Bexar County Vehicle Impound Guide

Which agency towed your car decides where it went. A San Antonio police tow goes to the city impound facility at 3625 Growdon Road, run by Alanis Wrecker Service through the Autura system; call 210-881-8440 or use the locator at autoreturn.com/san-antonio-tx. A Bexar County Sheriff's tow goes instead to Texas Towing at 422 Steves Avenue, 210-220-1000. The Growdon lot releases cars 24 hours a day.

What it costs

At Growdon, a standard tow is $210, storage is $20 a day plus tax, and there's a one-time $20 impound fee. A $50 notification fee is added once the car passes 48 hours and the certified letter goes out. A dolly adds $35. If you retrieve the car within 12 hours of it arriving, even across two calendar days, you're charged a single day of storage.

Bring cash or a Visa, MasterCard, Discover, or debit card. American Express is not accepted, and neither are personal checks.

What you need to get it out

A valid photo ID and proof of ownership, meaning the title or a current registration receipt that matches your ID. If your ID is locked in the car, tell the front desk and they have to let you retrieve it. If you're picking the car up for someone else, you need a notarized authorization or the TDLR form VSF013 signed by the owner. Pay all the fees in full.

You don't need insurance to get the car released, but San Antonio police can impound a car specifically for having no insurance, and you can't legally drive an uninsured car off the lot. Without coverage you'll be paying a second wrecker to tow it to your home or a shop.

You can go into the car for essentials, medication, child seats, clothing, a phone, at no charge, even before you pay. You can't strip parts off it, and you can't touch anything if the car is on a police evidence hold.

Police holds

If the car is held as evidence, the lot can't release it until the assigned detective issues a release order, so call the detective. Storage fees are waived for the days the hold is active, but billing restarts the second the hold lifts, so check the status daily rather than waiting for a call.

Fighting the tow

You have 14 business days from the day the car reached the lot, not counting weekends and holidays, to file a written request for a tow hearing. File it with the Justice of the Peace for the precinct where the car was towed from, one of four in the county. The fee is $54, and a Statement of Inability to Afford Payment waives it if you're on SNAP, Medicaid, or similar. The court sets the hearing within 21 days, and the towing company or property owner has to prove there was probable cause for the tow.

If you can't pay

Fees keep running. After the notice at 48 hours, you have 30 days before the car is auction-eligible; San Antonio impound auctions run on Saturdays and online. Losing the car doesn't clear the debt. If it sells for less than you owe, the company can bill you for the rest.