Washington County Vehicle Impound Guide

A vehicle towed at 10 p.m. Saturday in Washington County doesn't come home until Monday morning at the earliest, and there's no way around it. J&H Auto, the near-exclusive local operator handling law enforcement tows for the Akron area, keeps hours Monday through Saturday, 8 to 4, and closes entirely on Sundays. Storage accrues the whole time regardless, turning a basic weekend arrest into a guaranteed minimum of three days' storage, around $141, stacked on top of the base tow fee and pushing total recovery costs past $450 before anyone's even dealt with court.

The base tow runs close to $280 under the state's regulated rates, with storage adding roughly $47 a day and an after-hours release fee of about $104 if someone manages to negotiate a pickup outside the posted business hours. J&H Auto also operates as a U-Haul dealer, which means they've got the lot space and equipment to actually store a seized vehicle long-term, something worth knowing if the car ends up sitting there for an extended stretch.

If the vehicle carries a hold, common when there's an evidence question or unresolved insurance verification, release can only be authorized by whichever agency made the arrest, the Washington County Sheriff's Office or Colorado State Patrol. That means a trip to the Sheriff's Office at 26861 Highway 34 first, to get a written release in hand, before the tow yard will even discuss handing the car over. The Sheriff's Office and J&H Auto sit a few miles apart in Akron, not walking distance, and a defendant released on bond without a car, and often without a phone or wallet either since those get seized along with everything else, faces a real logistical problem just getting from one building to the other to start the process at all.