Tow Lot Fee Per Day in California: Limits in Thousand Oaks

Published 17 September 2026

A car that sat two nights in a tow yard comes back with a bill, and the owner holding it wants to know what a California tow lot may charge per day. No dollar figure exists in state law. What exists are limits - a benchmark rate, the half-fee rule, one day of storage for a quick release, a 10-mile yard radius and a ceiling on the gate fee - all of them written for a tow ordered by someone other than you.

Each limit gets its own section with the Vehicle Code behind it; after them comes the extra charge a Thousand Oaks police impound adds, and the guide closes on your own tow, where none of them applies.

No California schedule lists towing or storage charges. When the CHP orders a tow on the 101 or the 23, the price follows the CHP Rotation Tow Program: every CHP Area approves each operator's rates for the year, billed portal to portal in one-minute increments without mileage, and the operator carries the schedule in the tow truck to show on request. Thousand Oaks falls under the Moorpark Area, which does not publish its approved rates, so you will find no figure on this site.

The statute puts no price on a lot owner's tow, either. CVC 22658 caps it by comparison instead: the charge is excessive when it tops the greater of the local law enforcement agency's tow-agreement rate and the CHP-approved rate for the jurisdiction, and a company that exceeds it is liable for four times what it charged.

A tow you arrange after a breakdown has no benchmark whatsoever. That gives the question three different answers, which follow in order, beginning at the lot.

A private-property tow must meet conditions before any charge is owed. Every entrance needs a sign at least 17 by 22 inches with one-inch lettering that names the towing company and its phone number, and the tow company needs written authorization from the owner, the lessee or an agent who is present and confirms the violation.

Two more rules govern the minutes before the car departs. Return while it is still on the property and not yet in transit, and the tow company must hand it back at once, without conditions, when you ask. If the car is already attached to the tow truck or lifted clear of the ground, the most the company can bill is half its usual towing charge.

The least expensive storage day, then, is the one that never begins. A car hooked up in a Newbury Park apartment lot and released right there never sees a yard, a gate or a daily rate, and half the tow fee is the entire bill.

At the yard, CVC 22658 governs the storage bill without ever stating an amount. Released within 24 hours of entering the storage facility, whatever the calendar date, the car is charged one day of storage and no more. A car towed in at 9 p.m. and collected at 8 the following morning has changed dates but not days.

A distance limit keeps the yard nearby: it has to sit no more than 10 miles from the property the car left, unless the tow company already holds general written approval from the law enforcement agency with primary jurisdiction, which here is the Thousand Oaks Police, provided under contract by the Ventura County Sheriff.

Yards must keep normal business hours, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday apart from holidays, and must hand cars over outside those hours too, when the gate fee they add can reach, at most, half of what the original tow cost per hour. They must accept cash or any valid credit card issued by a bank, and a posted notice has to say so.

The rules above apply to private-property tows. CVC 22651.07 reaches every storage facility regardless of who ordered the tow: the yard displays the Towing and Storage Fees and Access Notice in its office, gives you a copy when asked, and supplies an itemized invoice of the actual charges before it accepts payment for towing, recovery or storage-related fees.

A police-ordered tow in Thousand Oaks brings one charge the Vehicle Code does not: an administrative release fee that the City sets and the Thousand Oaks Police Department collects, added to the yard's bill. The City Council last reset it in 2012, so ask the station for today's amount. If your car is already gone, that station is the right first call regardless; the step-by-step guide for a car towed in Thousand Oaks lays out the order. At any yard, the notice on the wall lists these rights before payment:

• Take your belongings out of the car at no cost on any regular business day, during office hours.
• Get the car back within its first 72 hours in storage with no lien fee.
• Look the car over without charge before paying.
• Choose cash, check or credit card to pay.

Most drivers never meet these rules, because the tow they need is one they ordered. A car that dies on Moorpark Road and goes to your own mechanic carries no state cap, benchmark or minimum. On that tow, the thing that shields you is a full price agreed before the tow truck sets off.

Our Thousand Oaks work runs on exactly that - one phone price for every tow our trucks take on: a single total, made up of the hook-up, the miles, flatbed or wheel-lift and the time any recovery takes, and if the shop is shut and the car must stay overnight, the daily rate and pickup hours are agreed during that same call instead of surprising you at a counter.

Any website quoting a daily tow lot fee for California is describing what a yard may bill when someone else had the car towed, judged against rates no one publishes. For a tow you do order, the figure that counts is the one you accepted, and our Thousand Oaks cost guide breaks it down.