Clayton County Vehicle Impound Guide

A car towed after a Clayton County DUI takes two stops to get back, and the first one closes on weekends. The tow company cannot legally release the vehicle without a Vehicle Release Form from the Clayton County Police Department Records Unit at 7911 North McDonough Street in Jonesboro. That office is open Monday through Wednesday until 4:45 p.m., Thursday and Friday until 4, and closed weekends and holidays.

That schedule is the trap. A car towed Friday evening can't get its release form until Monday morning, and storage fees of $25 to $40 a day accrue the entire time. The tow lots are actually open on weekends, but that doesn't help, because without the form there's nothing to do there.

To get the release form, the owner has to appear in person with a valid government photo ID and proof of ownership, either the current tag registration or the title. A notarized bill of sale works only if it's less than 31 days old, which strands owners of older cars who never formally transferred a title. If the owner is still in jail, someone else can retrieve the car with a notarized power of attorney naming that person and listing the vehicle's year, make, model, and VIN. Getting that document notarized inside the jail is slow, and families often end up waiting until the defendant bonds out, adding days of storage.

Clayton County uses two main tow vendors. New Image Towing is at 4780 Old Dixie Highway in Forest Park, 770-252-4392, open Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and weekends 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tara Wrecker is at 9140 Turner Road in Jonesboro, 770-478-4170, and tends to handle arrests along Tara Boulevard. The non-emergency police line or the release paperwork will say which lot has the car.

Both lots are strictly cash only, a deliberate choice by the vendors to avoid card chargebacks. Depending on the tow distance and how many days the car sat, that can mean $200 to $500 in cash, which usually adds a stop at a bank before the lot.