I've Got My Release Certificate, Now What Do I Do?

You or an authorized driver have taken proof of insurance for your impounded car to the local police station or sheriff's office closest to where you got your car towed. You have shown them a valid drivers license and your proof of insurance has been verified and accepted. The clerk at the police station has given you a release certificate and you have paid the fee. You have the release certificate in your hand. Now what?

You now must go to the office of the towing company listed on your release certificate. The towing company office may not be open 24 hours a day. You might have to call ahead of time and be sure of the time you can stop by and where to go. Once you arrive at the towing office, you must pay for the actual cost of the towing. If your car has been in the tow lot for more than a day, the towing company will charge you a daily rental fee. The rental fee is the charge for taking up space in their tow lot. You may think it already unfair that you have to pay for the towing charge, now a towing storage fee on top of all that? Yep. The towing company had to place your car and all the valuables inside in a safe and secure place until you pick it up. The tow lot has to be fenced and watched by security personnel around the clock. That security costs money. So, they get to charge you a daily rental fee.

How much is the daily storage fee of your impounded automobile? The fee varies between the towing companies. It can be as low as $20 a day and I've seen some places charge as much as $50 a day. Outrageous you might think. As you can see this whole impound business is a way to punish you for driving uninsured or committing some other serious offense that gets your car impounded. You have to add up the cost of the fine, attorneys, court costs, release certificate fees, towing and storage fees, and not to mention the increased cost of your insurance because of the tickets. All this because you couldn't afford to buy insurance.

Now you have to weigh the cost of all this against the value of the car. You could at this point negotiate with the towing company and just sign and hand over the title. You still might have to pay them a little more if the car salvage value doesn't cover the tow bill and the storage fees. Remember, if it takes you a long time to get the funds together to pay for the release certificate and the towing charges, the daily storage rental charges keep adding up. If the towing company is charging $40 a day, the storage fees could add up to more than what it cost to tow your car and the release certificate combined. If your car is only worth about $1,000 on the street and the towing company would only give you salvage value, then maybe it's better to just negotiate with them as quickly as possible to stop the daily charges.

If you fail to pick up your car and negotiate with them a settlement using the car as collateral, they can file a possessory lien on your vehicle after 30 days. The storage clock still continues to tick. After the towing company has been granted ownership of your car and has sold your vehicle to recuperate their expenses, they can still sue you for the difference. The lawsuit and judgement can range in the thousands of dollars. Yes, thousands. So, take action! Don't wait. Go in immediately and negotiate with them if you can't afford to get the car out of impound. Avoid the additional legal fees, storage fees and judgement against you!

If you are able to pay for the towing and storage fees, give them your release certificate. They will then direct you or the licensed driver to the impound lot where your car has been stored. It's a good idea to inspect the vehicle for the condition and contents to compare it to how you left it on the street. There have been reports by several of my clients that things are missing from the vehicle or damage has been done to the car during transport or storage. That is the moment to declare the damage or missing items. From what I understand you can request an accounting of the items in the car at the time of the stop so there is an inventory to compare it to at the time of release. But, that might have something to do with the willingness of the arresting police officer at the scene and the infraction for which you were stopped. If you were pulled over for driving under the influence and reckless driving, the officer may not have to allow for such inventorying to take place.

Once your are satisfied with the condition of your car you can then drive away. Hopefully this doesn't happen to you again. It's a scary, stressful and time consuming process not to mention the mountains of cash you will be laying out to recover your car.

Call us. We'll walk you through the process if you have any more questions.