Audits, reports, rules and contracts about towing in San Francisco, 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. Summaries are ours; read the record itself before you rely on it.
The official list of SFMTA tow, storage, dolly and lien fees for July 2026 and July 2027, including the first-tow and low-income amounts. It is the source for the tool's San Francisco fee numbers.
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Extends the towing contract by up to 15 months (to June 30, 2027 at the latest) and raises the limit to $158.8 million. The SFMTA resolution lists all ten amendments, says the City spends about $8 million a year beyond what tow fees recover, and covers higher insurance that Caltrans now requires for the 7th Street site.
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The previous fee list, showing the tow fees for July 2024 and July 2025. Useful for checking a bill from a tow in those years.
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Explains how the contract works (the contractor collects owners' fees and the City pays it a monthly management fee plus per-tow charges), names the two storage sites, and estimates net program costs of about $70.7 million over 10 years, paid from transit funds. Resolution 66-25 then raised the limit to $136.7 million.
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Announces a five-year ban on Auto Towing, LLC bidding on or receiving City contracts, after an administrative hearing. The City said the company towed cars from a bank lot in 2023 without the owner's permission and stored them away from its permitted address. The release links the order itself.
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We link the City's release. The Order of Debarment is linked from that page; we have not posted a copy.
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Tells officers that, after the Coalition on Homelessness ruling, they may not request a Vehicle Code 22651(i) tow without a court order, and that the Tow Desk will not provide one. Other lawful tows are not affected. The bulletin lists an expiration date of October 27, 2026.
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Raises the contract limit to $121.4 million through March 2025. The staff report gives the contract's yearly costs since 2016, lists the six earlier amendments (including income checks for fee waivers and online auctions), and says the program cannot fully recover its costs because of waivers and reductions.
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Drops the administrative fee for low-income owners (no longer only on a first tow), waives dolly and flatbed fees for them, creates a $100 low-income boot removal fee, and lets renters of towed cars get the first-tow and low-income reductions. The staff report credits the City's fines and fees task force work.
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Covers April 2016 to June 2017. The contractor generally followed the rules on fee collection, waivers, vehicle inventory and its tow subcontractors, but did not track how long customers waited in person. In fiscal 2016-17 the City collected about $21 million in fees for about 42,500 tows and paid the contractor about $12.5 million.
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Rewrites Transportation Code section 305 after the 2016 fee reforms caused confusion. It lets anyone lawfully claiming a first-tow car pay the reduced fee, makes storage accrue by full calendar day after the first 24 hours, excludes peer-to-peer car-sharing cars from some waivers, and shows the 2016 and 2017 fee tables.
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Awards the towing, storage and lien-sale contract that still runs today, after a 2015 request for proposals with three bidders. It notes tows fell from about 71,000 in 2005 to 42,000 in 2015, cut administrative and base tow fees by $22.25, and extended the stolen-car fee waiver to non-residents.
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Records that AutoReturn has towed for the City since 2004 and that the long-term storage and auction area moved from Pier 70 to 2650 Bayshore Blvd. in May 2013, after the Port chose a developer for Pier 70.
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We are reviewing these before we post them: