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When a car is towed, it’s typically impounded. To be impounded is to be taken to an impound lot following a legal decision. There are plenty of reasons why your vehicle can be impounded in NY and every single one gets a little easier to beat the more you know the law. This article will help you understand how NY’s impound laws work and what you can do to protect yourself from them.
When Can a Vehicle Be Impounded in NY?
NY lawmakers don’t seem to want courts to impound vehicles willy nilly. For the most part, the only time a vehicle can be impounded is when its registered owner has committed some kind of civil or criminal violation and not upheld their end of the deal. That is, if you’ve been assigned court-ordered penalties (like fines) and not paid them, you can have your vehicle impounded.
Here are just a few of the reasons the government can use to impound your vehicle in NY:
- You owe more than $350 in parking ticket fines (only convictions count).
- You double-parked your vehicle.
- You parked too close to a fire hydrant.
- You didn’t pay the parking meter.
- You blocked an intersection, tunnel, driveway, or roadway.
There are, of course, other violations that can result in your vehicle being towed. These are just some of the most common. Also, local laws might change the above list, with some violations not permitting the towing of a vehicle and others permitting it only in some jurisdictions.
These laws, written out in the New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law, do not overrule local laws or regulations. When it comes to local rules, the state usually takes a back seat and lets the county drive. So, if your vehicle was towed for a violation not on this list, there’s a high likelihood that it was still towed in accordance with the law. Illegal towing acts are much less common than you might think.
Stopping a Tow in Progress
If you spot a tow truck operator in the process of hooking your vehicle up to be towed, your first impulse might be to try to stop them. We’re here to tell you how to do so without breaking the law.
If the tow truck is already driving away, you’re out of luck. There’s nothing you can do about it now. But, if the tow truck has yet to kick into drive, you have a couple seconds to act. Stay calm, stay collected, and politely ask the driver to release the vehicle back into your custody—as long as you do so before the tow truck starts moving.
To have the vehicle released back into your custody, you will need to sign a legally binding agreement to pay the release penalty. In some cases, you might even have to pay it on the spot (by phone or web portal, not cash). Once that’s signed, the tow truck driver will be obligated by law to unhook the vehicle and release it to you.
Finding a Towed Vehicle
Many people panic when they step out of their apartment or store and notice their vehicle isn’t where they left it. After all, this is NY. Vehicles get stolen all the time. But, before you call 911, check the NYCServ Find Towed Vehicle search tool.
This tool (accessible at https://nycserv.nyc.gov/NYCServWeb/PVO_Find_Towed_Vehicle.jsp) allows you to enter the state and number of your license plate and the type of the vehicle. Once done, simply check the CAPTCHA box and click “SEARCH” and the system will quickly sift through the government’s database of towed vehicles.
If the search shows “No Towed Vehicle Found,” that means one of two things:
- The government did not tow your vehicle,
- OR your vehicle has not yet been added to the database.
In that case, call the NYPD’s non-emergency number: 311. This will get you in touch with the same people (law enforcement) as if you called 911 but without bogging down the emergency lines. As a general rule of thumb, 911 is for crimes in progress and active emergencies and 311 is for help after the fact.
For example, if you catch somebody in the act of stealing your car, call 911. If you find out your car isn’t where you left it and it’s not showing up in the NYCServe Find Towed Vehicle search, call 311. The NYPD will then help you find and locate your vehicle, telling you which impound lot you can find it at and whether it’s been stolen or towed.
If your vehicle does show up in the search, then great! Google the location listed in the search results and you’ll have found your vehicle’s impound location.
Why Don’t the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments Protect You?
The Fourth and Fifth Amendments to the United States Constitution government legal processes all over the United States. They’re primarily concerned with due process, which is unfortunately quite a malleable concept.
Prevailing legal theory in America interprets these two Amendments to be considerably flexible when it comes to civil (non-criminal) violations. Whereas more procedural security would be granted to somebody accused of murder, much less is afforded to somebody accused of parking wrongly.
To that end, many courts, including those across the state of NY, have long rejected most claims of violated Constitutional rights pertaining to towing and impound laws. For example, both the state’s refusal to accept bonds in lieu of full payment and refusal to extend shockingly short challenge durations have been affirmed and reaffirmed time and time again as in compliance with these two Amendments.
But just because the Constitution can’t protect doesn’t mean that you’re defenseless. We at WinIt are here to help. With the WinIt app (or at www.appwinit.com), you can select affordable legal assistance from a long list of verified and reputable attorneys. Download the app today and get started forming your legal defense with the help of experienced experts.
