Montezuma County Vehicle Impound Guide

A DUI arrest late Friday night in Montezuma County can mean 48 to 72 hours of guaranteed storage fees before retrieval is even possible. The county's primary tow contractor, Kustom Diesel Repair & Towing, runs full hours Monday through Friday but operates strictly by appointment on Saturdays and Sundays, and a high share of local DUI arrests happen exactly in that weekend window the lot is hardest to reach. Even securing a weekend appointment doesn't dodge the cost: Colorado regulators permit a separate $106.06 "After Hours Release Fee" for anyone retrieving a vehicle outside standard Monday-through-Friday business hours.

Colorado's Towing Bill of Rights, which lets owners get a residentially towed vehicle back for just 15 percent of the fee, explicitly does not apply to law enforcement-ordered tows, which is exactly what every DUI impound is. The real rates run through Public Utilities Commission caps instead: a base "hook fee" up to $286.15 per hour plus mileage and fuel surcharges, daily storage up to $48.19, and a $75 statutory notification fee if the vehicle sits past the initial notice window.

An evidence hold complicates things further. If the Sheriff's Office seizes the car because of a collision, suspected vehicular assault, or a search warrant, it gets transferred to the Evidence Division at 730 East Driscoll Street instead of sitting at the private lot, and daily storage fees stop accruing while it's held there. That's the good news. The registered owner is still fully liable for the original tow bill, due in full before release, and the Evidence Division only operates by appointment, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., closed entirely on weekends and holidays. If that bill isn't paid by the time the evidentiary hold ends, the car goes right back to the private tow company and the daily storage charges start compounding again immediately.

The most costly mistake most people make has nothing to do with the tow bill itself: it's paying to access their own belongings. Towing companies handling these impounds can legally charge up to $100 an hour just to let an owner into the lot to retrieve personal property, but Colorado PUC rules carve out a hard exemption for specific "protected items," prescription medication, medical devices, car seats, state or federal ID, a cell phone, and cash or cards if the money's going directly toward paying the tow bill. Those have to come out free, no exceptions, though lot attendants unfamiliar with (or uninterested in enforcing) that rule have been known to pressure people into paying anyway for the exact identification they need to bond out of jail or file their DMV hearing request in time.