DeKalb County Vehicle Impound Guide

Getting a car back after a DeKalb County DUI takes two stops, not one, and the first one is only open four days a week. Before going anywhere near the tow lot, the registered owner has to get a Vehicle Release Form from the DeKalb County Police Property and Evidence Section at 3630 Camp Circle in Decatur. That office is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., closed all day Wednesday, and closed for lunch from 1 to 2 every day. A car towed late Tuesday can't get its paperwork started until Thursday morning, and the daily storage fee runs the whole time.

The owner generally has to appear in person. A family member picking up the car for someone still in jail needs an Authorization of Release letter from the arresting officer or the assigned detective first, which means tracking that officer down across shift rotations. A seized firearm adds a background check and separate officer approval.

Which lot holds the car depends on the police precinct where the arrest happened. North-central DeKalb, around Chamblee and Doraville, goes to Brown & Brown Wrecker Service at 3854 North Peachtree Road in Chamblee, 770-457-3879. The Tucker precinct, plus any large vehicle county-wide, goes to S&W Towing at 2158 Tucker Industrial Road, 770-493-9083. The east precinct uses Statewide Wrecker Service in Lithonia, and the south precinct uses South DeKalb Towing & Transport, also in Lithonia. These lots are spread across the county, so a downtown arrest can put the car 20 miles from the property room.

Fees are in flux. DeKalb's regulated rates sat unchanged for about a decade at roughly $125 for the tow and $15 to $25 a day for storage. A 2025 proposal to raise them to $175 and $30 to match Gwinnett and Cobb was deferred by the Board of Commissioners over and over through the spring and summer, leaving vendors charging inconsistently, sometimes at the higher rate in anticipation. Bring cash or a money order; cards are often refused. One protection worth knowing: storage is not supposed to accrue while the car is under a police hold for evidence, only after the hold is lifted and the owner is notified, so note the date and time of that notification in case the bill needs disputing.

If the car sits unclaimed, it can be treated as abandoned and sold through a Magistrate Court lien foreclosure. A disputed tow, whether over signage on a private-property tow or fees above the state Tariff No. 5 ceiling, can be challenged in that same court.