Pima County Vehicle Impound Guide

You have exactly 10 days to request a hearing after your car is impounded in Pima County, and the clock starts on the date printed on the Notice of Impoundment — not the day you actually get the mail. Miss it, and you lose the right to contest the impound entirely.

Two Stops, Not One

Pima County splits vehicle recovery into two separate errands, and doing them in the wrong order wastes a trip. First, you go to the Pima County Sheriff's Department Vehicle Impound Unit (VIU) at 1650 E. Benson Highway, Suite B, to pay the county's $150 administrative fee and get a release form. The VIU is open Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. — note the early cutoff — and takes credit/debit cards, cashier's checks, or money orders, but not cash or personal checks. Only after that can you go to the actual tow yard holding the vehicle to pay towing and storage costs and drive it away.

Which tow yard depends on where the vehicle was towed from. Gary's Towing, at 5131 E. Drexel Rd., handles metro Tucson and the eastern part of the county. Del-Sur Towing, at 2050 N. Arizona Highway 85 in Ajo, covers the western district. If you're in the Ajo area, call the Ajo District Sheriff's Office at (520) 387-8511 first — they can sometimes handle the administrative side locally instead of making you drive to Tucson just to pay the $150 fee.

What This Actually Costs

Fees stack, and none of them are negotiable at pickup. The county's admin fee is a flat $150, mandated under A.R.S. § 28-3513. On top of that, the tow yard charges a base hook-up fee (roughly $165) plus mileage from the scene to the lot, typically $4.75 to $6.80 per loaded mile — a stop out near Mt. Lemmon or Redington Pass can rack up real money in mileage alone. Daily storage is capped by state law at $25 per day (A.R.S. § 28-3512), charged per calendar day starting the moment the vehicle arrives. Over the full 30-day mandatory hold, storage alone runs $750, before towing or the admin fee. If you can't get to the tow yard during normal hours, expect an unregulated after-hours "gate fee," often $50 to $75.

The 30-Day Hold

State law (A.R.S. § 28-3511) requires a mandatory 30-day impound if the driver was on a suspended or revoked license, never licensed at all, arrested for Extreme or Aggravated DUI (BAC 0.15% or higher, or DUI while suspended or with a minor in the car), under 21 with any detectable alcohol, or driving without a required interlock device. A few narrow exceptions allow earlier release: a spouse with a valid license can retrieve the car (usually after signing an agreement not to let the arrested driver operate it for a year), rental companies are exempt entirely, and a vehicle reported stolen before the stop is released immediately, often fee-free.

What You Need at Pickup

The VIU won't release a vehicle if any single document is missing. You'll need a valid government-issued photo ID — if your own license is suspended, you also need a second person present with a valid license to drive the car away. You'll need proof of ownership: current registration, or the title plus a notarized bill of sale if you just bought the car and haven't re-registered yet. And you'll need proof of insurance that's specific to the vehicle, listing its VIN — a general policy that doesn't name the car can get rejected. If the vehicle requires an ignition interlock device, state law requires the tow yard to give an installer free access to fit it, with no separate access fee.

If You Can't Pay

A few options exist short of just losing the car. You can still request the 10-day hearing even if you can't pay — proving the impound itself was invalid (say, a clerical error on the suspension) can get the admin fee waived. You can let the vehicle go to abandonment: if it's not claimed within 10 days of the release date becoming available, the tow company can file for an abandoned title and take ownership, though if the auction proceeds don't cover what you owe, they can still come after you for the difference. Or, if you can't get insurance because of the suspension, you can arrange a "tow-out" — hiring a separate tow truck to move the car to private property instead of the road — which still requires paying all accrued fees but skips the insurance requirement since the car won't be driven.

Contesting the Impound

There are two levels of review. The first is administrative: a Sheriff's Department hearing officer reviews the arrest report and can order immediate release if the legal basis for impoundment doesn't hold up — say, the license wasn't actually suspended due to an MVD error. If that doesn't resolve it, you can escalate to the Justice Court. For most Tucson-area impounds, that's the Pima County Consolidated Justice Court at 240 N. Stone Ave., (520) 724-3171; for the Ajo district, it's the Ajo Justice Court at 111 La Mina Ave., (520) 387-7684. Either way, the filing fee runs about $25 (a $15 petition fee plus a $10 automation fee), and an indigent applicant can request a fee waiver.