Your car was towed from private property in Avondale
If your car was towed from a lot, apartment, or HOA in Avondale, here is what the operator can charge and what the law requires.
What Arizona law says
A trespass tow off a lot, apartment, or HOA is a separate regime from a police impound, and the fees are different. In Phoenix, City Code 36-6 caps the total tow charge at $105 for a vehicle that reached storage, storage at $12 a day, a load-and-unload where you demand release before the vehicle leaves at $20, and a load, transport, and unload where you demand release in transit at $40. The operator may not hold your car as security for the charges or require security as a condition of release, though they can ask for ID for billing. Under ARS 9-499.05, a lot must be posted with clear signs that state the parking restrictions, what happens to a vehicle in violation, the maximum cost to you including storage, and a phone number and address where the car can be found.
How it works in Avondale
- 1 Confirm it was a trespass tow, not police
A tow off a lot, apartment, or HOA is a private-property tow, a different regime from a police impound. If police ordered it, the $150 state fee and the 20-day hold apply instead. Which one you are in changes everything, including the price.
- 2 Find the car through the required sign or police
Under ARS 9-499.05, the lot must post a sign with the phone number and address where the vehicle can be found. The tower must also phone police within one hour of the tow (ARS 28-4836), so the police non-emergency line can trace it if the sign is missing.
- 3 Know the Phoenix caps
In Phoenix, City Code 36-6 caps the total tow at $105 for a car that reached storage and storage at $12 a day. Release demanded before the car leaves its spot is capped at $20; release demanded in transit at $40. Outside Phoenix, ask which city ordinance sets the rate.
- 4 Do not let them hold the car for the bill
Under City Code 36-6, the operator may not hold your vehicle as security for the charges or require security as a condition of release. They can ask for ID for billing. If they refuse to release a paid-up car, note it.
- 5 Check the signage
A compliant ARS 9-499.05 sign must state the parking restrictions, what happens to a vehicle in violation, the maximum cost including storage, and a phone and address to locate the car. If the lot had no clear sign at the entrance, that is a real basis to dispute the tow.
- 6 Get it moved once it is released
If the car will not start or is not safe to drive after release, we line up a tow or roadside operator who quotes before dispatch. Call (480) 526-9384.
What this looks like around Avondale
Warehouse and retail lots and apartment complexes across Avondale, Goodyear, and Tolleson generate trespass tows. The city where the lot sits sets the maximum rate under ARS 9-499.05. The lot must be posted, and the tower must phone police within one hour of the tow (ARS 28-4836).
Avondale runs its impound through the Avondale Police Department. Se habla espanol, and the process is the same either way. Like every Arizona agency it charges the 150-dollar state administrative fee (ARS 28-3513(B)) on a police-ordered 20-day hold under ARS 28-3511, with storage at the state cap of 25 dollars a day, and you can request a post-storage hearing within 10 days of the notice, held within 5 business days. A private-property tow off a lot is a separate matter: Arizona sets no statewide dollar cap, the city that governs the lot may set the maximum rate, and the lot must be posted with a compliant sign stating the restriction, the maximum cost and a number and address where the car can be located. Call the department that ordered the tow for its release counter and assigned yard.
Avondale is a majority-Hispanic city, 53.4 percent Latino, which makes the Spanish version of this site essential rather than optional, and a message left in Spanish is read in Spanish. The city holds 89,334 residents. Its signature towing event is Phoenix Raceway: NASCAR race weekends twice a year put enormous crowds into event lots and generate a concentrated burst of dead batteries, lockouts and post-race tows on a calendar you can read months ahead. I-10, the Papago, is the freight spine and a steady source of high-speed crashes, and Loop 101 reaches its southern terminus here, with Avondale Boulevard, Dysart, Van Buren and McDowell carrying the rest. Maricopa County logged 88,094 crashes in 2024. The working-class older-vehicle base feels the heat first, and 2023 brought 133 days at or above 100 degrees in the metro, which turns into a steady stream of no-starts and dead batteries. The Gila and Agua Fria washes flood in monsoon, and under Arizona's Stupid Motorist Law a driver who goes around a flood barricade can be billed up to 2,000 dollars. Apartment and private-property tows round out the work, capped in Phoenix at 105 dollars once the car reaches storage. The pros we send cover I-10, the raceway, Loop 101 and the arterial grid.
Common Avondale questions
How much can a tow company charge to get my car back in Avondale?
In Phoenix, City Code 36-6 caps the total tow at $105 for a car that reached storage and storage at $12 a day. If you demand release before the car leaves its spot, that is capped at $20; in transit, $40. Outside Phoenix, the city where the lot sits sets its own maximum under ARS 9-499.05, so ask which ordinance the charge comes from.
Can they hold my car until I pay in Avondale?
Under Phoenix City Code 36-6, the operator may not hold your vehicle as security for the charges or require security as a condition of release. They can ask for ID for billing. Once you pay the lawful charge, they must release the car.
The lot had no sign. Does that matter in Avondale?
Yes. Under ARS 9-499.05, a lot is treated as open to public parking unless it is posted with clear signs at each entrance stating the restrictions, the maximum cost, and where to find the car. A missing or non-compliant sign is a real basis to dispute the tow.
What if the tower never told police in Avondale?
Under ARS 28-4836, the tower must phone the police within one hour of the tow, and the agency enters it in the state database within three business days. A tower who fails to notify police forfeits all towing and storage charges and is guilty of a class 1 misdemeanor.
Related help for Avondale
Private-property tows in the rest of the Southwest Valley area
Need your car towed once it's released in Avondale?
We can't waive the yard's fees. We can line up an operator the moment it clears.