Yes. California lets an officer impound a vehicle for 30 days when the driver’s license is suspended or revoked, when the driver is restricted to interlock-equipped vehicles and the car has no working certified device, or when the driver was never issued a license at all, and no DUI or alcohol has to be involved (Vehicle Code section 14602.6). This impound is an administrative step tied to the stop itself, separate from whatever criminal charge follows.

What actually triggers the 30 days

An officer who determines you were driving while your license was suspended or revoked, while your privilege was restricted under Vehicle Code 13352 or 23575 and the car lacked a functioning, certified interlock device, or without ever having been issued a license, may arrest you and have the vehicle removed and seized, or seize it without an arrest if the vehicle was involved in a traffic collision. Once that happens, “a vehicle so impounded shall be impounded for 30 days” (Vehicle Code 14602.6(a)(1)). The statute does not make the 30 days depend on a conviction. A conviction can bring a separate order, though: if you own the car and are convicted of driving with a suspended or revoked license, the sentencing court may order it impounded for up to six months, or up to 12 months for a second or later conviction (Vehicle Code section 23592).

When the agency must release it sooner

Vehicle Code 14602.6(d)(1) requires the agency to release the vehicle to the registered owner or the owner’s agent before the 30 days run out in any of these situations:

  • The vehicle was stolen.
  • A parking service, repair garage, or other business held the car under a bailment arrangement, and the person driving it was an unlicensed employee of that business.
  • The license was suspended or revoked for an offense other than those covered by Article 2 or Article 3 of the Vehicle Code’s suspension and revocation chapter (explained below).
  • The vehicle was seized for an offense that does not authorize a seizure under this statute.
  • The driver reinstates the license, or gets a license and proper insurance.

To collect the car early, the registered owner or agent must present a currently valid driver’s license and proof that the registration is current, unless a court orders the release (Vehicle Code 14602.6(d)(2)).

The third condition turns on where the suspension comes from. Article 2 (sections 13200 to 13210) covers suspensions and revocations ordered by a court, such as after certain speeding or reckless driving convictions. Article 3 (sections 13350 to 13392) covers suspensions and revocations by the DMV, including revocation after a conviction for hit and run causing injury or death, a felony committed using a vehicle, or reckless driving causing bodily injury, and the DMV’s own suspension of a driver found to have been driving with a 0.08 percent or higher blood alcohol concentration (Vehicle Code section 13353.2). A suspension or revocation for an offense covered by either article does not fit this condition, so DUI-related suspensions generally do not. A car that does not qualify under the third condition can still be released early under another one, such as the driver reinstating the license.

Your right to a storage hearing

The registered owner and any legal owner, such as a lender on the title, or their agents, can ask for a storage hearing on whether the storage was valid and on any mitigating circumstances (Vehicle Code 14602.6(b)), run under Vehicle Code section 22852. The agency has 48 hours, weekends and holidays aside, to mail or hand the owners a notice, and counting from the date on that notice, an owner gets 10 days to ask for a hearing, by phone, in writing, or in person. Once asked, the agency has to hold the hearing within 48 hours, weekends and holidays again excluded; it may use its own officer or employee as the hearing officer, but not the person who directed the storage. Skip asking, or skip the hearing once it is set, and the statute counts the agency’s hearing duty as met. If the hearing finds that reasonable grounds for the storage were not established, the agency whose officer directed it bears the towing and storage costs.

Who pays, and one narrow exception

Unless the storage hearing shifts those costs to the agency, the registered owner is responsible for the towing and storage charges from the impound, plus any administrative charges authorized under Vehicle Code 22850.5, whether or not the owner was the one driving (Vehicle Code 14602.6(e)). One narrow carve-out: at a sobriety checkpoint, an officer may not impound the car under this statute or Vehicle Code 14607.6 when the driver’s only offense is a violation of Vehicle Code 12500, driving without a valid license (Vehicle Code section 2814.2(b)). The officer must instead make a reasonable attempt to identify the registered owner, and the car goes to the owner, if licensed, or to a licensed driver the owner authorizes, when that can happen by the end of the checkpoint; if it cannot, the car is removed under a different provision (Vehicle Code 2814.2(c)). The carve-out applies only at a checkpoint, and it does not help a driver who is also charged with driving on a suspended or revoked license.

What to do next

Find out which Vehicle Code section your suspension or revocation was imposed under, and read the notice you were given for the real deadline dates, since missing the 10-day window gives up the hearing. The impounding agency must also keep a published phone number giving information 24 hours a day about impounds and the registered owner’s right to request a hearing (Vehicle Code 14602.6(a)(2)). The Law Offices of David S. Chesley can review the impound notice with you, check whether a release condition applies, and help you request a storage hearing before the deadline passes. Reach the firm at (800) 755-5174.