TowingBossPro Blog — Impound & Storage

Handling Police Impound Tows Under a Municipal Account

Police and municipal tows have their own rhythm. The calls come at any hour, the paperwork matters, and the vehicles can sit in your lot for a long time while an investigation, a hold or an owner's situation plays out. Doing this work well keeps you on good terms with the agency. Doing it badly can lose you the work.

Running Private Property Impounds From Call to Release walked through private property impounds. This article covers the police side.

Know Your Agreement and Your Local Law

Police towing is usually governed by an agreement with the agency, local ordinances and state law, sometimes all three. They may set response times, what must be recorded, how holds work, what you may charge for the tow and storage, and how vehicles are released. Every jurisdiction is different, and the details change.

Read your agreement, keep a copy where the office can find it, and check the rules that apply before you set rates or release procedures. TowingBossPro helps you keep consistent records. It does not handle rotation lists or connect to agency systems; those stay with whatever process your agency uses.

Set Up the Agency as an Account

In TowingBossPro, a police department or municipality is a commercial account. Calls ordered by that agency are created under the account, and invoices billed to the agency sit there too. When the agency asks what you towed for them last month, or what they owe for storage on vehicles they ordered held, the answer is under one account instead of scattered across a year of tow sheets.

If you work with more than one agency, set each one up separately so their calls and invoices never mix.

Agencies often have more than one contact: the officers who order tows, the records office that tracks vehicles, and whoever approves invoices. Note who is who on the account. When an invoice question comes from accounting, you want to answer accounting, not call the officer who was on scene.

Record What the Officer Gives You

Police tows come with information the agency cares about: a case or incident number, the officer's name or badge, the reason for the tow, whether there is a hold. Custom fields are the right place for these. Set up the fields your agencies actually use and make them part of the call.

The vehicle details still matter as much as ever: year, make, model, color, plate and VIN. So do the driver's photos before the hook, especially for accident vehicles where damage questions are certain to come up later.

Holds and Long Stays

Some police vehicles cannot be released until the agency says so. Tag those vehicles clearly so nobody at the window releases a car under a hold. When the hold is lifted, update the tag and note who authorized the release.

Long stays are common. The storage start date and daily rate still apply, inside whatever your agreement and local rules allow, and the software keeps counting the storage days so the invoice is right whenever the vehicle finally leaves. Who pays for storage on a held vehicle depends on your agreement and local law, so know the answer before the car arrives.

Review the hold list on a regular schedule rather than waiting for the agency to call. A short message asking whether a hold can be lifted on a vehicle that has been in your lot for a month is good service, and it moves space and money that would otherwise sit still.

Releasing to Owners

When an owner comes for a police-towed vehicle, check that the release is allowed and that they have what your process and local rules require. Then collect what is owed before the keys go out. The invoice already has the storage days counted, so the total does not depend on who is working the window.

Owners of police-towed vehicles are often having a terrible week: an accident, an arrest in the family, a car found after being stolen. A calm, clear release process helps. Have your requirements written down, explain them without attitude, and give them the details by text so they can come back prepared if they are missing something.

Report Back Cleanly

Agencies notice vendors who answer questions fast. Reports in TowingBossPro let you pull the calls and invoices for an account over a date range when they ask. Clean records and quick answers are how you stay on the list.

See how police tows fit with the rest of storage on the Impound & Storage Software page. Next: property manager accounts.