Elbert County Vehicle Impound Guide

A DUI arrest by the Elizabeth Police Department can send a car clean out of Elbert County entirely. Vehicles seized on Elizabeth PD stops routinely end up at Westside Towing, which sits across the county line in Castle Rock, Douglas County, at 1040 Atchison Court. Since rideshare and public transit are nearly nonexistent along this stretch of the eastern plains, someone released from the Kiowa jail without a car needs a ride arranged in advance, not after the fact, just to get to their own vehicle.

Where the car ends up depends entirely on which agency made the stop. The Elbert County Sheriff's Office and Colorado State Patrol, covering the vast unincorporated areas of the county, dispatch to a rotation of local contractors instead, mainly Brothers Towing & Roadside and Elbert Towing, both mobile operations serving the Elbert and Kiowa area directly. Confirming which one actually has the car means calling the Sheriff's non-emergency dispatch line or the specific arresting department; having the last six digits of the VIN ready speeds that call up considerably.

A law enforcement hold on the vehicle, common when it's considered evidence, when there's an accident with injuries, or when the driver's license was already revoked before this arrest, blocks release outright. No tow operator will hand over a car under an active hold regardless of who's standing at the counter with ownership paperwork. Clearing it requires contacting the arresting agency's records division directly, something worth doing before making the trip to whichever lot has the car, not after arriving and getting turned away.

Getting the car released at all requires a government-issued photo ID that matches the name on the title or registration, plus current registration and valid liability insurance. If the person retrieving the vehicle isn't the registered owner, the actual owner either has to show up in person or provide a notarized letter authorizing someone else to claim it. No valid insurance means the car legally can't be driven off the lot at all; it has to be towed a second time to a residence or mechanic instead, at the owner's additional expense.

Storage fees compound daily and fast, so retrieving the vehicle is a financial priority even if the registered driver's own license is suspended and someone else has to be the one driving it away. Colorado's 30-day abandonment rule means a vehicle left unclaimed, with no financial arrangement made, can be legally sold at public auction to satisfy the accumulated towing and storage liens. One thing worth knowing before paying anything toward the bill: state PUC rules require tow yards to release certain "protected" items, prescriptions, medical equipment, car seats, ID, a cell phone, and cash or cards meant for paying the tow itself, completely free of charge regardless of whether the full bill has been paid.