Towed or impounded in Boise: getting it back, or deciding not to

First find out who has the car

The city's towing page describes the tows it directs: police-directed tows, tows for overstaying in a park, and parking-fine tows, which happen "upon confirmation that the registered owner has accumulated delinquent, unpaid, or otherwise unsettled and uncontested parking fines which have remained unpaid for a period of 30 days totaling at least $200, or five or more tickets". Confirm where your particular vehicle was taken before arranging collection. A tow ordered by an apartment manager, a business or a homeowner goes to the licensed tow company they called, and the city page gives a number to be connected to it.

So the first call is not to a lot; it is to find out which lot. If the tow was the city's, the next section applies. If it was private, ask the operator holding the car for the applicable release requirements and charges, and this page has no city figure to check them against, because the city publishes none.

Source: City of Boise: towed and impounded vehicles.

The City lot: cleared first, then an appointment

If the car is at the City lot, the city's impound FAQ gives the sequence: "To claim a vehicle impounded at the City lot, you must first verify that it has been cleared for release by contacting the Vehicle Impounds at (208) 570-6120." After clearance you schedule a pickup appointment with an officer; there is no walking up to a gate. The same FAQ says a car at the City lot that does not run leaves by tow, so a non-running car needs a truck arranged for the appointment, not a friend with jumper cables.

Neither city page publishes a street address for the lot or a dollar figure for towing or storage. That is not an oversight on this page; it is what the city has chosen to publish. Ask the city for the applicable charges and request written confirmation.

Source: City of Boise: impound compliance FAQ.

Before the appointment: what to settle on the phone

When you call Vehicle Impounds, ask three things and write the answers down with the name of the person who gave them: whether the car is cleared for release or what still holds it, what you must bring to prove you may collect it, and the total charges with the date they were counted to. Ask whether storage charges continue and when the quoted total changes. If the car does not run, ask what the appointment needs from a tow truck and book one for the same hour. The city page gives the sequence; the amounts and the document list come from the call, not from this page, because the city does not print them.

Source: City of Boise: impound compliance FAQ.

Abandoned on private property: what changed on January 1, 2026

The city's abandoned-vehicle page records a change that affects anyone whose car sits on someone else's land, and anyone whose land has someone else's car on it: "Effective January 1, 2026, law enforcement can no longer enter private property to tow abandoned vehicles." Instead, "The property owner or person in control of the property must contact a City of Boise licensed non-consent tow company to arrange removal". Under Idaho Code, the page adds, a vehicle left on private property without consent for 24 hours or more counts as abandoned.

For a seller that cuts two ways. A car you leave at a storage yard or a friend's driveway past your welcome can be towed by a private operator without police involvement, and it lands in that operator's yard under that operator's terms. If you believe a vehicle on your property is abandoned, ask a licensed non-consent tow company whether that procedure applies before arranging removal.

Source: City of Boise: abandoned vehicles.

Selling a car that is sitting in a lot

An offer does not establish that a holding lot has cleared the car for release. Confirm the documents, authorization and charges with the operator. So a sale from a lot is two transactions: you settle the release, then the buyer collects, and the buyer's truck needs to be expected at the gate. The pickup buyer this site refers to collects where the car is, but it collects from you, not from a lot on your say-so, until the operator and carrier have confirmed the release and collection arrangement.

If the release charges are close to or above what the car is worth, ask the operator, and the agency that ordered the tow, what happens if you do not collect it and what you would still owe afterward. Nothing on the city's pages says that walking away ends the bill, so this page does not say it either.

Source: City of Boise: impound compliance FAQ.

Choose the next step

Once the car is released, or the buyer's collection from the lot is agreed in writing, the sale is the ordinary one: paperwork, then the five-day release. To ask whether a car in a lot can be collected on the Boise pickup line: (208) 441-4018.

Your list for getting the car out, in order

Answer four questions and print the list. Nothing on it is a price or an address: the city publishes neither, and the only figures that count are the ones the lot gives you in writing.

Source: City of Boise, Impound compliance FAQ ("To claim a vehicle impounded at the City lot, you must first verify that it has been cleared for release by contacting the Vehicle Impounds at (208) 570-6120."); Towed and impounded vehicles. No fee or lot address appears on either page, so none appears here; the rest of this page explains the holds, the appointment and selling from a lot.