TowingBossPro Blog — Impound & Storage

Starting a Storage Lot: What to Set Up Before the First Car Comes In

Adding a storage lot changes a towing company. You stop being only a transport business and start holding other people's property, sometimes for a long time, often for people who did not want you to have it. The setup you do before the first vehicle arrives decides how hard the next few years will be.

Answering the Where-Is-My-Car Call in Under a Minute covered the phones. This article steps back to the beginning: opening the lot.

Find Out What Rules Apply

Before anything else, learn what your state, county and city require of a storage facility for towed vehicles. Depending on where you are, there may be rules about licensing, zoning, fencing, signage, posted rates, hours when vehicles must be released, record-keeping, notifying owners and what you may charge. Police agencies and private property clients will have their own requirements too.

Do not guess and do not copy a competitor. Get the actual rules, and talk to an attorney or your local towing association if they are unclear.

Check with your insurance agent too. Holding other people's vehicles is different from towing them, and your coverage needs to match what you are actually doing. Find out before the first car arrives, not after the first claim.

Decide Your Rates and Policies in Writing

Write down your storage rate sheet within whatever limits apply. Decide when storage starts and how days are counted, consistent with your local rules. Write a release policy: what owners must bring, what payment you accept, how holds are handled and who can authorize a release. Put it in writing so everyone follows the same rules from the first day.

Think about release hours. Owners will want their cars at night and on weekends. Your local rules may require certain hours. Your staffing has to support whatever you promise, and the hours you post have to be the hours you are actually open.

Set Up the Software Before the First Tow

In TowingBossPro, add your storage lot as a drop-off location, set up your commercial accounts (the police agency, the property managers, the body shops) and import any existing customers with a CSV. Create the tags you will use, such as Police Hold and Keys in Office, and the custom fields your accounts and local rules need, like a case number or authorization contact.

Then the first impound goes in the right way: a call with a pickup and a drop-off at your lot, vehicle details, driver photos, a storage start date and a daily storage rate.

Train Drivers on Photos and Details

Your drivers are the first line of defense. Teach them the photo set before the first tow: four corners, existing damage, plate, VIN and where the vehicle was parked. Teach them to confirm year, make, model, color, plate and VIN against the call. Habits set early stick.

Run a few practice impounds on your own vehicles before you go live. It feels silly, but it shows you where the process is slow and whether the photo set is clear before a real owner is standing at the window.

Set Up Customer Messages

Write your pickup text and email before you need them: where the vehicle is, release hours, what to bring and how to pay online. Automated texts and emails go out from TowingBossPro, and two-way texting lets owners reply. Getting the wording right ahead of time beats writing it at midnight with an angry owner on the other line.

Write the release window checklist at the same time: what the clerk checks, in what order, before the keys go out. Verify the vehicle, check for holds, check entitlement, confirm payment on the invoice, walk to the car. A laminated card at the window is not glamorous, but it works.

Plan for Growth

A new lot fills faster than you expect. Set a weekly routine from the start: walk the lot and compare with the list, review long-stay vehicles, check open account invoices. Reports will show what the lot earns once you have a few months of data.

TowingBossPro plans start at $59 a month with no per-user fees, so adding lot staff does not change your software bill. See the whole storage setup on the Impound & Storage Software page. Next: what impound and storage software should cost.

Keep an eye on space. Know how many vehicles the lot can hold comfortably, and watch how close you get. When the lot nears full, the long-stay list is the first place to look for room.