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What changed: towing updates in Washington
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.
State program to release towed cars to owners who can't pay now starts July 1, 2027
A 2025 law (Chapter 417, Laws of 2025) created RCW 46.55.700: the Department of Licensing will pay tow companies, from unclaimed auction money, for releasing a car to an owner who is indigent, for private-property tows and police-directed tows not made after an arrest. A 2026 law (Chapter 255) moved the start date from February 1, 2026 to July 1, 2027. Tow companies will then have to tell owners about the program in the impound notice.
Law passed in 2025; start date moved to July 1, 2027.
New state law: cars blocking a big city's streetcar tracks can be towed right away
HB 2495 (Chapter 99, Laws of 2026) was signed March 18, 2026 and took effect that day. A car left in the right-of-way a city of more than 700,000 people uses for streetcars can now be impounded immediately if it blocks the streetcar or puts public safety at risk. An authorized city representative must still sign the impound authorization at the time and place of the tow (RCW 46.55.080(2)).
State Patrol tow rates for October 15, 2025 to October 14, 2026
For tows the Washington State Patrol orders, the most a rotation tow company may charge is $297 an hour for a class A or E truck and $75 for storage, with $149 an hour for labor or an after-hours release. These rates matter for private-lot tows too: state law caps a private-impound company's filed hourly and storage rates at 135% of the Patrol's rates in effect when the company filed its fee schedule (RCW 46.55.118).
In effect October 15, 2025 through October 14, 2026. The Patrol sets new rates before October 15 each year; the 2026-27 table was not yet posted when we checked on October 8, 2026.
Bill on impounds of vehicles people live in gets a hearing but does not pass (HB 2359)
HB 2359 (2024) would have defined a 'vehicle residence', made impounding one a last resort for government agencies, barred auctioning it, required impound hearings within two business days and waived filing fees for financial hardship. The House Transportation Committee heard it on February 1, 2024 and took no action; it did not become law.
Not passed. Last action February 5, 2024 (no committee vote).
Cars blocking light rail can be towed right away (SB 5317)
SB 5317 (Chapter 326, Laws of 2023) lets an authorized regional transit authority representative have a car impounded immediately when it blocks high capacity transit (such as light rail) in the transit right-of-way or puts public safety at risk. It took effect July 23, 2023.
Signed May 4, 2023. In effect since July 23, 2023.
Attorney General writes to more than 400 tow companies about service members' cars
In September 2021 the Washington Attorney General's Office sent letters to more than 400 tow truck operators about the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. That law requires a court order before a tow company sells an active-duty service member's car to satisfy its lien. The office reports court orders against several tow companies for selling service members' cars without one.
Agency action, 2021; enforcement continued in 2022.
State Supreme Court: impound costs can be an excessive fine, and a vehicle you live in is a homestead
In City of Seattle v. Long, the Washington Supreme Court held that impounding a man's truck, which he lived in, and making him repay about $547 in tow and storage costs was an unconstitutionally excessive fine, and that a person's ability to pay is part of that test. It also held that a vehicle used as a home can be protected under the Homestead Act. The ruling applies statewide.
State law on abandoned RVs left on public property (SB 6437)
SB 6437 (Chapter 287, Laws of 2018) addressed the disposal of recreational vehicles abandoned on public property. Among other things it lets a registered tow company haul an abandoned RV to a licensed dismantler or disposal site without a separate hulk-hauler license, using the abandoned vehicle report or junk vehicle affidavit as its record (RCW 46.55.400). It took effect May 1, 2019.
Signed March 27, 2018. In effect since May 1, 2019.