We are not attorneys. This guide is for informational purposes only.
A parking ticket you never dealt with can now cost you the car. Two jurisdictions on opposite sides of the country moved in 2026 to let a stack of unpaid citations trigger a tow, not just a boot or a court date — and the trend is worth understanding even if you don’t live in either one, because it is the kind of ordinance other cities copy once the first one proves it works.
Milwaukee’s version has already towed more than a thousand vehicles. Prince William County, Virginia’s takes effect October 1, 2026. The mechanics differ enough that a driver moving between the two, or just reading about one and assuming it describes the other, could get the recovery process wrong.
Milwaukee: Five Tickets, 60 Days, and a Tow
Milwaukee’s habitual parking violator ordinance (Milwaukee Code of Ordinances 101-25.7) allows the city to tow any vehicle carrying five or more unpaid parking citations that are each more than 60 days old, whether the car is parked legally or illegally at the time. The rule reached full effect on January 1, 2026, after the city sent roughly 30,000 warning letters starting November 1, 2025, to registered owners who met the threshold.
The city gave people a real runway to avoid the tow: pay the citations in full, schedule a municipal court date, or set up a payment plan before the January 1 cutoff. Drivers who did none of those things became eligible for towing regardless of where the car was parked or whether it had a fresh violation that day — the five-ticket, 60-day threshold is the trigger, not a new infraction.
By March 2026, Milwaukee had towed more than 1,000 vehicles under the ordinance. To get a towed vehicle back, an owner has to pay the tow fee (standard rate around $150) plus a daily storage charge (around $25 per day), and either pay off the outstanding citations in full or appear before a municipal judge. A judge can set up a payment plan or, in some cases, allow the debt to be worked off through community service rather than a lump-sum payment.
Prince William County: Three Tickets, Effective October 1, 2026
Prince William County, Virginia, takes a lower-threshold approach. Beginning October 1, 2026, the Prince William County Police Department will tow vehicles carrying three or more unpaid parking citations, under existing state law and county ordinance. The county reported more than 3,000 vehicles already meeting that threshold before the rule took effect, out of more than 18,700 parking citations issued in 2025 alone.
Unlike Milwaukee’s ordinance, Prince William County has not branded its initiative with the “habitual violator” label — it’s simply a towing enforcement mechanism attached to the county’s existing citation system. The practical effect for drivers is similar: unresolved tickets accumulate into towing exposure, not just a growing fine balance.
The county’s stated goal is voluntary compliance, and it built in the same off-ramp Milwaukee did: any vehicle owner with multiple outstanding citations can contact the police department’s Licensing Section to set up a payment plan. An owner who enters into a payment plan and stays current on it will not have their vehicle towed under the ordinance, even while citations remain unpaid.
What the Two Ordinances Have in Common
Despite different thresholds and different legal framing, both programs share a structure drivers should recognize wherever they live:
- The trigger is the count of unpaid citations, not a new violation. A car can be towed while parked completely legally if its owner has enough aged, unpaid tickets on file.
- There is always a payment-plan alternative. Neither city wants to just collect impound fees — both explicitly built a path to avoid the tow by contacting the citation office before enforcement starts.
- Notice comes before enforcement. Milwaukee mailed tens of thousands of warning letters months ahead of its January 1 start date; Prince William County publicized its October 1 date well in advance through local media and its own site.
- Recovery costs stack on top of the citations. In both places, getting a towed car back means paying towing and storage fees in addition to resolving the underlying tickets — the tow does not erase the debt.
What to Do If You’re at Risk
If you have multiple unpaid parking tickets in a city that runs this kind of program — or suspect your city might adopt one, since Milwaukee’s and Prince William County’s ordinances are both being watched by other jurisdictions — the same three steps apply everywhere:
- Check your citation status directly with the issuing city or county, not just your mail. Milwaukee residents can look up citations through the city’s Parking Citations portal; Prince William County residents should contact the police department’s Licensing Section.
- Don’t wait for a letter. By the time a warning notice arrives, you’re often already inside the enforcement window. Address citations as they’re issued, or at minimum before they age past the local threshold. Our guide to what actually happens when a parking ticket goes unpaid walks through the escalation timeline most cities follow.
- Ask about a payment plan before your car gets towed, not after. Every jurisdiction running one of these ordinances has built a compliance path that avoids the tow entirely — using it is almost always cheaper than paying towing and daily storage fees on top of the citations themselves. If your registration is also at risk, see our guide on parking ticket registration holds.
Key Takeaways
- Milwaukee tows vehicles with 5+ unpaid parking citations over 60 days old, under its “habitual parking violator” ordinance (MCO 101-25.7), in effect since January 1, 2026 — more than 1,000 vehicles towed as of March 2026.
- Prince William County, Virginia begins towing vehicles with 3+ unpaid citations on October 1, 2026, though the county does not use the “habitual violator” label itself.
- Both jurisdictions offer a payment-plan alternative that prevents the tow if set up before enforcement — contact the citation office directly rather than waiting.
- Recovering a towed vehicle in either place requires paying tow and storage fees on top of resolving the underlying citations.