San Jose calls it a Tow-Away Permit, it is issued by the city’s Department of Transportation, and for a residential move it is the cheapest of the three big Bay Area cities by a long way. The catch is not the price. It is a posting window with a ceiling as well as a floor, and an email most people never send.
What the permit actually is
A Tow-Away Permit temporarily reserves curb space, parking meters, or both, on a city street. San Jose’s own FAQ lists moving pods, moving trucks and large residential gatherings among the reasons a private individual would need one, so a move is a legitimate use — but you have to say so.
The standard permit conditions are written around construction, and one of them reads that unless the use is specifically stated on the permit, it is not for reserving parking for personal use. The practical consequence: when you fill in the work-activity section, write that this is a residential move with a truck at a stated address. The form’s tick-boxes are Construction, Maintenance and Events, so the move goes in the free-text line, and that line is what makes the permit cover you.
The related rule people trip over on the day: the zone is for the truck. A copy of the permit has to be visible on the dashboard of every vehicle inside the zone, and personal cars parked there get cited even with the permit on display.
What it costs
Fees come from the city’s 2026–2027 Adopted Fees and Charges, Transportation section.
| Fee line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Tow-Away Permit | $67 per permit |
| Tow-away signs | $0.82 each, plus tax |
| Lost meter revenue, smart meter (takes cards) | $8 per meter, per day |
| Lost meter revenue, ordinary meter | $4 per meter, per day |
| Meter head removal, if needed | $101 per head |
| Meter pole removal, if needed | $247 per pole |
Meter charges do not run on Sundays or holidays. Paying by card adds a 2.4% processing fee charged by the city’s payment processor; cash, an in-person check or a mailed check avoid it.
What a normal residential move adds up to
| Job | Total |
|---|---|
| Unmetered residential block, one day, 3 signs | about $70 |
| Two ordinary meters, one day, 2 signs | about $77 |
| Two smart meters, one day, 2 signs | about $85 |
| Two smart meters, two days, 2 signs | about $101 |
One correction worth knowing about, because it is on the city’s own site: the Tow-Away Permit FAQ page still shows a $57 administrative processing fee. That was the 2025–26 figure. The adopted schedule for 2026–27 raised it to $67, and the application form reissued in July 2026 prints $67. Budget for the higher number.
The posting window has a ceiling, not just a floor
This is the rule that makes San Jose different, and it catches careful people more often than careless ones. The permit conditions say signs must be posted at least 48 hours in advance, but no more than 72 hours in advance of the work.
Both ends bind. Post on the morning of the move and the signs are not enforceable. Post a week early, thinking you are being organised, and they are not enforceable either. For a Saturday move the signs go up on Wednesday or Thursday — not Tuesday, not Friday night.
You are also responsible for maintaining the signs for the whole permitted period. A sign that blows down and stays down is an invalid sign, and if work is delayed or called off you have to take them down rather than leave the curb restricted.
The posting log email
After the signs are up, the permit holder has to email a clear copy of the posting log sheet to [email protected]. The inbox is monitored 8am–5pm, Monday to Friday.
Skipping it does not merely annoy somebody. In the city’s words, failure to email the log renders the permit invalid and enforcement officers will not respond to a tow request. The log records who posted the signs and when, with their name and contact details, so the person doing the posting needs to be the person filling it in.
Note the inbox hours against the posting window. Signs for a Monday move go up Friday or Saturday; if they go up Saturday, the log lands in an inbox nobody reads until Monday morning. Posting on Friday and emailing the log the same day is the version of this that works.
How the signs have to go up
San Jose is specific about this in a way the other cities are not, and every line of it can invalidate the zone:
- Only city-issued signs. Photocopies and homemade signs are invalid and get removed.
- Write the permit number, dates, days and hours on every sign before posting. Incomplete signs are unenforceable, and once a city staff member has verified them nothing may be erased, crossed out or changed.
- One sign per metered space. On unmetered curb, a sign at least every 50 feet, plus one at the start and one at the end of the zone.
- Within 6 feet of the face of the curb, at a consistent height, on the side of the street being restricted.
- String only to tie signs to meter poles and heads, or A-frame barricades. No duct tape, no wire — they damage the poles and you pay for the repair.
- Take them down afterwards. Signs left up are removed at your cost, and unpaid removal costs can block a future permit.
Apply about two weeks out
The city asks for applications at least two weeks in advance. Processing itself is quicker — up to two business days, sometimes more at busy times — but the application is only the first half. You still have to collect the signs after approval and payment, and then hit the 48-to-72-hour window.
Applications go through the getaPERMIT portal, or on the PDF form by email to [email protected]; the DOT permit line is 408-535-3850. The permit itself is valid for six months and can be extended once, which is irrelevant to a one-day move and useful if you are staging a slow one.
If the job also involves working in the right-of-way — a container sitting on the street for 72 hours or more, say — Public Works wants an Encroachment Permit first, and the Tow-Away Permit is only valid alongside it.
If a car is in your space on the day
You cannot call a tow company. Only law enforcement can order the tow. Contact the Parking Compliance Unit on 408-534-2910 between 8am and 5pm Monday to Friday, and at any other time the police non-emergency line on 408-277-8900.
Have ready: a copy of the permit, the completed Documentation in Support of Tow-Away form, and the record of when and where the signs were posted and who posted them. Photocopied signed declarations are not accepted. And this only works if the signs went up inside the window and the log was emailed — otherwise the car stays.
What the same move costs in four cities
| City | One truck, one day, unmetered residential curb | Signs go up |
|---|---|---|
| San Jose | about $70 | 48–72 hours ahead, by you |
| Sacramento | about $75 | 72 hours ahead, signs made and posted by you |
| Oakland | about $139 | at least 72 hours ahead, by you |
| San Francisco | $355 | at least 72 hours ahead, by the city |
San Jose is the cheapest and the most procedural. San Francisco costs five times as much and asks the least of you on the day. Oakland sits in between. None of the three is expensive next to the hours a crew spends carrying furniture from wherever the truck could legally stop.
Who files it — you or us
Either works. We file tow-away permits for customers as part of scheduling a move, and on streets we have worked before we usually know whether the meters take cards and how many signs the block needs. What we need from you is the address, the building’s loading situation and a firm date.
If you file it yourself, the two things to put in your own calendar are the posting day and the log email — those are what decide whether the zone is real. Our hourly rate covers crew and truck: $175 an hour for two movers with a truck, $270 for four, with a three-hour minimum that is our own booking policy rather than a state requirement. The permit is billed at cost.
Questions we get about San Jose permits
Do I always need a permit to move in San Jose?
No. Plenty of San Jose addresses have a driveway, a dedicated loading area or quiet unrestricted curb, and none of those need a permit. The permit matters downtown, near San Jose State, on metered blocks and on dense streets where the curb is genuinely contested.
How much is a San Jose moving permit?
The permit itself is $67, signs are $0.82 each plus tax, and meters add $4 or $8 per meter per day depending on whether the meter takes cards. An ordinary one-day residential move comes to about $70.
How early do I put the signs up?
Between 48 and 72 hours before the move, and not outside that window. Earlier than 72 hours is as invalid as later than 48, which is the opposite of what most people assume.
Can I park my own car in the permitted space?
No. The zone is for the work vehicle. Personal vehicles parked inside it are cited even if a valid permit is showing on the dashboard.
What if I forget the posting log email?
The permit is treated as invalid and enforcement officers will not respond to a tow request, so a car sitting in your space stays there. It is the cheapest step in the process and the easiest one to lose the whole permit on.
Fees and rules on this page come from the City of San José — the Tow-Away Permit FAQs, the Tow-Away Permit application and posting conditions reissued 6 July 2026, and the 2026–2027 Adopted Fees and Charges, Transportation section — checked 17 October 2026. San José adopts its fee schedule annually, effective 1 July.
