Car Towed in Boulder? Who Has It and What the Law Gives You

Published 17 September 2026

Some calls to Boulder Towing Company open with an empty parking space: on The Hill, in a lot off Pearl Street, on a county road shoulder. Now and then the car was stolen. Usually it was towed. Step one is learning who towed it, since that decides which rules govern.

Five parts: whom to phone, impound versus police tow, the Towing Bill of Rights at the yard, the county's 72-hour clock, and the city's hearing request. No prices here.

Inside city limits the number is 303-441-3333, Boulder Police non-emergency. Have the plate number ready, plus make, model and where you left the car. Dispatch has the record: officer-ordered or property-owner tow, the carrier's name, the yard.

Parking-violation tows from city streets go through Parking & Access Services, 303-413-7300, option 2 for illegally parked vehicles, weekdays 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Nights and weekends, parking questions go to that same police dispatch line.

Outside the city, say a Magnolia Road pullout or a street in unincorporated Gunbarrel, call the Boulder County Sheriff's Office at 303-441-4444 for non-emergencies. By contract it also polices Lyons, Superior and Nederland. One call saves a tour of every tow yard.

Colorado's towing rules, 4 CCR 723-6, split nonconsensual tows into two types, both defined in Rule 6501. A private property impound, or PPI, is authorized by the property owner, and residential and commercial PPIs carry different protections. A law enforcement-ordered tow is directed by an officer, often to get a wreck off US 36 or the Diagonal, and is charged by the hour.

An officer's tow counts as nonconsensual even when you agree, unless you kept the right to cancel it and choose the carrier. That is where an officer's tow ends and your own emergency tow begins. Fit to choose, with the car off the travel lanes? Name your own company at the scene; the tow becomes yours, at your quote.

In both cases, ask the yard who authorized the tow. HB24-1051 requires the property owner's written permission for a private-property tow, documented within 24 hours. The carrier cannot act as the owner's agent, and automated or preapproved permission is banned.

House Bill 22-1314 took effect August 10, 2022, and House Bill 24-1051 strengthened it from August 7, 2024. The law is C.R.S. 40-10.1-405. The PUC enforces it and can suspend or revoke a carrier's permit.

You must be notified within 10 days, and until that happens, only the first 24 hours of storage are billable. After a nonconsensual private-property tow, the yard also owes you the following:

• Stop the tow. Car not yet off the property when you show up? The carrier has to let it go. No drop fee on residential property; commercial property may carry a drop charge.
• Fifteen percent down. Pay fifteen percent of the fees, up to a statutory cap, sign the PUC's release form for the balance, and drive the car home.
• Your things back. Personal property comes out on request within 30 days of notice, with no towing fees paid.
• A day's warning. Residential tows need a written windshield notice 24 hours in advance, except in listed cases such as a blocked driveway, a fire zone or an officer's order. Commercial property needs no notice.
• Photos, light and payment. Four photos before the tow plus one of the reason, or damage is presumed to be the carrier's. Enough light to inspect the car before release. Cash and major credit cards taken.

A car that spends the night where it slid off Magnolia Road can be removed as abandoned, not for a violation, and the process is slow. Boulder County Ordinance 2024-1 calls a vehicle on public property in unincorporated Boulder County abandoned once it has sat in one spot more than 72 continuous hours. When abandonment is the sole reason for removal, the Sheriff's Office must make reasonable efforts to notify the owner. The owner then has 72 more hours to move it before a licensed towing carrier takes it away, at the owner's cost.

State law draws the wider lines. C.R.S. 42-4-1802 counts as abandoned a vehicle left 48 hours or more on public property outside city limits, and a car nobody collects from an impound lot within 72 hours of notice. In Boulder itself, the city's parking page says an abandoned vehicle in the right of way is removed on report within up to 10 business days, but it sets no day count for a car left at a curb. After a few days, assume the car is at risk.

A car that slid down a Boulder Canyon shoulder or into a Flagstaff Road snowbank is a recovery job first; our canyon and Flagstaff winch-out guide covers it.

Get an itemized bill before leaving the yard. If the city ordered the tow and you think it was wrong, the City of Boulder has an Impound Hearing Request page for vehicles with an online form; check it for deadlines. If a private-property yard broke one of the rules above, call the PUC's Consumer Assistance line, 303-894-2070. HB24-1051 violations can be pursued under the Colorado Consumer Protection Act.

Those rules exist because someone else chose the tow. When you order one, it is consensual. The PUC sets no rate, you pick the drop-off instead of a yard, and Colorado's only rule is that every rate and charge be disclosed up front, which is the quote.

Choosing the tow truck yourself is the surest way to know where the car sleeps tonight. Call Boulder Towing Company's own dispatch: you get a total and an arrival time by phone, and the car and key land at the address you named. There is no yard to visit and no paperwork to chase.