Your Rights When Your Vehicle Is Towed or Impounded in Idaho

Getting towed feels like losing control. But Idaho’s towing law, Title 49, Chapter 18 of the Idaho Code, rewritten in 2025, spells out rights that vehicle owners have whether the tow was ordered by police or by a private property owner. As a tow company, we’d rather you know them. It makes for fewer misunderstandings and faster releases.

These rights apply to vehicles towed under that chapter: police-directed tows, abandoned vehicles and private-property tows. A tow you call for yourself is a private agreement between you and the company.

1. The right to your personal belongings, free

Idaho Code 49-1814(4) says a stored vehicle (other than one held for a law-enforcement investigation) can have no lien attached to any personal property in or on it. Personal property must be given to the registered owner, or the owner’s agent with a valid power of attorney, during reasonable business hours, at no additional charge, upon demand.

That means you can get your wallet, medications, work tools and car seats before you’ve paid the tow bill. One caution: once a vehicle has been disposed of under the law, the tow company isn’t responsible for personal property that wasn’t attached to it. Get your things early.

2. The right to inspect the vehicle

Under the same section, the legal or registered owner, an agent with a valid power of attorney, or an insurance representative can physically inspect the vehicle during reasonable business hours at no additional charge. It’s a good idea before you pay, so you can note its condition.

3. The right to notice

• Police tows: the officer completes a notice at the time of the tow, with the vehicle description, the time, date and reason for the tow, the agency and case number, the officer’s name and badge number, the tow company’s contact information and the storage location. A copy goes to the owner at the scene if the owner is there (Idaho Code 49-1807).
• All Chapter 18 tows: the tow company reports the tow in ITD’s portal within one business day, and ITD notifies the owners and lienholders on record by email or mail, with follow-up notices if the vehicle isn’t claimed.

ITD’s notice must include the amount owed for towing, the daily storage rate, and your rights to a tow procedure hearing, to claim personal property, and to file a declaration of opposition.

4. The right to get your vehicle released

You can take possession of the vehicle any time before it’s disposed of by proving ownership and paying the towing and storage costs (Idaho Code 49-1811). The exceptions are vehicles impounded for investigation or suspected stolen.

A tow company that refuses to release a vehicle to the owner, an authorized agent, an insurance representative or a lienholder for any reason other than refusal to pay the fees it’s lawfully entitled to loses the right to collect storage, impound and other fees beyond the scheduled tow fee. The same goes if it takes the vehicle somewhere other than where the officer directed or the owner reasonably requested, or makes repairs without a signed work order or recorded verbal consent (Idaho Code 49-1811(5)).

5. The right to an itemized statement

When your vehicle is released, the tow company must give you an itemized statement with: the location it was towed from; where it was stored; the tow company’s name, address and phone; the vehicle’s year, make, model and plate; the itemized cost of towing and recovery; and the daily storage charge and number of days stored (Idaho Code 49-1811(6)).

6. Limits on fees and storage

• 60-day cap. Storage can’t exceed 60 days from the date of the tow.
• Late reporting delays storage. If the tow company didn’t report the tow in ITD’s portal within one business day, storage fees don’t start until it does (Idaho Code 49-1814(3)).
• Rate sheets. For law-enforcement-directed tows, the tow company’s rates must be on file with ITD, posted at its place of business, and available on request. Fees can’t vary based on the vehicle’s value, and charging more than the rate sheet is considered excessive (Idaho Code 49-1814(2)).
• Reasonable care. Reasonable efforts must be made to secure a stored vehicle and prevent further damage (Idaho Code 49-1814(1)).

7. The right to dispute: declaration of opposition

If you want to dispute the fees, the claim, the disposition of the vehicle or other issues with the tow company (the “possessory lienholder”), you can file a declaration of opposition with the Idaho Transportation Department (Idaho Code 49-1808).

• ITD must receive it within 20 calendar days after the date of its first notice.
• After filing, you have 10 calendar days to file a legal action against the tow company.
• If you file suit, disposal of the vehicle is paused until the court case is decided.
• If the court rules for the tow company, you may be responsible for court costs.

8. For police tows: a tow procedure hearing

When an officer orders a tow (for example, after an arrest, an accident, or of a roadside abandoned vehicle), the owners have the right to a tow procedure hearing to decide whether the tow and storage were valid (Idaho Code 49-1809).

• Send a written request to ITD within 10 calendar days of the initial notice.
• The hearing must be held within 48 hours of the request, not counting weekends and holidays, by someone other than the officer who ordered the tow.
• If the hearing finds there wasn’t reasonable cause for the tow, the agency that ordered it pays the towing and storage costs.
• Tow hearings don’t apply to private-property tows from posted lots. For those, the declaration of opposition is the path.

And your responsibilities

The law cuts both ways:

• The owner of a towed vehicle is presumed responsible for the costs of removal, storage and disposal, minus whatever the vehicle brings (Idaho Code 49-1802).
• Taking a towed vehicle without paying all lawful charges is a misdemeanor, and the vehicle can be recovered and returned to storage (Idaho Code 49-1811(2)).
• If police remove an abandoned vehicle and it isn’t redeemed within seven days, the last registered owner can be cited for a traffic infraction, unless a release of liability was filed after a sale (Idaho Code 49-1802(3)).

Start with a phone call

Most disputes are misunderstandings that a five-minute conversation can clear up. If C.A.R.S. of Idaho towed your vehicle, call (208) 964-3081 and we’ll walk through it with you. For the step-by-step on getting a vehicle back, read Your Car Was Towed in Idaho.

This article is general information about how things usually work in Idaho, not legal advice. Laws change, and your contract or situation may differ. Where we cite the Idaho Code, the official text is at legislature.idaho.gov.