Your Car Was Towed in Thousand Oaks: What to Do, in Order

Published 17 September 2026

Thousand Oaks Tow Truck gets the call after the fact more often than you might expect: a car left on a street in Lang Ranch on Friday is gone by Tuesday, and the owner wants to know who took it, why, and what it costs to get back. The first answer is a location, and it is the same location whoever ordered the tow.

In order: where to look, why the car was taken, what the yard and the City charge, the hearing you can demand, and the one-hour rule for private lots.

The City of Thousand Oaks contracts its police service from the County of Ventura, so the Thousand Oaks Police Department is a Ventura County Sheriff's Office operation. The station is at 2101 East Olsen Road and the non-emergency line is (805) 494-8200; a tow a deputy ordered is on record there.

A private-property tow ends at the same desk, because CVC 22658 requires the towing company to notify the local law enforcement agency once the vehicle is removed and in transit - within 60 minutes of the removal or 15 minutes after reaching the yard, whichever is less.

Have the plate number ready and ask three things: which company has the car, the yard's address, and whether an officer ordered the tow. That last answer decides whether the City's release fee and the right to a hearing apply. Call first and ask the desk's hours for releases.

Start with the 72-hour rule. Thousand Oaks Municipal Code 4-3.410 treats a vehicle left on a city street for 72 or more consecutive hours as improper storage, and so is re-parking at the same spot within 72 hours without moving an appreciable distance, presumed if the odometer shows less than one mile of change. That ordinance is what CVC 22651(k) requires before an officer can order the car removed.

Oversized vehicles have their own section. Under TOMC 4-3.424 anything over 25 feet long, 80 inches wide or 82 inches tall may not park on a street between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on weekdays, holidays excepted; permits run up to five consecutive days, and enforcement waits 24 hours after a complaint. The section does not itself authorize a tow.

CVC 22651 lists the other grounds: obstructing traffic, blocking a driveway or a hydrant, five or more unpaid parking citations, registration expired by more than six months, a driver taken into custody, or a posted temporary no-parking zone with signs. Street sweeping counts only where those signs are posted; the City's sweeping page asks that cars be moved and posts no tow rule.

At the yard, CVC 22651.07 sets the procedure whoever ordered the tow: an itemized invoice of actual charges before you pay, your personal property out of the car at no charge during normal business hours, the car itself back during the first 72 hours with no lien fee, and your choice of cash, check or credit card, all of it printed on the Towing and Storage Fees and Access Notice on the office wall.

The amounts are another matter: California sets no statewide figure for a tow or a day of storage. A private-property tow is measured under CVC 22658 against the local law-enforcement rate, with one day charged if the car is out within 24 hours of arriving; a yard's rates for a police-ordered tow are not published, so ask on the phone before you go.

Then the City's line. A vehicle impounded by the Thousand Oaks Police carries an administrative release fee set by the City and collected through the police department, on top of the yard's charges. It attaches to a police impound, not a private-property tow; the City Council reset it in 2012, so ask for the current figure.

Under CVC 22852 the agency that directed the storage mails the registered and legal owners a notice within 48 hours, weekends and holidays excluded, offering a post-storage hearing. You must request it - in person, in writing or by telephone - within 10 days of the date on the notice, and it must be held within 48 hours of the request, again excluding weekends and holidays. If reasonable grounds for the storage are not established, the agency pays the towing and storage.

A 30-day impound is different again. CVC 14602.6 lets an officer impound for 30 days when the driver was caught driving on a suspended or revoked license, or had never been issued one. Notice goes out by mail within two working days, the same hearing is available, and the registered owner is responsible for all towing and storage charges; early release is possible when the vehicle was stolen, the seizure was improper, or the driver reinstates or obtains a license and proper insurance.

If the car was taken from a lot, CVC 22953 comes first: the owner of private property held open to the public for free parking - a shopping center, a restaurant - may not tow a vehicle within one hour of its being parked, unless it is within 15 feet of a hydrant, in a fire lane, across an entrance or exit, or in a disabled stall. The rule does not cover residential lots, and an owner who breaks it is liable for twice the towing and storage charges.

CVC 22658 sets the rest: signs at every entrance naming the tow company and its phone, written authorization from an owner or agent present at the time, a yard within 10 miles, and an unconditional release if you reach the car before it leaves the property - for no more than half the regular tow charge if it was already hooked up.

All of that is for a car somebody else moved. A car that is stuck rather than gone, two wheels off a canyon shoulder, is a different job: a winch-out on Kanan Road, Decker Canyon or a trailhead lot. And the car that dies at The Oaks and goes where you say is the emergency tow you call for yourself in Thousand Oaks, which works the other way around: no yard, no release fee, no hearing, one total on the call, and Thousand Oaks Tow Truck's wheel-lift and flatbed trucks deliver to your shop or driveway.