What a parking lot owner has to do before your car can be legally towed — and what to do if it wasn’t.
Call (269) 925-9573This is general information about Michigan law, not legal advice. If you’re disputing a specific tow, contact the property owner, the towing company, or an attorney directly.
Under Michigan’s Vehicle Code (MCL 257.252k), a private property owner can’t just tow any car they don’t recognize. The lot has to post a notice at every point where vehicles can enter. If there are no curbs or barriers marking the lot’s edges, a sign is required at least once every 100 feet of road frontage. The lettering has to be at least 2 inches tall, on a background that contrasts with the sign color, and it has to say — clearly — that unauthorized vehicles will be towed at the owner’s expense.
If a lot doesn’t have that signage up, or the signage is hidden, faded, or doesn’t meet the size requirement, that’s the first thing worth documenting if you believe a tow was improper.
We see this come up locally more often than people expect: someone parks at a store or restaurant lot with permission from an employee, only to have the vehicle towed anyway — sometimes hours earlier than agreed. If a business gave verbal permission for a vehicle to stay, that’s a dispute between the driver and the property, but it doesn’t change the towing company’s obligation to have proper signage posted and to release records showing who authorized the tow.
Private property tows are between the property owner and the towing company they’ve contracted with. Police-ordered tows — after an accident, a parking violation on public streets, or an abandoned vehicle call — follow a different process, covered in our accident tow rights guide and abandoned vehicle law guide.
If your vehicle was towed and you’re trying to locate it, call (269) 925-9573 — we can often point you toward the right impound lot even if it isn’t ours.