To find a car towed in Los Angeles, go straight to opglaviic.com and search by license plate or VIN. That’s the OPGLA VIIC database, the official lookup LADOT links to for every tow the City of LA handled. If it comes back empty, your car may have been towed by a private lot instead of the City, by a surrounding city with its own program, or by CHP off a freeway, and each of those has a different next step. Start with the plate search, then work the table below.
How to tell who towed your car
LA doesn’t run one system. The City of LA, the surrounding cities, and the freeways each tow under separate authority, with separate lots and separate fees. Match where the car was parked to who had jurisdiction there.
| Where it was parked | Who likely towed it | What to do first |
|---|---|---|
| City of LA street, metered zone, street-sweeping route, or a hazard | LAPD via an Official Police Garage (OPG) | Search opglaviic.com by plate or VIN, or call 311 |
| Private lot: apartment, condo, shopping center, office | A private-property tow company under CVC 22658 | Read the sign posted at the lot entrance |
| Freeway or on-ramp shoulder (405, 101, 10, 110, 5, 710, 14) | California Highway Patrol, CHP Rotation Tow Program | Contact CHP; they’ll say which yard took it |
| Long Beach, Burbank, Pasadena, or another surrounding city | That city’s own impound program | Contact that city directly, not the LA OPG system |
| LA County unincorporated area | LA County Sheriff’s station for that area | Call the station; each one directs its own tow |
| Not sure | Could be towed, booted, or stolen | Try opglaviic.com first, then call 311 before assuming theft |
Towed from a City of LA street: the OPG system
If your car was on a City of LA street and it’s gone, it almost certainly went to one of the 17 Official Police Garages the City contracts to hold LAPD and LADOT tows. This is the system that covers everything from a Sepulveda Pass shoulder near the 405 to a street-sweeping sweep in Highland Park.
Start at opglaviic.com, the OPGLA VIIC public database. Enter the plate or VIN and it tells you whether the car is in the City’s system and, if so, which OPG has it. LADOT points drivers here directly. If the search comes back empty or you’d rather talk to someone, call 311, LA’s general city services line, or LADOT’s parking hotline at (866) 561-9742.
OPGs are open 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., and release is handled in person only, so don’t drive out at 8 p.m. expecting the gate to be open. Before you go, get the police release: an LAPD Area auto detective has to authorize it (CHP 180 plus LAPD Form 15.23.07), and you generally pick that up at the impounding LAPD Area station before the OPG will hand the car over. Bring a valid driver’s license or government photo ID, current DMV registration or proof of ownership, and be ready to show you’re the registered owner, the legal owner, or their agent. No valid license on you means a licensed driver needs to come with you to drive the car away.
Towed from a private lot
If the car was in an apartment garage, a condo guest spot, or a shopping center lot, a private-property company towed it under California Vehicle Code 22658, not the City. The law requires a posted sign at every lot entrance, at least 17x22 inches with lettering an inch tall or bigger, listing the enforcement agency’s phone number and every towing company authorized to work that lot. Find that sign, call the company on it.
CVC 22658 also protects you in two specific ways. The authorizing party has to notify local law enforcement within one hour of calling the tow, so if you truly can’t find a sign, 311 or the local police station can often still tell you who took it. And if you show up before the car is actually in transit, the law entitles you to get it back for no more than half the posted tow charge.
Towed from a freeway
The 405 through the Sepulveda Pass, the 101, the 10, the 110 and its ExpressLanes, the 710 port corridor, the 5/14 split up at Castaic, the Grapevine, PCH along the coast: if your car came off any state highway, CHP handled it, not LAPD. CHP clears disabled and collision vehicles under its Rotation Tow Program, cycling calls among approved operators under a Tow Service Agreement. Contact CHP and they’ll tell you which yard your car went to. CHP doesn’t publish one flat statewide rate; the operator’s charge has to be one CHP approved for that tow company.
Surrounding cities run their own programs, not the LA OPG system
This is the part that trips people up most. Long Beach, Burbank, and Pasadena each run their own impound program with their own lot, their own hours, and their own fees, and the City of LA’s OPG rates do not apply there.
Long Beach runs its own Towing Operations & Vehicle Storage Facility at 3111 E. Willow Street, open Monday through Friday 8 to 5 and Saturday 8 to 4, closed Sundays and holidays. Their info line is (562) 570-2828, and they also list vehicles at findmytowedcar.org.
Burbank contracts its impound program out; the yard tells you what’s owed and requires an impound release from Burbank PD first.
Pasadena releases vehicles only in person at the city Parking Office, Monday through Friday 7:30 to 5:15, phone (626) 744-7665, and you’ll need a valid driver’s license plus payment of all fees including any outstanding citations.
If your car was towed from LA County unincorporated territory, LA County Sheriff’s stations don’t run a central impound either. Each station directs its own tow, the tow company holds the car, and you deal with that company directly for release: proof of ownership, a valid license, and the release fee before the car comes back.
Whichever city or agency had your car, call them directly. Don’t assume the OPGLA VIIC lookup or the City of LA’s $115 release fee applies just because you’re somewhere in LA County. It only applies inside the City of LA.
What it costs, and why speed matters
Inside the City of LA, OPG rates reset every January 1st. As of January 1, 2026, a standard tow’s first hour runs $220 (or $215 if you’re not paying by credit card), and every vehicle redeemed from an OPG carries a separate $115 vehicle release fee on top of the tow and storage. Storage is where it adds up: $68 a day for a standard vehicle, charged every day the car sits, credit card rate. An EV tow adds a $77 surcharge. None of these numbers are Quick Tow LA’s price; they’re the City’s published schedule, and they apply only to City of LA OPG tows. Surrounding cities set their own fees separately, and each program above lists what’s actually confirmed for that city.
Storage is a daily meter that starts the moment the car lands on the lot, and OPGs only release cars in person, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. That means a car towed on a Friday evening can sit through the weekend racking up storage before you can even get a police release Monday morning. The move that saves you money is simple: look the car up the same day, get your paperwork lined up, and get to the lot inside its open hours. Waiting a few extra days because you’re not sure where to start is the single most expensive mistake in this whole process.
How to avoid it next time
- Check for a posted sign before you park in any private lot, guest spot, or apartment garage.
- Know your street-sweeping day in the City of LA and move the car the night before.
- Keep registration current. Six months expired is grounds for removal under CVC 22651(o)(1)(A).
- Pay parking citations before they hit five unpaid, the threshold where LA can boot or tow a car under LAMC 80.77.2.
- If you’re a guest at an apartment or condo, ask where guest parking actually is. Resident spots in LA get towed fast.
Frequently asked questions
How do I find my towed car in Los Angeles?
Go to opglaviic.com and search by license plate or VIN. That covers any tow the City of LA’s Official Police Garages handled. If nothing comes up, call 311, check the sign at a private lot if that’s where the car was parked, or contact the surrounding city (Long Beach, Burbank, Pasadena) or LA County Sheriff’s station if it was outside the City of LA.
What is opglaviic.com?
It’s the public OPGLA VIIC database, the tool LADOT directs drivers to for locating a vehicle towed by an LAPD-authorized Official Police Garage. Enter your plate or VIN and it tells you which of the 17 OPGs has the car, if any.
How much does it cost to get a towed car back in LA?
Inside the City of LA, as of January 1, 2026, a standard tow’s first hour is $220, storage is $68 a day, and there’s a separate $115 vehicle release fee on every vehicle. Surrounding cities set their own fees. Call the specific lot holding your car to confirm the exact total before you go.
What if my car was towed from a private lot, not a City street?
That’s a CVC 22658 tow. There’s a sign posted at the lot entrance with the towing company’s name and number; call that number. The company also has to report the tow to local police within an hour of authorizing it, so if you can’t find the sign, 311 can sometimes still point you to who has it.
Does the OPGLA lookup work for Long Beach, Burbank, or Pasadena tows?
No. That database only covers City of LA OPG tows. Long Beach, Burbank, and Pasadena each run separate programs with their own lots and phone numbers, listed above.
Why does it matter how fast I pick up my car?
Storage fees accrue daily starting the day the car lands on the lot, and OPGs release cars in person only, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The tow is a one-time charge; storage compounds every day you wait, so the fastest path back is also the cheapest.
Need your car towed after it’s released?
Once your car is out of the impound lot, you may still need it moved, especially if it’s not drivable. Quick Tow LA connects drivers across LA County with local, licensed operators around the clock. Call (213) 410-1414 for towing across Los Angeles County, including private-property tows for HOAs and property managers.