Smart Roads Inc. removes illegally parked vehicles from private property in Vaughan. Twenty-four hours a day, at no cost to the owner, the condominium corporation or the property manager. Call 647-219-1786.
Vaughan has more shared parking than almost anywhere else in York Region. Condo towers at the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre, townhouse blocks through Maple and Patterson, plaza lots along Highway 7 and Rutherford, and the industrial pockets around Keele and Langstaff all run on parking that somebody pays for. When commuters, visitors and neighbouring tenants start treating those spaces as free parking, the residents and staff who paid for them are the ones left circling the lot.
Why ticketing does not fix it
Most Vaughan properties try warning notices first, and they work on the person who parked wrong once by accident. They do nothing to the driver who has decided your lot is their parking space. A notice left on a windshield on private property carries no penalty anyone can collect, so the vehicle that got one on Monday is back on Tuesday. Removing the vehicle is the only step that actually frees the space, and the only one a repeat offender remembers.
How private property towing works in Vaughan
1. Authorization
You sign a short authorization naming Smart Roads as the towing operator for the property. It sets out who on your side is allowed to call for a tow, and you can cancel it whenever you want. There is no term and no minimum.
2. Signage
We supply and install compliant tow-away signage at the entrances and through the lot, at our expense. Without correct signage a tow is not enforceable in Ontario, so this step is not optional and we do not skip it.
3. The call, or the patrol
From there you either call us when a vehicle needs to go, or we patrol on an agreed schedule and act on anything parked in violation. Larger Vaughan properties usually run scheduled overnight patrols. Smaller ones call as needed. Both cost the property the same: nothing.
4. The tow, documented
The vehicle is photographed in place before it moves, removed, and reported so the registered owner can be told exactly where it is. You get that documentation whether you ask for it or not, which is what stops a complaint from becoming your problem.
Where we tow in Vaughan
We cover every part of Vaughan: Concord, Maple, Thornhill, Kleinburg, Patterson, Vellore Village, Woodbridge and the Highway 7 corridor through the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre. Trucks stage across the city rather than running out of one yard, so a call from a Rutherford Road condominium and a call from a Langstaff industrial unit get the same response window.
The calls we get most in Vaughan
The three calls we get most often in Vaughan are subway commuters leaving cars in retail lots near the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre station, contractor vehicles parked overnight in visitor spaces during unit renovations, and second and third household vehicles that quietly turn visitor parking into permanent parking.
Properties we work with
- Condominium corporations and property management companies
- Apartment and rental buildings
- Retail plazas, restaurants and shopping centres
- Office, medical and professional buildings
- Industrial units, warehouses and transport yards
- Car dealerships and service centres
- Places of worship, schools and daycares
- Construction sites and vacant land
Where Vaughan lots get hit hardest
Vaughan’s parking problems cluster where transit, retail and industry sit beside each other. The lots around the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre absorb subway commuters who would rather not pay for structured parking, and they arrive at seven in the morning and leave at seven at night. The plazas along Highway 7 and Jane Street lose their front rows to staff from neighbouring offices. In Concord and the Keele Street industrial pockets the problem runs overnight: trailers, box trucks and contractor vans left in yards they have no agreement with, sometimes for days.
Residential Vaughan has its own pattern. Condominium corporations in Patterson, Maple and Thornhill run out of visitor parking because second and third household vehicles never leave it, and townhouse complexes off Rutherford Road and Major Mackenzie Drive lose fire routes to delivery and renovation vehicles. Winter makes both worse. A car sitting in a fire route or across a snow-clearing lane in January is not an inconvenience, it is a liability the corporation carries.
What the City of Vaughan will not do for you
Vaughan by-law officers work the municipal road allowance. On private property their reach is generally limited to matters such as fire routes and accessible parking, and only where the property has been registered with the city for that enforcement. Visitor parking abuse, tenants sitting in reserved stalls, blocked loading docks, a trailer dumped at the back of a yard, a vehicle that has not moved in a month — none of that is a municipal file.
That work belongs to the property, and the only lever that reliably moves a vehicle is a tow-away agreement: signage posted where a driver can read it, a written authorization naming who is allowed to call, and an operator who documents every tow. We also cover the rest of the region if you manage more than one site — see Woodbridge, Richmond Hill and Markham.
How Vaughan handles parking on private property
Vaughan does not register the lot, it licenses the company doing the enforcing. A private parking enforcement firm holds a City of Vaughan Private Company Parking Enforcement licence, and its staff are then authorised to issue City of Vaughan penalty notices on properties that hire them. Applications go through bylaw.licensing@vaughan.ca. A tow is a separate matter and does not run through the City at all.
- Parking on private property. Vaughan Parking By-law 064-2019, section 8.1, prohibits parking on private property without the consent of the owner or occupant. Section 8.3 deems a vehicle parked contrary to posted conditions to be there without consent, so your signage is what does the legal work. Section 8.4 lets municipal officers enforce that section without a written complaint each time.
- Fire routes. Section 7 of the same by-law. A fire route sign has to be permanently installed and legible, minimum 30 cm by 45 cm. If the City notifies you that signs are required, you have ten business days to put them up before the City installs them and recovers the cost as municipal taxes. Nothing parks within 3 metres of a fire department connection.
- Accessible parking. Section 9. A currently valid accessible parking permit has to be clearly displayed. Vaughan is explicit that an accessible permit is no exemption from a fire route.
- Reporting to the City. Service Vaughan, 905-832-2281, or bylaw@vaughan.ca.
- Tow operator licensing. Vaughan stopped licensing tow operators in 2024. Certification is provincial now, under the Towing and Storage Safety and Enforcement Act. If a page anywhere still quotes a City of Vaughan tow rate table, it is out of date.
The short version: the City can help you with fire routes and accessible spaces once the paperwork is in place. Visitor stalls, reserved stalls, blocked docks and the vehicle that has not moved in five weeks are yours to solve, and a tow-away agreement is the instrument that solves them.
It costs the property nothing
There is no fee to the property owner or manager. No monthly charge, no per-tow invoice, nothing for signs or patrols. The cost of the tow is recovered from the owner of the vehicle that was parked illegally, which is the standard arrangement for private property towing across Ontario. Your operating budget is not part of this.
The rules we work under
- Tow operator certification. Ontario’s Towing and Storage Safety and Enforcement Act requires certified operators, with certificate numbers and company identification displayed on the truck.
- Property authorization. A vehicle only moves when the property owner or their named representative has authorized it in writing.
- Signage. Tow-away signs go up where a driver can read them on the way in, and we put our name and dispatch number on them so anyone whose vehicle is gone knows who to call. No Ontario municipality prescribes the wording, which is exactly why so many lots are covered in signs that answer nothing.
- Published rates and an itemized invoice. Certified operators file a maximum rate schedule with the Ministry of Transportation, cannot charge above it, and cannot charge for a service that is not on it. The vehicle owner gets an itemized invoice before payment is asked for.
- Reporting. Tows are reported, so a vehicle owner who finds an empty space knows immediately where their car went and who has it.
None of this is optional, and an operator who treats it as optional becomes a liability you inherit. Ask any towing company in Vaughan for their certificate number before you sign anything with them.
If your vehicle was towed in Vaughan
Call 647-219-1786 and we will tell you where your vehicle is, what is owed and what to bring. You will need proof of ownership and valid photo identification. We would rather you had your car back today than argue about it for a week, so the process is deliberately short.
Questions we get asked
How much does private property towing cost me as the owner or property manager in Vaughan?
Nothing. There is no charge to the property, no monthly fee and no contract minimum. Our costs are recovered from the owner of the towed vehicle, which is how private property towing works everywhere in Ontario. You are not invoiced for a tow, for signage, or for patrols.
Can I have a car towed from my Vaughan property immediately?
If your property is already set up with us, with authorization on file and compliant signage posted, then yes. Call and a truck is dispatched. If you are not set up yet we can usually have signage and paperwork in place within a couple of days, because towing a vehicle without proper authorization and posted signs is not enforceable.
What signs do I need on the lot?
Ontario requires clearly visible tow-away signage at the entrances and throughout the lot, stating that unauthorized vehicles will be removed at the vehicle owner’s expense, and showing the towing company’s name and telephone number. We supply and install the signs for Vaughan properties at no cost.
My car was towed in Vaughan. How do I get it back?
Call 647-219-1786. We will confirm where your vehicle is, what you need to bring and what is owed. You will need proof of ownership and valid identification. Every tow we perform is documented and reported, so the location of your vehicle is never a mystery.
Do you tow from underground and structured parking?
Yes. A large share of the Vaughan work we do is underground, in condominium and commercial garages with low clearance. We use equipment sized for those spaces rather than trying to force a standard flatbed into a garage it does not fit.
How quickly do you get there?
Most Vaughan calls are attended within the hour and dispatch runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Fire route obstructions and accessible-space violations are treated as priority calls and go to the front of the queue.
Do you tow from the parking structures around the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre?
Yes. We run equipment sized for low-clearance and structured parking, and we work with condominium and commercial garages through the VMC, along Highway 7 and down the Jane Street corridor.
Can you deal with trailers and heavy equipment left in a Concord industrial yard?
Yes. Trailer and heavy-equipment removal is different work from a passenger car, so tell dispatch what is sitting in the yard and we send the right truck. It still costs the property nothing.
Get your Vaughan property covered
Setting up takes one conversation and a signature. Signage goes in, and after that the problem is ours instead of yours. Call 647-219-1786, where dispatch answers around the clock, or send us a message.
We also tow in
Woodbridge · Markham · Richmond Hill · King City · Newmarket · Brampton · Mississauga
See the full private property towing service area.