Douglas County Vehicle Impound Guide

For the vast majority of DUI arrests made by the Sheriff's Office or Castle Rock Police where the vehicle isn't being held as evidence, there's really only one destination: Westside Towing on Atchison Court in Castle Rock holds a near-monopoly on these tows countywide. That predictability comes with a real cost, though — the lot runs Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. only, closed entirely on weekends and federal holidays. An arrest on a Friday night means the vehicle sits through the entire weekend with no way to retrieve it, guaranteeing storage charges for both Saturday and Sunday before Monday morning's opening even arrives.

The fee structure stacks up fast once the clock starts. The base hook fee runs about $279.78 an hour, with a mileage or fuel surcharge added if the tow goes beyond the base radius. Storage accrues at roughly $47.12 for every 24-hour period starting the moment the vehicle arrives. An after-hours release fee of about $103.70 applies to anyone trying to retrieve a vehicle outside the standard Monday-to-Friday 8-to-5 window, and a separate notification fee of around $150 gets triggered automatically once a letter has to go out to the owner or any lienholder. On top of all of that, the Sheriff's Office charges its own roughly $100 administrative impound fee, entirely separate from whatever the tow yard itself charges.

Release isn't simply a matter of paying what's owed, either. If the vehicle was involved in an accident or a more serious felony, it can be placed on Police Hold, and getting that lifted means contacting the specific investigating detective directly — a process that can genuinely take days to resolve. Once that's cleared, the registered owner has to show up with a valid government photo ID, proof of ownership through a title or current registration, and proof of valid insurance. And if that owner's own license was revoked as a direct result of the arrest, which is common in high-BAC or refusal cases, they can't be the one driving the vehicle off the lot at all — a separately licensed driver has to come along specifically to operate it, meaning the defendant needs to arrange both a ride to the lot and someone else entirely to drive the car away.

Colorado's newer Towing Bill of Rights, passed to curb predatory private-property tows like those at apartment complexes, doesn't apply here in the way people sometimes expect. Law-enforcement-ordered tows fall under a public-safety exception, so the 24-hour advance notice requirement that protects consumers elsewhere simply doesn't apply to a vehicle seized as part of a DUI arrest — it gets removed from the roadway immediately, with no advance warning required or expected.