Graham County Vehicle Impound Guide

Figure out whether the Sheriff's Office or the Safford Police Department made your arrest before you go anywhere. It determines which agency you pay, and paying the wrong one means a wasted trip and another day of storage fees.

The City's Fee

Since a 2016 city council resolution, Safford charges a flat $150 administrative impound fee, payable to the City, not the tow yard, and not in card form: cash or money order only. The funds go directly into a city fund created for vehicle impound enforcement. If your arrest happens on a Friday night, the city offices are closed for the weekend, and the vehicle sits accruing storage fees until Monday morning.

The 30-Day Hold, and Exceptions

Arizona law requires a 30-day impound for a suspended license or extreme DUI charge, though release is sometimes possible earlier if your driving privileges are reinstated, or if a spouse or lienholder retrieves the vehicle first. A spouse needs a valid license, the marriage certificate, and the vehicle title, since the exception only covers community property. Lienholders can retrieve a financed vehicle before the 30 days are up, which can turn into a race between the defendant and the bank.

Which Tow Yard Has Your Car

Graham County rotates towing between two providers. Nuttall's Towing (304 S 7th Ave, Safford) keeps standard weekday business hours with a midday closure for lunch. Magnum Towing (530 E U.S. Hwy 70) advertises 24-hour availability seven days a week, which matters if your vehicle needs to come out on a weekend or late at night, provided you already have the release paperwork from whichever agency arrested you.

Either way, the tow yard won't release the vehicle without that paperwork, and the paperwork requires paying the administrative fee first, in cash or money order. A common failure mode: someone shows up at the tow yard first, gets turned away for lacking the release form, drives to the police station to pay, has to find a money order (often a separate trip to a store), returns to get the form, and finally goes back to the tow yard. If that whole sequence runs past 5 p.m., the car sits overnight and racks up another day of storage.

Base towing runs roughly $100 to $150, plus daily storage in the range of $12 to $25 depending on the yard, and a possible gate fee for after-hours access.