The car of a person arrested for a DUI (Driving under the Influence) is typically towed in Nevada. If this is happening to you, know that you must accomplish certain steps for you to get your back car in your custody. This and more about Nevada towing laws below.
Why is your car impounded?
According to Nevada’s towing laws, specifically Nevada Revised Statutes or NRS section 484B.443, the law enforcement has the power to remove a vehicle for the sake of road safety. Your vehicle could be an obstruction to the ongoing traffic, especially if you are not available to drive it away as you are already arrested. Another reason of a DUI impound is to take the vehicle away from the driver in case they try to drive it while under trial. This reason had started to lose its purpose, though, as there now exists ignition interlock devices that completely disable a car’s entire driving mechanism if the driver is ruled to be intoxicated.
Seemingly harsh by many, car impounding only usually happens during a repeat offense of DUI and you should not worry about your car being put in an impound lot if you were arrested for the first time.
How do you get your car back from being impounded?
You can retrieve your impounded car anytime but make sure you do it no more than 30 days after it is stored for DUI or else you will lose it to an auction. For example, while in the process of your DUI trials, you can go to the lot where your car was impounded. In Las Vegas, there are three usual sites where cars subjects of DUI impound are:
- Quality Towing
- Ewing Brothers
- Fast Towing
And as Nevada towing laws, a DUI impound is not under the criminal court. This means you only have to appeal to the civil court to be allowed of your car’s retrieval. Once the appeal is approved, you need to pay some fees so you can drive your car out of the impound lot. The standard payment cost for a DUI impound is $30 a day and there might be some additional fees such an administrative charge.
Understand that it must be you who must get your car in person as proof of identity and forms with signature of the owner are normally needed. And as we have previously established, a car that remains unclaimed after a month of storage will be put into auction and if the value the car is sold causes the impound lot to lose profit, they might go for the owner to recuperate.
How do you avoid a DUI impound?
Unfortunately, it is not in your hands if your car will be a victim of a DUI impound or not but there is a chance that it might not happen if it is a first offense and if you are not the owner of the car. To avoid this dilemma, do not engage in drunk driving in the first place. If this is not an option, then the only thing you could do is fight your criminal charges and be acquitted so you can focus better on trying to regain your vehicle. In fact, having a DUI impound is something you could use for defense. State that it was only your first offense or your case was not DUI and that a DUI impound is totally unlawful.
DUI truly affects even your own possession such as a car which is why it is recommended to not engage in drunk driving at all. If things take turn for worse and you find yourself facing Nevada towing laws, enlist the aid of a Las Vegas DUI attorney to keep things more manageable.