Kaufman County Vehicle Impound Guide

If bail money is sitting in the glovebox of a car towed by Diamond J Towing on a Friday night, it might as well be on the moon until Monday. Texas law requires an impound lot to let an owner retrieve personal property, a wallet, a phone, house keys, without paying anything first, but Diamond J restricts that specific access to Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The family can technically pay to bail the actual vehicle out on a Saturday evening with an hour's notice, but they can't walk in Saturday morning and grab a wallet from the glovebox. If that's where the bond money is, the defendant stays in custody until the property window reopens Monday.

Two lots, two very different hours

Kaufman County rotates non-consent tows between Marlow's Wrecker Service and Diamond J Towing depending on where the arrest happened. Marlow's releases only 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and doesn't operate at all on Sundays; a car towed there late Saturday sits until Monday morning, full stop. Diamond J releases as late as midnight Monday through Saturday and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, but only with a minimum one-hour advance phone notice. Showing up unannounced in the evening gets you turned away regardless of the posted hours.

The 12-hour math

Storage bills by the calendar day, but a real exception exists: if the car sits on the lot across two calendar days but the total time is under 12 continuous hours, only one day gets charged. A vehicle impounded at 10 p.m. Friday has to be retrieved by exactly 10 a.m. Saturday to catch that exception. Both lots open at 8 a.m., so it's possible, but arrive at 10:05 instead of 10:00 and the bill doubles.

Getting the paperwork right

A VSF has to accept a valid state ID paired with a title, a tax collector's receipt with current registration, or a current lease agreement as proof of ownership. If someone other than the registered owner is trying to retrieve the car while that owner is still in jail, the lot will refuse release without a formally notarized authorization letter from the owner. If the arrested driver is the sole registered owner, there's no way around it: the car can't be picked up by anyone else, notarized letter or not, until that owner is out on bond and can show up in person.

Challenging the tow

A vehicle owner who believes the tow was unjustified has exactly 14 days from the tow date to request a hearing at the Justice of the Peace court covering the precinct where the vehicle was towed, with a statutory filing fee due at the time of the request.