Need a tow? Towing in Lompoc, CA
Stuck on Highway 1, the 246 or a street in Lompoc? We drive down from Santa Maria, 25 to 26 miles by road, and tell you the price and our expected arrival before a truck sets out.
Follow our route: from Santa Maria down Highway 1 to Lompoc
At 25 to 26 road miles from central Santa Maria, Lompoc is one of the longer trips we make. We take the same route Vandenberg Space Force Base gives its visitors coming from Santa Maria, then keep going past the main gate.
Our driver heads south on Broadway, the 135, through Orcutt until Highway 1 merges in, then stays with Highway 1 where it exits to the right. At the signal in front of Vandenberg's main gate, known as the Santa Maria Gate, Highway 1 curves toward Lompoc, passing the Constellation Road exit for Vandenberg Village and the Allan Hancock College campus before reaching another signal at the north edge of town. North H Street then runs past the airport to Ocean Avenue, where Highway 1 and the 246 travel together east to the city limits.
When you call from Lompoc, we'll estimate our arrival from wherever the truck happens to be when you call, and the price includes the full round trip. Our dispatch runs 24/7, though most of the agency offices listed farther down keep shorter hours.
Name your road: Highway 1, the 246 or Harris Grade
Each main road out of Lompoc comes with its own question from us:
- Highway 1 heading north - from the signal at the top of North H Street, past the Hancock campus, Vandenberg Village and the base's main gate, toward Orcutt. Which exit did you pass last: Constellation Road or Santa Lucia Canyon Road?
- Highway 1 heading south - out of town to its junction with US 101 at Las Cruces. Which way were you going, and what was the last landmark?
- The 246 - Ocean Avenue leaving town to the east, then a fairly flat two-lane road along the Santa Ynez River toward Buellton and the 101.
- Harris Grade Road - the county road climbing over the hills between the Lompoc and Los Alamos valleys, from Rucker Road to the 135 near Los Alamos.
Storms in early 2024 caused a slope failure that closed Harris Grade for several weeks, and the county started repairs that April. When the county closes a road, our trucks can't use it either, so we'd come in on Highway 1 and let you know on the phone how the detour changes our timing.
Lompoc lies in the Santa Ynez River valley, where fog and ocean breezes come often and snow hardly ever does, so winter calls here usually involve wet pavement, not ice. In town, the two highways follow Ocean Avenue and H Street, and through traffic passes a stopped car at all hours. If your car quits on either one after dark, our nighttime towing on Highway 1 and the 246 is priced by the same method we use in daylight.
Inside or outside the city limit? That tells you who towed your car
Lompoc had 44,444 residents at the 2020 Census, and the agency in charge of a tow depends on whether your car stopped inside or outside the city limit.
Within the city, it's the Lompoc Police Department at 100 Civic Center Plaza, and its dispatch center takes non-emergency calls 24 hours a day. The Records lobby is open 8:30 to 5 Monday through Thursday and 8:30 to 4 on Friday; on weekends it opens only for vehicle releases.
Beyond the city limit, the CHP handles traffic; its enforcement policy gives it every non-freeway road in unincorporated areas. The CHP Buellton Area covers Lompoc, Solvang, Buellton, Los Olivos, Santa Ynez and Vandenberg Village along US 101, Highway 154, the 246 and Highway 1, working from 166 Industrial Way in Buellton, open weekdays 8 to 5. For general law enforcement in the unincorporated neighborhoods around town - Vandenberg Village, Mission Hills and Mesa Oaks - the Sheriff's Lompoc Station on Harris Grade Road is responsible.
- Towed off a city street
- Lompoc Police at (805) 736-2341, any hour
- Towed from Highway 1 or the 246 beyond town
- CHP Buellton Area at (805) 691-6160, on weekdays
- Picked up in Vandenberg Village, Mission Hills or Mesa Oaks
- Sheriff's Lompoc Station at (805) 737-7737, or (805) 683-2724 after hours
- Removed from a private lot
- Check the entrance sign; CVC 22658 requires it to name every tow company used there, with a number to call
The 72-hour parking limit in Lompoc
In November 2025, Lompoc updated its street-storage rule. Municipal Code 10.28.190 prohibits leaving a vehicle on any street or highway for 72 hours straight or longer, and nudging it a few feet no longer resets the clock: if the car is still within 150 feet of where it started 48 hours after a 72-hour period ends, or its odometer shows less than a tenth of a mile of added travel, it counts as parked the entire time. Once the required notice is posted at the city's entrances, police can remove the car under CVC 22651(k). A car that won't start isn't exempt, so call us before time runs out.
A separate section, 10.28.240, bars recreational vehicles from public streets from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., with its own permit program.
Stuck on Vandenberg? Here's how we get through the gate
Vandenberg controls its own gates. According to the base's visitor page, a commercial vehicle - and a tow truck counts as one - must be met by its sponsor at the Lompoc Gate for a 24-hour pass and a search. The Lompoc Gate is open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., the Santa Maria Gate and South Gate stay open around the clock, and the Solvang Gate runs 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. The base's directions also note that the Lompoc Gate, signed from the Santa Lucia Canyon Road exit on Highway 1, isn't always open.
Let us know right away that the car is on base, and arrange for your sponsor to meet our driver at the Lompoc Gate while it's open. If the car stopped outside the gates on Highway 1, it's a regular roadside call with no gate steps.
Across Lompoc or back to Santa Maria, we'll size the truck to the trip
In Lompoc, the distance can change which truck you get. A front-wheel-drive car moving from Ocean Avenue to a shop elsewhere in town can go on the wheel-lift. That same car traveling 25 to 26 miles back to a Santa Maria dealer rides our flatbed between Lompoc and Santa Maria, as does any AWD, electric or lowered car, or one that can't roll, however short the trip.
We run light-duty equipment for cars, pickups, SUVs, vans and motorcycles. A farm truck carrying a load or a large motorhome goes beyond that, and you'll hear that from us before we'd ever send the wrong truck 25 miles.
In a Lompoc price, the miles count most, then the truck and the time at the scene; our pricing page for Lompoc tows explains the rest.
From Vandenberg Village back to Orcutt: the rest of our Lompoc-area coverage
We also cover Vandenberg Village in the hills north of town, Mission Hills and Mesa Oaks, the base gates and the length of Highway 1 back up to Orcutt, right next to Santa Maria. Buellton and Solvang, east on the 246, are in our service area too, and every service we offer is listed on our Santa Maria towing page.
Frequently asked questions
I'm broken down in Lompoc - what's the route and mileage from Santa Maria?
Lompoc is roughly 25 to 26 miles by road from central Santa Maria, down the 135 and Highway 1, past Vandenberg's main gate and into town on North H Street. The price we give you for a Lompoc tow includes that whole trip, and we'll share a time window on the same call.
My car got towed in Lompoc - is that the police, the CHP or the Sheriff?
If it was on a city street, call the Lompoc Police Department at (805) 736-2341; they take non-emergency calls day and night, and the Records lobby opens on weekends only for vehicle releases. If it was on Highway 1 or the 246 outside town, contact the CHP Buellton Area at (805) 691-6160. In Vandenberg Village, Mission Hills or Mesa Oaks, begin with the Sheriff's Lompoc Station at (805) 737-7737.
My car hasn't moved from the curb in Lompoc for days - is it at risk?
It is once it passes 72 hours. Lompoc Municipal Code 10.28.190 bars a vehicle from sitting on a street for 72 hours in a row or more, and since November 2025, a car that's still within 150 feet of its spot, or has added less than a tenth of a mile to its odometer, is treated as if it never moved. Police can remove it under CVC 22651(k), and a car that won't start gets no pass.
My car died on Vandenberg Space Force Base - can you tow it off?
Yes, following the base's rules. Vandenberg requires a commercial vehicle's sponsor to meet it at the Lompoc Gate for a 24-hour pass and a vehicle search, and that gate is open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tell us the car is on base when you call, and we'll agree on a meeting time with you before our truck heads out.
Down Highway 1 to Lompoc: four details, then one price
Once we have these, we'll quote the complete Lompoc trip before a truck leaves Santa Maria.
- Your whereabouts - a cross street in Lompoc, your Highway 1 exit, where you are on the 246, or which base gate
- Your ride - make, model and year, and mention it if it's AWD, electric or lowered, since those need the flatbed
- The problem - it quit on Highway 1, a collision on H Street, a flat, a dead battery, or keys locked in
- Its next stop - a Lompoc shop, a dealer back in Santa Maria or a driveway in Vandenberg Village