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Vehicle impoundment is the legal process of placing a vehicle into an impoundment lot or tow yard, [1] which is a holding place for cars until they are placed back in the control of the owner, recycled for their metal, stripped of their parts at a wrecking yard or auctioned off for the benefit of the impounding agency.
The word impound means to place into a pound, a secured area to hold things. [2] An impoundment lot can thus be simply called a "pound", but the use of "impoundment lot" in current usage typically means a vehicle impoundment lot, as opposed to, for example, a dog pound. An equivalent unambiguous phrasing is "vehicle pound", which is still a term in current widespread use.
Vehicles may be impounded for the following reasons:
The process for impoundment is as follows:
Before a vehicle can be impounded, the impounding agency must receive some right to perform impoundment. In some cases, this may involve a court decision. In others, there is an automatic right to impound if certain conditions are met. For example, in New York City, a parking ticket that is not pleaded for 100 days, or not paid 100 days after losing a court decision, results in default judgement, and a car with a ticket in default judgement may automatically be eligible for the New York City Sheriff to impound. [3]
For repossession-based impoundment, the lending agency or its assignee is granted authority by either a court order, or in some cases, by contract law. In some jurisdictions, that authority may allow the lender to repossess the vehicle using its own resources; in others, the lender must request a sheriff, marshall, or other government agent to perform or oversee the repossession activity. [4]
The impounding agency may identify an impoundment candidate and hunt for it. This is often true in cases of repossession, very large outstanding fines, or serious vehicle violations. More typically, an impounding agency has a list of vehicles to impound, and sends agents to check every car in a certain area against that list. If the agent happens to locate a vehicle on the list, the agent starts the process of taking possession and towing of the vehicle
The impounding agent may travel in a tow truck, in which case, he may be able to conduct the tow directly with no additional input. Often, the agent may not have the authority to do so, and may have to call in a specific resource (badged agent, marshall, etc.) to oversee the operation. If the locating agent or the authorized agent does not have a tow vehicle, they will have to call one in, either from the agency's own fleet or from a contracted towing company.
In some cases, if the owner or operator intervenes during the tow procedure, he may be able to stop it, often by paying the fine on the spot via a portable credit card reader. [5] The towed vehicle is taken to an impoundment lot. The lot may be exclusively for impoundments, or it may be a storage yard that also serves other functions, such as parking for an area site, or a vehicle repair shop.
An impounded vehicle auction is a type of auction that specializes in selling abandoned and disabled vehicles. Once a car is towed by municipalities or private companies and the requisite time has passed, the cars are auctioned to recover the cost of towing and storage.
These auctions are typically held by an auctioneer on the grounds of the tow lot, but Internet-based auctions are becoming more common.
Most states require a rigorous process to determine the owner of the vehicle and the disposition of the title before allowing a vehicle to be auctioned. This includes a title search, publication of an impending sale and certified letters in an attempt to give the vehicle's owner an opportunity to pay towing and storage costs and recover the vehicle. In the case of serviceable vehicles, the towing company may offer this documentation in a packet known as the possessory lien papers, which can be used to obtain a new title. Given the expense of the process, many lots will charge a significant fee for the papers.
States and municipalities vary widely in their treatment of impound auctions. In some states, bidders must register as salvage dealers or restoration companies in order to bid. In Missouri, impounded vehicles may only be offered to the general public with a salvage title, while other states have no restrictions on who may purchase a vehicle.
Impounded vehicles are offered as-is, where-is with no warranty. Those auctioning the vehicles likely have no knowledge of its mechanical condition beyond the obvious (such as rust), and are generally exempt from providing warranties. As a winning bidder, one must purchase and take possession of the vehicle, even if it is not capable of leaving the lot under its own power. Keys are not always available, and in cars with a digital dash, the mileage may not be known.
In April 2013, the Queensland Government approved amendments to the Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000, [6] regarding motor vehicle impoundment to improve road safety.
On November 1, 2013, State of Queensland the amended legislation commenced as the country's toughest anti-hooning laws.
From May 1, 2014, Australian towing company Tow.com.au was contracted by the Queensland Police Service as the exclusive provider of towing & impoundment relating to hoon type 1 & type 2 offenses in State of Queensland.
Vehicle impoundment is an option, or is mandatory, for a variety of offences, [7] among them exceeding a posted speed limit by at least 50 km/h and drunk-driving. [8]
Under North Carolina state law, a vehicle impounded by law enforcement can be sold at an auction if towing and storage costs reach a predetermined level, even if the owner was not the driver or the driver gets no charges. After a defendant's trial, the judge can forfeit the vehicle to a school board as well. [9]
In 2015, Sacramento attempted to pass legislation in consideration of homeless persons in high risk impoundment situations. [10] The law could prevent a common practice of salvaging a homeless persons sleeping quarters for a profit of $50 which would be paid to the impound lot.
In Seattle, impound fees in (3) separate towing classes range between $165 and $209 per hour. [11]
A wheel clamp, also known as wheel boot, parking boot, or Denver boot, is a device that is designed to prevent motor vehicles from being moved. In its most common form, it consists of a clamp that surrounds a vehicle wheel, designed to prevent removal of both itself and the wheel.
A parking enforcement officer (PEO), traffic warden, parking inspector/parking officer, or civil enforcement officer is a member of a traffic control agency, local government, or police force who issues tickets for parking violations. The term parking attendant is sometimes considered a synonym but sometimes used to refer to the different profession of parking lot attendant.
Vicarious liability is a form of a strict, secondary liability that arises under the common law doctrine of agency, respondeat superior, the responsibility of the superior for the acts of their subordinate or, in a broader sense, the responsibility of any third party that had the "right, ability or duty to control" the activities of a violator. It can be distinguished from contributory liability, another form of secondary liability, which is rooted in the tort theory of enterprise liability because, unlike contributory infringement, knowledge is not an element of vicarious liability. The law has developed the view that some relationships by their nature require the person who engages others to accept responsibility for the wrongdoing of those others. The most important such relationship for practical purposes is that of employer and employee.
A rental agreement is a contract of rental, usually written, between the owner of a property and a renter who desires to have temporary possession of the property; it is distinguished from a lease, which is more typically for a fixed term. As a minimum, the agreement identifies the parties, the property, the term of the rental, and the amount of rent for the term. The owner of the property may be referred to as the lessor and the renter as the lessee.
Automatic number-plate recognition is a technology that uses optical character recognition on images to read vehicle registration plates to create vehicle location data. It can use existing closed-circuit television, road-rule enforcement cameras, or cameras specifically designed for the task. ANPR is used by police forces around the world for law enforcement purposes, including checking if a vehicle is registered or licensed. It is also used for electronic toll collection on pay-per-use roads and as a method of cataloguing the movements of traffic, for example by highways agencies.
A wrecking yard, scrapyard or junkyard is the location of a business in dismantling where wrecked or decommissioned vehicles are brought, their usable parts are sold for use in operating vehicles, while the unusable metal parts, known as scrap metal parts, are sold to metal-recycling companies. Other terms include wreck yard, wrecker's yard, salvage yard, breaker's yard, dismantler and scrapheap. In the United Kingdom, car salvage yards are known as car breakers, while motorcycle salvage yards are known as bike breakers. In Australia, they are often referred to as 'Wreckers'.
A hoon is an Australian and New Zealand term describing a person who deliberately drives a vehicle in a reckless or dangerous manner, generally in order to provoke a reaction from onlookers.
Repossession, colloquially repo, is a "self-help" type of action in which the party having right of ownership of a property takes the property in question back from the party having right of possession without invoking court proceedings. The property may then be sold by either the financial institution or third party sellers.
Self-help, in the context of a legal doctrine, refers to individuals exercising their rights without resorting to legal writs or consulting higher authorities. This occurs, for example, when a financial institution repossesses a car on which it holds both the title and a defaulted note. Individuals may resort to self-help when they retrieve property under the unauthorized control of another person or abate nuisances, such as using sandbags and ditches to protect land from flooding.
Motor vehicle registration is the registration of a motor vehicle with a government authority, either compulsory or otherwise. The purpose of motor vehicle registration is to establish a link between a vehicle and an owner or user of the vehicle. While almost all motor vehicles are uniquely identified by a vehicle identification number, only registered vehicles display a vehicle registration plate and carry a vehicle registration certificate. Motor vehicle registration is different from motor vehicle licensing and roadworthiness certification.
A parking violation is the act of parking a motor vehicle in a restricted place or in an unauthorized manner. It is against the law virtually everywhere to park a vehicle in the middle of a highway or road; parking on one or both sides of a road, however, is commonly permitted. However, restrictions apply to such parking, and may result in an offense being committed. Such offenses are usually cited by a police officer or other government official in the form of a traffic ticket.
South Dakota v. Opperman, 428 U.S. 364 (1976), elaborated on the community caretaking doctrine. Under the Fourth Amendment, "unreasonable" searches and seizures are forbidden. In addition to their law-enforcement duties, the police must engage in what the court has termed a community caretaking role, including such duties as removing obstructions from roadways to ensure the free flow of traffic. When the police act in this role, they may inventory cars they have seized without "unreasonably" searching those cars.
Towing is coupling two or more objects together so that they may be pulled by a designated power source or sources. The towing source may be a motorized land vehicle, vessel, animal, or human, and the load being anything that can be pulled. These may be joined by a chain, rope, bar, hitch, three-point, fifth wheel, coupling, drawbar, integrated platform, or other means of keeping the objects together while in motion.
Lincoln Towing Service is the DBA name of Protective Parking Corporation, one of the largest towing services in Chicago, in the U.S. state of Illinois. The primary business location is at 4882 N. Clark Street, in the Uptown community area of Chicago in Cook County, with a second location at 4601 W. Armitage Avenue. The company was founded by Ross Cascio, who sold the company on January 20, 1981. The firm became controversial in the late 1960s and 1970s, with Chicago Daily News columnist Mike Royko publishing several articles on Cascio's alleged strong-arm tactics, Aldermanic candidate Dick Simpson making the firm a campaign issue, and folk singer Steve Goodman writing a song about the firm, calling them the "Lincoln Park Pirates."
Auto auctions are a method of selling vehicles based on an auction system. Auto auctions can be found in most countries and are usually exclusive to licensed automobile dealers. In a few countries, such as Japan, auto auctions are well known and used by most residents.
Parking Wars is an American reality television series that aired on the A&E television network from 2008 to 2012. The program followed parking enforcement officers as they engaged in ticketing, "booting", towing and releasing vehicles back to their owners, as part of their parking violation enforcement duties.
The Philadelphia Parking Authority (PPA) is an agency of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania that manages many parking operations for Philadelphia. The PPA was created by the Philadelphia City Council on January 11, 1950, for the purpose of conducting research for management of off-street parking and establishing a permanent, coordinated system of parking facilities in the city. Since then, the PPA's scope has expanded to include parking operations at the Philadelphia International Airport, most street-parking policy enforcement, and regulation and enforcement of taxicabs and limousines.
Abandoned vehicles are decrepit cars or car wrecks or cars that have become useless in other ways, which are abandoned and illegally dumped in the environment. Abandoned vehicles will be tagged with an official notice when found or reported. Criteria for "abandonment" may differ, and a minimum duration of abandonment in the order of a few days to weeks is required. When reporting such a vehicle, the required data will usually comprise the exact location, the make, colour and type, and - if available and readable - possibly the VIN and the licence plate. Costs for removal will as a rule be taken by public councils.
Nebraska v. One 1970 2-Door Sedan Rambler (Gremlin) 191 Neb. 462, 215 N.W.2d 849 (1974) is a Nebraska Supreme Court civil forfeiture case. It was brought by the American state of Nebraska to seize a Rambler Gremlin on the sole grounds it was transporting illegal marijuana. The owner appealed against the forfeiture decision on the grounds of a claimed lack of due process. The court ruled 4–2 and sustained the confiscation as lawful.
The Barnacle is a device that a parking enforcement officer attaches to a vehicle's windshield to prevent a driver from operating the vehicle until they resolve a parking violation. It attaches to a windshield using suction cups, but unlike a wheel clamp, does not physically prevent a vehicle from moving.