Monroe County Vehicle Impound Guide

There's no county-owned impound lot in Monroe County — the Sheriff's Office and the Highway Patrol dispatch through a rotational list of private towing contractors, A & S Towing among them, and the specific internal rotation schedule isn't published to prevent preferential solicitation. Finding out where a vehicle actually landed means calling the Sheriff's dispatch center or the OSHP's St. Clairsville post directly; the arresting agency is required to keep a record of which company responded.

The license problem shows up again here: an OVI arrest typically triggers an immediate suspension, and tow yards strictly refuse to release a vehicle to anyone without a valid, unsuspended license. A second person with a valid license has to physically be there to drive it off the lot — the registered owner showing up alone with cash in hand isn't enough.

For a second or subsequent OVI within a ten-year lookback, Ohio Revised Code 4511.195 doesn't just authorize impoundment — it mandates immobilization and seizure of the license plates for a minimum of 90 days, and during that window the tow yard is legally forbidden from releasing the vehicle under any normal circumstance. The one real exception: if the vehicle belongs to an innocent third party — a spouse, parent, or employer who wasn't driving and had no knowledge of the offense — that titled owner can petition Monroe County Court directly for early release. A successful petition gets a judge's Journal Entry authorizing the tow yard to bypass the hold.

Release always goes to whoever's name is actually on the title or registration. If that person can't be there — commonly because they're the one now in custody — a legally binding notarized letter has to grant explicit permission to someone else, spelling out that person's name and the vehicle's VIN specifically. Nothing less satisfies a tow operator's liability requirements.

Two pieces of statutory leverage are worth knowing before any money changes hands. Ohio's PUCO fee caps limit non-consensual police tows on standard light vehicles to $129 for the base tow and $17 per day in storage — if a yard tries to charge more, Ohio Revised Code 4513.70 provides a direct path to dispute it in county court. And there's a genuinely useful "drop fee" rule: if the owner physically arrives at the arrest scene before the vehicle has actually been hauled away, the tow operator is required by law to release it for exactly half the standard towing charge. Getting to the scene fast, before the wrecker pulls out, can cut the bill in half outright.