Interviewer: At what point would someone get their car impounded?
Mark Rosenfeld: A car can be impounded when someone is arrested for a DUI or if they are caught driving on a suspended license or a restricted license. If they’re driving outside the restriction, a car can be impounded. If someone is driving on a suspended license, there could be a mandatory 30-day hold on the car. You begin with a tow charge for having the car towed, then you end up with an impound charge that runs every day for the storage lot – the police yard – to hold the car. If you just get a DUI and the car is towed and stored for a day until you get it out, it may be a $300 bill. If a car is impounded and put into storage for $30 plus days, it may get so expensive that it’s not worth getting the car out. Then we have to deal with forfeiting the car. There are rights that someone has if their car has been impounded. We have rights to hearings and to fight to get the car out. It’s very difficult when they’ve got it behind a locked gate to try to get it out.
Interviewer: What about with second- or third-time offenders? I’ve heard stories where cars would be impounded for a longer amount of time. Does that still occur?
Mark Rosenfeld: Yeah, there are different vehicle codes and penal code violations that result in the impounding of a car. They can start with a seizure for the night. On a regular DUI it could be 30 days, if someone is driving on a suspended license. There are programs where cars will be impounded indefinitely or where a car will be impounded and deemed a hazard. The attorney will file forfeiture proceedings where they actually attempt to take somebody’s car from them, because they have multiple offenses and they continue to drive on a suspended license. I have seen where the county or the city of Los Angeles has gone after somebody’s car, taken it from them, and sold it at auction and used those proceeds to try to find more people who are driving on suspended licenses. It can be a very large problem with not only impound of the car but also forfeiture and sale.
Interviewer: When they’re in the initial decision for someone to get their car impounded, is there any way for someone to appeal that?
Mark Rosenfeld: There is: you have a right to a hearing. They’re not necessarily very effective or lengthy hearings, but you do have a right to present evidence and to get in front of a hearing officer to explain what happened. A lot of times, the driver of a car is not the owner of the car that is impounded. We try to take steps to get the owner’s car returned to them.
Personal Attention
