Apartment complexes, retail lots, and business parking
Towed From a Private Lot in Michigan: The Signage Rules
Before a vehicle can be removed from private property without the owner’s consent, Michigan requires a specific sign, in a specific place, at a specific size. Most people have no idea it exists. It is also entirely checkable.
Why the sign is the whole argument
The One Piece of Evidence That Disappears Fastest
Almost every dispute about a private-property tow eventually comes down to the same question: was proper notice posted, and was it posted properly. Michigan does not leave that to interpretation. MCL 257.252k sets out what the sign has to say, how big the lettering has to be, where it has to sit, how it has to be fixed, and how long it must have been there. That specificity is unusual in consumer law, and it is what makes this the one area where an ordinary person can check the position for themselves without a lawyer.
It is also the evidence with the shortest life. A property owner who discovers their signage is thin tends to improve it quickly, and once a compliant sign is up nobody can prove what was there on the night your car went. If you take one thing from this page, take this: photograph the entrances before you do anything else, including before you call the towing company. Wide shots showing each vehicular entrance, then close shots showing lettering and mounting height, with something in frame for scale.
One thing worth being honest about, because plenty of pages on this subject are not: a signage failure does not automatically mean you get your money back, and it does not automatically make anything unlawful in a way that resolves itself. It is a compliance question whose consequences depend on facts we cannot see from here. What we can tell you is what the statute requires, so you know whether the question is even worth asking. What happens next is a matter for a lawyer, and this page is not legal advice.
Go stand at the entrance
The Six Things the Sign Has to Do
Every item below is measurable with a phone camera and, at most, a tape measure. Check them in order.
1. At every way in
Notice must be prominently displayed at each point of entry for vehicular access. Not one sign at the main entrance while a side road into the same lot has nothing. If you came in a back way, look at the way you came in.
2. Or every 100 feet of frontage
Where the property has no curbs or access barriers — an open lot running along a road rather than one with defined entrances — at least one notice for each 100 feet of road frontage.
3. Letters at least 2 inches high
On a contrasting background, clearly indicating that unauthorized vehicles will be towed away at the owner’s expense. Two inches is larger than people picture. A small plate with fine print does not satisfy it.
4. Naming the towing company
The notice must give the name and telephone number of the towing service responsible for removing vehicles from that property. This is also how you find your car, which is precisely why it is required.
5. Permanently installed, 4 feet up
Permanently installed, with the bottom of the notice not less than 4 feet from the ground. A laminated sheet taped to a wall at knee height is not a permanent installation at the required height.
6. Up for at least 24 hours first
Continuously maintained on the property for not less than 24 hours before a vehicle is towed. A sign that appeared the same afternoon does not cover a car taken that evening.
There is an exception worth knowing. MCL 257.252l excludes real property that is appurtenant to and obviously part of a single- or dual-family residence. A private driveway at a house is not governed by these posting rules, which is a different situation with different answers.
If you are the one posting the sign
Notes for Property Managers
The other half of this page’s audience runs an apartment complex, a retail unit, or a business lot with a parking problem, and is trying to figure out where they stand before authorizing anything. The short version: the compliance burden sits with the property, not only with the towing company, and the requirements above are yours to meet before a vehicle is removed.
Three things are worth checking on any site you manage. Whether every vehicular entrance is signed, including the ones nobody thinks of as entrances. Whether the sign still names the towing company you actually use, because that detail goes stale when a contract changes and a sign naming a company that no longer serves you is a problem waiting to surface. And whether the mounting is genuinely permanent at the required height, since signs that started life properly installed often end up replaced with something cheaper after weather or vandalism.
We should be straight about our own position here. Private property impound is not our business — our work is people calling us because their own vehicle has stopped. We are happy to talk through a parking problem honestly, including telling you when removal is not the answer you need, but we are not looking to sign a lot up to a towing contract, and you should read this page in that light.
Straight answers
Private Property Towing Questions
There was a sign, but it was tiny and by the dumpster. Does that count?
I live in the complex. Can they tow a resident’s car?
The sign named a different towing company than the one that has my car.
How much can they charge me to release it?
Someone is parked in my driveway at home. Same rules?
Need Your Own Vehicle Moved?
Out of a lot, off a street, or to a shop you pick. Price agreed on before anything moves.
More: Your rights when your car is towed · What towing costs · Towing FAQ
Statutory references are to the Michigan Vehicle Code, Act 300 of 1949, as published by the Michigan Legislature. General information, not legal advice. For a specific dispute, consult a qualified attorney.