Need a tow? What towing costs in Boulder, CO
Colorado's PUC caps the bill for impounds and police-ordered tows. Your own tow has no cap: you get our quote, and each part of it is laid out here.
Boulder tow prices hinge on whose call it was
Towed on an officer's order, or a property owner's? Colorado caps the bill. You ordered it? Then Boulder Towing Company names a complete price before a tow truck rolls, yours to take or leave. This page covers both kinds of price. Boulder Towing Company runs at every hour, city and canyon alike.
The Colorado Legislative Council's towing brief sets out the terms. Consensual: the owner, the driver or their agent asks for the tow. Nonconsensual: an officer directs it or a private property owner authorizes it. Examples: a car blocking a fire lane; a wreck an officer wants off US 36.
Rule 6511 and the PUC
The Colorado Public Utilities Commission regulates towing carriers under 4 CCR 723-6. Its Rule 6511 caps rates for just two tows: a private property impound, known as a PPI, and a law enforcement-ordered tow, charged by the hour. No schedule exists for a consensual tow; the PUC's task force calls that rate a negotiated price. The same brief does bind your tow to one rule: the carrier must disclose every rate and charge it will assess, estimated mileage and storage included. Our quote is that disclosure.
At a crash scene one definition counts. A tow on an officer's order is nonconsensual even when you go along with it, unless you keep the right to cancel and choose the carrier yourself. Pick your own company and the tow is yours.
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Colorado PUC ceilings apply to Boulder impounds and police tows
The Colorado PUC posts these maximums for nonconsensual tows, meaning private property impounds and tows law enforcement orders. The current set took effect March 15, 2026; inflation adjusts them each March 15. They limit what an unwanted tow can cost you. They are not our prices.
- Impound base rate
- $250.91 below 10,000 lb GVWR, the class most cars, pickups and SUVs fall in; heavier classes cap higher - Colorado PUC
- Storage per day
- $48.19 per 24 hours below 10,000 lb GVWR; $59.45 at 10,000 lb and up, or $1.82 per foot - Colorado PUC
- Police-ordered tow and recovery
- $286.15 an hour below 10,000 lb GVWR - Colorado PUC
- Miles and fuel
- $3.80 a mile on an impound, plus a monthly fuel surcharge whenever diesel is above $2.60 a gallon; September 2026's is $1.07, for a $4.87 per-mile maximum - Colorado PUC
- Release after hours
- $106.06 to pick up a stored vehicle outside business hours - Colorado PUC
- Drop charge
- Zero on residential private property since August 10, 2022; up to $97.70 below 10,000 lb GVWR on commercial property - Colorado PUC
Two limits apply alongside those figures. Billable miles top out at 12 for tows within ten miles of I-25, and at 16.5 for mountain and plains communities beyond that. And until the yard sends the required notice, it may bill only the first 24 hours of storage, prorated by the hour.
HB 22-1314, the Towing Bill of Rights
The Towing Bill of Rights is House Bill 22-1314, law since August 10, 2022. House Bill 24-1051 made it stricter starting August 7, 2024. The protections that kick in after a private-property tow done without consent:
- Written notice 24 hours ahead, on the windshield, before a residential-property tow, with listed exceptions. Expired plates alone are no reason to tow unless an officer orders it.
- Beat the tow truck out. Reach your car before the tow truck pulls away, ask, and the carrier has to let it go; residential property carries no drop fee.
- 15 percent to reclaim it. Pay that share of the fees, $60 at most on the PUC's release form, and owe the rest. Personal items come back free on request within 30 days.
- Pictures first. Without photos taken before the tow, the law presumes the carrier caused any damage. The yard also needs light enough to inspect the car before release.
- Paperwork and payment. The lot owner's signed authorization for every tow, signs in English and Spanish, and cash or major credit cards accepted.
Start with Boulder Police at 303-441-3333, the non-emergency number; they log which company towed a car and to which yard. If a nonconsensual tow billed you past the PUC maximums, the PUC's Consumer Assistance line is 303-894-2070, and its enforcement work recovered $280,289 for consumers in 2022-2024. An itemized bill is your evidence.
Your own Boulder tow: miles, tow truck and time set the price
With no Colorado schedule for it, the work itself sets the number. Boulder Towing Company adds up the parts below.
Canyon grades and mileage
Miles top the list. An Arapahoe Avenue garage run from Martin Acres is local. Louisville is about 9 miles, Longmont 15 or 16, Denver about 30, and long runs are billed mile for mile. Terrain adds its own cost. Nederland sits 17 miles up Boulder Canyon on CO 119, at grades as steep as 10 percent. Magnolia Road averages 9.1 percent and goes to dirt above the paved climb. Both eat more time than the mileage suggests.
Nights and holidays
Dispatch runs all night, and every quote carries an arrival window. Our method does not bend with the hour: a Boulder tow in the dead of night is quoted as one total, same as at noon. On the PUC's nonconsensual schedule, the after-hours release fee is the only line that depends on the clock.
Deck or wheel-lift
A front-drive sedan on a short run rides the wheel-lift, nose up. Many cars cannot. Subaru's guide sends its all-wheel-drive models to a flatbed; Tesla's Model 3 manual ranks the flatbed first and rules out spinning tires in transit; AAA's comparison adds motorcycles and low-slung cars to the deck list. Deck work, long hauls included, is priced separately for that reason: different equipment, more labor. Anything heavier than light-duty equipment we decline on the phone.
- Getting it loadable. Keys in hand on dry pavement, a car climbs aboard fast. Buried in a Shanahan Ridge drift or dropped off the Sugarloaf Road shoulder, it needs a pull back to the road before loading, and winching carries its own charge.
- Road tolls, standby, special gear. We build route tolls into the quote. Standby time we can see coming goes in too, such as an officer's release, a key on its way or a gate to be opened, and so does extra work like a motorcycle's four-strap tie-down or an EV's tow mode.
- Maybe just a jump. By AAA's numbers, cold saps roughly 35 percent from a battery at 32°F and 60 percent at 0°F, and a flat needs only a jack when the spare holds air. A roadside visit instead is priced by itself.
A complete Boulder tow quote has five lines and one name
Half a quote is no quote. Ours covers everything below; hold any tow company to the same list.
The whole price, first
Pin down the price of the entire job ahead of dispatch. Open-ended hourly rates and teaser minimums do not count. A quote you can rely on follows real questions about location, vehicle, destination and damage.
Five lines to look for
- Loading fee: putting the car on the tow truck and heading out, with the truck type named
- Distance: how far the base price reaches, and the charge per mile after
- Cable work: its own line if the car must come out of snow or a ditch first
- Yard days: per-day storage and when you can collect, should we need to keep it
- Add-ons: tolls, standby time, special handling, a second rig, all named before we dispatch
One company name, start to finish
The outfit you phoned should match the name on the rig and the name on the bill. A mismatch usually means a broker resold the job. Ask who will really show up.
Checking a yard's bill after an impound
Following a nonconsensual tow, each charge must correspond to a line on the PUC schedule. Request the itemized bill and compare: a base rate for the right weight class; mileage inside the cap, plus that month's fuel surcharge; storage counted from the notice, apart from the first 24 hours; a release fee for after-hours pickups only; and no drop charge on residential property. The Bill of Rights protections above still apply at the yard: cash or card, the 15 percent release, and enough light to inspect the car.
Tow distances from Boulder shape the final price
Pull up a map and this part of the price is plain to see. From Boulder by road: Gunbarrel about 7 miles, Superior 8, Niwot and Louisville 9, Lafayette 11, Broomfield 13, Erie 14, Longmont 15 to 16, Lyons 16, Nederland 17 up the canyon, Golden 20 down CO 93.
Those all rate as nearby jobs. Denver, about 30 miles down US 36, and DIA, about 42, are billed start to finish.
A mountain address is priced by its switchbacks, not by a straight line. Across every Boulder ZIP, from 80302 downtown to 80301 in Gunbarrel, the quote arrives before the tow truck does.
Frequently asked questions
Who decides what a Boulder tow costs?
When you order the tow, we do, within Colorado's disclosure rules. No state price exists for it, so Boulder Towing Company sets a single all-in figure ahead of dispatch from the distance and route, which tow truck fits the car, any winching and the drop-off.
For private-property impounds and police-ordered tows, the Colorado PUC decides: Rule 6511 of 4 CCR 723-6 caps them by weight class and adjusts the caps every March 15.
Cheapest possible tow in Boulder: what does it look like?
A short, simple run in town. Colorado names no minimum when you order the tow yourself; at Boulder Towing Company the smallest bill is the quote's base charge, which pays for the dispatch and the loading, and an in-town hop lands close to that.
Nonconsensual tows flip it around: the PUC schedule is a ceiling, not a floor. It caps the impound base rate and the police-ordered hourly rate by weight class. A carrier may charge less, never more.
Three days in an impound yard. What will storage run?
If it was a nonconsensual tow, the Colorado PUC caps storage per 24-hour period by weight class or length, adjusted each March 15, and the yard may bill only the first 24 hours until it sends the required notice.
A tow you book with Boulder Towing Company sits outside that schedule, storage included. Any daily rate, and when the car can be collected, is stated in the quote before we hold it.
Do Boulder tows cost extra on weekends?
No. Boulder Towing Company prices a Saturday-night job by the same method as a Tuesday-noon one: one total by phone before dispatch, plus the arrival window.
The PUC's schedule for nonconsensual tows adds nothing for nights or weekends either. Its only clock-based line is the after-hours release fee a yard can add when you pick up a car outside business hours.
How can I tell a Boulder tow bill was padded?
Demand line items. Boulder Towing Company invoices separate the base charge, the miles and any winching, and add storage only if we held the car, plus any toll, wait or special handling you okayed by phone. The lines add up to the quote.
After a nonconsensual tow, look for separate lines for the base rate, mileage with fuel surcharge, storage and any after-hours release fee, and hold each against the Colorado PUC schedule. Pay only after you have that bill, and save it.
Price your Boulder tow on one phone call
These answers produce the full quote; take it or turn it down.
- Here to there: the corner or interchange now, and the garage it should reach
- Car details: make, model and year; flag AWD, EV or a lowered ride
- Symptom: won't start, wrecked, snowbound, flat, battery dead, keys inside
- Paying: your method, agreed during the call