow company may charge only half a day of storage if you ask for your car back within 4 hours after it arrives at the yard. It may not charge a gate fee, after-hours fee or administrative charge for a release during normal business hours. Rule #6 now uses a 10-mile storage limit in place of the old 2.5-mile towing limit.
In effect since September 1, 2026 (TOPS manual, section 200).
Bill on bonds to release towed cars stalls and dies (SB 1112)
SB 1112 would have created a way to post a bond to get a towed car back before a lien sale, and it targeted "bandit" towing. It was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee on August 13, 2026, and it did not pass before the Legislature's August 31 deadline, so it is not law.
2026 police tow yard rates: $220 for the first hour, $68 a day for storage
For 2026, the Board of Police Commissioners set the maximum Official Police Garage rates at $220 for the first hour of towing and $68 a day for storing a standard car, if you pay by credit card ($215 and $66 if you pay another way). In 2025 the rates were $195 and $60.
More tow charges count as unreasonable under state law (AB 987)
AB 987 (Chapter 345), signed October 6, 2025, took effect January 1, 2026. It adds charges the law presumes are unreasonable, including after-hours surcharges above 10%, holiday storage above the normal daily rate, tows that only clear a road for emergency vehicles, storage for days a yard refused a paid release, and more than half a day of storage if you pick up your car within 4 hours.