Greenwood County Vehicle Impound Guide

Eleven hours and fifty-nine minutes is the real window before a towed vehicle starts costing $40 a day in Greenwood County. State wrecker regulations (R-38-600) don't let a lot charge storage the instant a car rolls onto the property — the daily fee can't legally start until a full 12 hours after the tow. Retrieve the vehicle inside that window and the first day's storage charge disappears entirely, which matters given how fast fees stack up otherwise.

There's no central impound lot here. The Highway Patrol and Sheriff's Office both dispatch off a zone-based wrecker rotation, so whichever company is next in line gets the car, and that can mean Terry's Towing and Wrecker Service (117 Charles Street, 864-388-0500), Mike's Automotive, Towing & Muffler Service (514 Main St S, 864-223-2020 for the 24-hour line), or Roberts Body Shop & Wrecker Service (2312 Montague Avenue Ext., 864-223-7117), depending on where the arrest happened. Finding out which one actually has the car means calling Sheriff's Office non-emergency communications or Greenwood PD dispatch with the arrest location and license plate. State law also requires the towing company to mail a certified notification letter to the registered owner and any lienholders within 10 days of the tow.

Some lots try to run out the clock by claiming the office closed for lunch or that the clerk already left for the day, letting the car sit an extra night and generating another $40 charge. That's not how the law actually works: storage fees stop the moment the owner or a designee makes a genuine attempt to retrieve the vehicle and offers to pay what's owed, regardless of what the front desk claims. Documenting the attempt and showing up with payment in hand is enough to stop the meter, whatever excuse gets offered at the gate.

Ownership rules are strict and non-negotiable. If the driver isn't the registered owner, the lot will not release the car to them, full stop. Getting it out requires either the registered owner showing up in person with a valid ID and the vehicle's registration, or a notarized authorization letter naming a specific person to retrieve it on the owner's behalf. There's no verbal workaround.

Two protections are easy to miss in the panic of an arrest. First, personal items left inside the car — house keys, a wallet, prescription medication, a phone — can be retrieved without paying the full tow bill upfront; arranging supervised access is a separate request to the towing company. Second, both the standard tow fee and daily storage rate are capped by the state for rotation wreckers: $251 for a Class A tow, $40 per day for storage. Any rotation company invoicing above those numbers is violating SCDPS regulations, and it's worth disputing on the spot.

Anyone who believes a tow was improper, or that the fees don't add up, can file with the Greenwood County Magistrate Court, 528 Monument Street, which has civil jurisdiction over disputes up to $7,500 — nearly every tow-fee fight fits inside that limit. Filing goes through the civil clerk window, Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.