Jersey City Impound Phone Number: What to Bring and Your Rights

The Jersey City impound phone number to call first is the police non-emergency line at 201-547-5477. If the tow was for a parking or street-sweeping violation, the Parking Division at 201-547-5538 is the better starting point. Either line can confirm whether the city towed your car, tell you which lot is holding it, and spell out what to bring. Call as soon as you notice the car is gone, because storage fees start running within 24 hours.

Which Number To Call for Your Situation

Jersey City splits towing between a few agencies, and dialing the right one first saves a round of transfers.

The Parking Division (201-547-5538) handles most street-sweeping and parking-violation tows. The office is at Two Jackson Square, 356 Martin Luther King Drive. Enforcement runs daily from 6 a.m., but officers cannot initiate tows after 10 p.m. because of restrictions in the state motor vehicle database. After 11:30 p.m., call the police line instead.¹

The Jersey City Police Department non-emergency line (201-547-5477) covers tows tied to accidents, arrests, unregistered vehicles, and public-safety removals. Dispatch can also confirm whether your car went to the municipal impound facility or was taken by an authorized private towing company.²

One boundary to know: if the car was towed near the Holland Tunnel, that’s Port Authority jurisdiction, not Jersey City’s. You’d need an impound release from the Holland Tunnel Police Command at 13th and Provost Streets, open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., then pick the car up from Tumino’s Towing at 37 Emerson Street in Ridgefield Park. Port Authority’s general line is 201-360-5000.³

What To Bring Before You Head to the Lot

Showing up without the right paperwork means driving home empty-handed while fees keep climbing. Gather these first:

A valid driver’s license. If yours is suspended, bring a licensed driver who can drive the car off the lot.
Current vehicle registration. If the tow was for an expired registration, you may need to renew at an NJ Motor Vehicle Commission agency before the lot will release the car.
Proof of insurance. Some lots want the full declarations page, not just the wallet card, especially when the tow was triggered by an insurance issue.
The vehicle title, if you can’t produce a registration or if the registered owner isn’t the person picking up the car.
Payment. Under New Jersey’s Predatory Towing Prevention Act, lots must accept cash, insurance company checks, debit cards, and major credit cards. Cash-only is a violation.⁴

When a Police Release Is Also Required

If the car was towed because of an arrest, a DWI stop, or because the driver was unlicensed or suspended, ownership paperwork alone will not get it back. You first need a signed vehicle release form from the precinct that ordered the tow, then bring that to the lot with everything else. In New Jersey, drivers charged with DWI have to wait at least 12 hours from the time of arrest before a release can be issued.

Outstanding Tickets

Unpaid parking tickets or other municipal violations can create a hold on the vehicle. The Jersey City Municipal Court at 365 Summit Avenue (201-209-6700) can confirm whether a legal hold exists and take payment on open fines.⁵

Paying and Inspecting the Car

At the lot, staff will add the base tow charge to any storage fees that have accrued. Jersey City’s rates are set by municipal ordinance; the lot cannot invent its own. Under state law, towing and storage fees cannot exceed the local fee schedule.⁶

After you pay, do a walk-around before driving off. Note any dents, scrapes, or broken mirrors that weren’t there before. Documenting damage on the spot is what makes a later claim possible.

Your Rights Under New Jersey Towing Law

Several rules work in your favor if you know them.

Release Before the Tow Leaves

If you return while the tow truck driver is still hooking up your car and it has not yet been moved, you can demand it be released. The operator may charge a decoupling fee, but that fee is presumptively unreasonable if it exceeds the company’s normal decoupling rate by more than 25 percent. Once the car has actually been moved, the full tow charge applies.⁴

Fee Caps

Private-property tow fees are presumed unreasonable if they exceed by more than 25 percent the company’s own consensual-tow rate, or by more than 50 percent what other companies in the same municipality charge. Law-enforcement-ordered tows must follow the municipal fee schedule.⁷

There is also a notification backstop: if the towing company fails to notify the vehicle’s owner within 30 days, storage fees are capped at $750 total, and the company eats anything above that.⁷

Contesting the Charges

If you think the fees were unreasonable, file a complaint with the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs. The Director has authority to order a towing company to reimburse a consumer for excessive charges, plus interest.⁴

Signage on Private Lots

For a tow from private property to be legal, the lot must post signs at every vehicle entrance measuring at least 36 inches by 36 inches, listing the towing company’s name, address, phone number, towing and storage charges, and the storage facility’s address. Missing or non-compliant signage gives you grounds to challenge the tow.⁴

The Cost of Waiting

Storage fees run every day whether you act or not. A $30-per-day charge becomes over $900 in a single month. Beyond that, under New Jersey law a vehicle left in the same public location for more than three consecutive days can be classified as abandoned, and impound lots work on similar timelines.⁸

The towing company must notify the registered owner and any lienholders within 30 days. If you don’t claim the car after notification, it can go to public auction or be junked. If you still owe money on the loan, you can remain liable for the difference between the auction price and your outstanding balance, on top of the tow and storage charges.⁸ If you cannot pay immediately, call the facility and ask about a payment arrangement rather than letting the meter keep running.

If a Private Company Towed the Car

Not every Jersey City tow lands at the municipal lot. A car taken from a private parking lot, apartment complex, or business property goes to that towing company’s own storage yard. The company name and storage address should be on the signs posted where you parked. New Jersey requires storage facilities to be open to the public at least five days a week between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., with reasonable accommodation for after-hours pickup (which can carry an extra fee).⁶

If you cannot figure out who took the car, call the JCPD non-emergency line at 201-547-5477. Dispatch logs tow activity and can usually tell you where the vehicle ended up within minutes.

1
City of Jersey City. Parking
2
City of Jersey City. Division of Police
3
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Impound Lots
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New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs. Predatory Towing Prevention Act
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City of Jersey City. Municipal Court
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New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs. What You Should Know About Getting Towed
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New Jersey Legislature. P.L. 2023, c.132 (S3374 2R)
8
New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission. Abandoned Vehicles