Towed in Tacoma

Get Your Towed Car Back in Tacoma: Steps, ID, Payment

Answers taken from the rules Towed in Tacoma uses. Each one gives its official source and the date that source was checked. Which rules apply depends on the facts of each tow; the tool asks about them. Rules current as of October 6, 2026.

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Where the car is

At the time of an impound, the tow company must immediately notify a law enforcement agency with jurisdiction by telephone or radio, and the agency keeps a log of these reports; a written or electronic notice follows within 24 hours. If your car is missing, the police log is one way to find out whether it was towed.

Source: RCW 46.55.100(1) · Checked on October 6, 2026

Tacoma Police Department's non-emergency number is (253) 287-4455 and its main information line is (253) 591-5950; headquarters is at 3701 South Pine Street, Tacoma. The City's pages read for this tool do not describe a towed-vehicle lookup. A car towed from private property is with the company named on the lot's tow signs, or the property owner or manager can say who towed it.

Source: Tacoma Police Department - TPD Services page · Checked on October 6, 2026

ID and papers the lot must accept

Only the registered owner, the legal owner, a person the registered owner authorized, or a buyer from the registered owner may redeem a vehicle the City of Tacoma impounded, by showing proof of ownership or authorization and signing a receipt. The tow contractor must accept payment as RCW 46.55.120 provides. A vehicle impounded after an arrest for driving with a suspended license (TMC 11.05.700) is released only on a written order from the police department or a court, and the person redeeming it must show a valid driver's license and insurance.

Source: TMC 11.05.703(A)-(B) · Checked on October 6, 2026

Payment the lot must accept

The vehicle must be released to a person entitled to redeem it who presents "commercially reasonable tender" enough to cover the towing and storage charges. That includes, without limitation, cash, major bank credit cards, and personal checks drawn on Washington branches of financial institutions with two pieces of valid identification (one may have to have a photo); the company may refuse a check it cannot verify.

Source: RCW 46.55.120(1)(f) · Checked on October 6, 2026

Release hours

When the tow company's office is closed it must post a phone number there for releasing vehicles and personal property, and it must have staff reachable 24 hours a day who can release an impounded vehicle within 60 minutes. Personal property must be released without charge between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays, except holidays.

Source: WAC 308-61-125(2), (3) · Checked on October 6, 2026

Where vehicles are redeemed, the tow company must post in a conspicuous, accessible place its licenses and permits, its current towing and storage charges itemized on a Department of Licensing form, the redemption procedure and rights, where to send complaints, and information on the payment it must accept. Normal business hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays, excluding holidays, and the office must stay open with staff who can release vehicles (it may close up to an hour between 11 and 1 if a phone number is posted and someone can return within half an hour; storage stops accruing at the time of that call). It must have staff reachable 24 hours a day to release vehicles within a reasonable time, and must let a person redeeming a vehicle use a telephone.

Source: RCW 46.55.060(4), (6)-(8) · Checked on October 6, 2026

Belongings in the car

An impounded vehicle must be taken to the nearest storage location that has been inspected and listed with the Department of Licensing. Vehicles and stored belongings must be handled and returned in substantially the same condition as before the tow. For 20 days after the impound, personal belongings must be kept intact and returned to the owner or agent during normal business hours on request with a driver's license or other identification. The owner or agent may take belongings out of the vehicle and ask the tow operator to store them for 30 days from the date of signing a personal belongings storage request form. Without that form, belongings not claimed within 20 days of the impound are considered abandoned; with it, belongings not claimed within 30 days of the date the form is submitted are. Abandoned belongings may be disposed of at the tow operator's discretion or sold at auction with the vehicle. Anyone with proof of ownership, or written authorization from the registered or legal owner or the insurer, may view the vehicle without charge during normal business hours.

Source: RCW 46.55.090(1)-(3), (5) · Checked on October 6, 2026

Papers given at release

The tow company must give each person who seeks to redeem an impounded vehicle a written notice of the right of redemption and the opportunity for a hearing, together with a form for requesting a hearing, the name of the person or agency that authorized the impound, and a copy of the towing and storage invoice. It must keep a record, signed by the person redeeming, that the notice was given. The same notice must be given to anyone qualified to redeem who attempts to redeem a vehicle, and it is also mailed to the registered and legal owners with the 24-hour impound notice.

Source: RCW 46.55.120(2)(a); WAC 308-61-135(7) · Checked on October 6, 2026

Notices, deadlines and sale

When an unauthorized vehicle is impounded, the tow company must mail the last known registered and legal owners a notice by first-class mail within 24 hours, naming who authorized the impound, the tow firm's name, address and phone, the location and time of the impound, and including the written notice of the right of redemption and of a hearing. The notice must also say that the tow operator will store personal belongings found in the vehicle at no cost if the owner or agent is present to take them out of the vehicle and signs a personal belongings storage request form before the auction date; the operator stores them at no cost for 30 days from the date they are removed and the form is signed. No notice is needed if the vehicle has already been redeemed.

Source: RCW 46.55.110(1)(a)-(c), (5) · Checked on October 6, 2026

For a vehicle impounded by the City of Tacoma, the City's tow contractor must mail a notice by first-class mail to the last known and legal owners not more than 24 hours after the impound, with the full particulars of the impound, redemption and the opportunity for a hearing. When an investigatory hold ends, Tacoma Police must notify the registered and legal owner in writing. The 10 days to ask for a City impound hearing count from the later of this mailing or the tow company's notice.

Source: TMC 11.05.702 · Checked on October 6, 2026

An unclaimed vehicle may be sold at public auction only after 15 days have passed from the mailing of the notice of custody and sale to the registered and legal owners, and only after the tow company publishes the auction's date, place and time, with a way to contact it, in a newspaper of general circulation in the county 3 to 10 days before the auction. The vehicle may be redeemed at any time before the auction starts by paying the towing and storage fees. If the company misses the chapter's time limits, storage charges are limited to five days unless the delay was unavoidable.

Source: RCW 46.55.120(4), 46.55.130(1), (4)(b) · Checked on October 6, 2026

When a timely hearing request has been made and the vehicle has not been redeemed, the tow company may follow the abandoned-vehicle steps, but may not sell the vehicle at auction until the court has decided the request. It must keep a trust account for money received while a district court hearing request is pending.

Source: WAC 308-61-168(1), (3) · Checked on October 6, 2026