Williamsburg County Vehicle Impound Guide

Chris's Auto Towing, with locations in Hemingway and Florence, is the primary provider on the SCHP Troop 5 wrecker rotation covering Williamsburg County, though the Sheriff's Office also keeps its own separate internal rotation for its own arrests. Calling the Kingstree Police Department or the Sheriff's Office directly identifies exactly which company towed a specific vehicle.

Distances here run longer than in most counties. A vehicle picked up from the edge of Kingstree could end up at a lot in Hemingway or all the way out in Florence, so confirming the exact physical location before arranging a ride matters more than it would somewhere more compact.

Weekend timing creates a genuine trap. Release offices generally keep Monday-through-Friday business hours, even though towing dispatch runs around the clock, so a Friday-evening arrest means the vehicle sits accruing daily storage fees straight through the weekend with no way to retrieve it until Monday morning. Calling the 24/7 dispatch line right after the arrest to negotiate a Saturday pickup is worth the after-hours gate fee it usually triggers, since that fee is almost always cheaper than two extra days of storage.

Ownership rules here have real teeth. If the arrested driver is the vehicle's sole registered owner and remains in custody, the tow yard won't release the car to a spouse or family member without proper legal authorization, a notarized property release form or a limited power of attorney executed from inside the detention center. Coordinating that paperwork with jail staff or an attorney before heading to the tow yard saves a wasted trip.

Watch for the "special operations" surcharge on any bill involving a collision. A standard tow is a flat fee, but uprighting an overturned vehicle or using auxiliary equipment shifts the billing to an hourly rate that can run up to $271 an hour for a skid steer or $864 an hour for an air bag unit. That reclassification requires the investigating trooper's on-scene confirmation, so an unusually high bill is worth double-checking against that requirement.

Disputes over an unlawful tow or improper fees go to the Civil Process Division of Williamsburg County Magistrate Court, which handles claims of $7,500 or less.