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DUI towing and impound costs: the bill that grows $60 a day
When a DUI arrest leaves your car on the roadside, the tow truck is not optional and neither is the meter it starts. Towing, daily storage and a release fee are set by published city and county schedules in much of the country — and storage keeps accruing every day the car sits, including the days you are in no position to collect it.
The three charges
The tow itself — a flat fee for the hook-up and haul to the lot. Storage — a per-day charge, assessed for every 24-hour period or part of one. The release (or administrative) fee — charged by the police agency or city before the lot may release the vehicle, on top of what the tow company is owed. Some schedules add after-hours or gate fees; the schedules below are the published base charges.
Published schedules we verified
| Jurisdiction | Tow | Storage | Release / admin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sacramento, CA (Police Department fee schedule) | $200 | $60 / day | $180 vehicle release fee |
| Baltimore, MD (City Code § 22-9 maximums) | Up to $150 | Up to $50 / day | Per operator's filed schedule |
| Philadelphia, PA (City Code § 12-2406.1, vehicles under 11,000 lbs) | $175 | $25 / day | Included in code schedule |
Sources: City of Sacramento Police Department, "Towed Vehicles" fee schedule; Baltimore City Code § 22-9 (schedule of charges — statutory maximums); Philadelphia Code § 12-2406.1. Checked October 2026. Your city's schedule is published by its police department or in its municipal code; the tow company must follow it for a police-ordered tow.
Worked examples at Sacramento's published rates
A long weekend. Arrest Friday night, car collected Monday: $200 tow + $180 release + 3 days × $60 storage = $560.
A conviction impoundment. Florida's DUI statute orders the vehicle impounded on repeat convictions — 30 days on a second conviction within five years, 90 days on a third within ten (Fla. Stat. § 316.193) — at the owner's expense. At Sacramento-style storage rates, 30 days of storage alone is $1,800, and 90 days is $5,400, before the tow and release fee. Impoundment math is why the storage line, not the tow, is the dangerous one.
See where the tow and storage bill ranks against fines, program fees and interlock in the full first-offense stack — and total your own state in the calculator.
Open the DUI cost calculatorWhy this bill surprises people
Three mechanics catch owners out. First, storage usually counts any part of a day as a full day, so an evening pickup can cost the same as a morning one. Second, while your license is suspended you may not be able to drive the car off the lot at all — many agencies require a licensed driver to collect it, and the meter runs while you arrange one. Third, an unclaimed vehicle can eventually be lien-sold by the lot to recover the charges, which converts a fee problem into the loss of the car. If cost is the obstacle, ask the agency about a tow hearing or fee review — Sacramento's police department, for one, publishes a hearing process on the same page as its fee schedule.
Impound lengths and release conditions are set by state statute and local ordinance; the fee schedules above are examples we verified, not national rates. Your state guide covers the DUI-specific impound rules we found in your statute.