Outpound's Sell My Impounded Car Blog

“Keep The Car” May Not Mean “Forget The Bill.” Your car is sitting in an impound yard, the tow and storage charges are climbing, and you've finally reached the point where you don't even want the vehicle anymore. Maybe it's wrecked. Maybe it barely runs. Maybe it's worth $1,500 and the impound bill is already approaching $1,000. So you make what seems like a perfectly reasonable financial decision: Forget it. They can keep the car....

Your Car Is Behind a Fence, The Storage Bill is Growing, and You Don't Even Want It Back, Outpound It! A car sitting in a tow yard can become a financial headache remarkably fast. Maybe it was impounded after an accident. Maybe it broke down, was abandoned somewhere, got towed after a parking issue, or ended up in storage after another unpleasant situation. Whatever put it there, now you've got a different problem: You don't...

The Insurance Companies May Be Deciding Who's At Fault. The Impound Yard Isn't Waiting For Them. Your car has just been wrecked badly enough that it can't be driven away. Police clear the accident scene, a tow truck takes the vehicle to an impound or storage facility, and now you're dealing with insurance adjusters, accident reports, transportation problems and a damaged vehicle you may not even want back. Then comes another problem: the tow and...

Yes, Your Lender May Have Options. No, That Doesn't Mean You're Getting Off The Hook. Your financed car has been impounded, the storage bill is climbing and you don't have enough money to get it out. At some point, an idea that sounds almost too convenient may cross your mind: The bank has a lien on the car, so maybe they'll just go get it. Depending on the jurisdiction and circumstances, your lender may indeed...

Because The Tow May Be Only The Beginning Of The Bill. When your car gets towed and you're initially told the tow is going to cost somewhere around $400 or $500, that's bad enough. It's an unexpected expense, it's inconvenient and it's probably money you weren't planning to spend. But at least it still sounds like a problem you might be able to handle. Then a few days pass. You call the impound yard to...

The Car May Be Behind A Fence — But The Financial Damage Doesn't Have To Stay There Your car gets impounded. The bill climbs into the thousands. You can't afford to retrieve it, so eventually you reach what feels like the obvious conclusion: “Fine. They can keep the car.” Except there's one small problem with that financial strategy. The car disappearing doesn't necessarily make every dollar you owe disappear with it. Depending on what you...

Before You Go Into Debt To Rescue Your Car, Do The Math! Your car is sitting in impound. The bill is $2,500. You have $500. Now the panic math begins. Maybe you can put $1,000 on a credit card, borrow $500 from your sister, take a cash advance for the rest and somehow get the car out before another round of storage fees hits. Problem solved, right? Not necessarily. You may have just replaced an...

Your Car May Be Worth More Than The Bill Holding It Hostage Here's a frustrating financial puzzle: your car is sitting in impound, the bill has climbed to $2,400, and you have about $300 available to deal with it. Meanwhile, the vehicle behind that fence may be worth $11,500. So what are you doing? Calling relatives? Checking credit-card balances? Wondering whether the electric company will notice if you're a little late this month? There may...

When The Tow Bill Costs More Than The Car Getting your car impounded is bad enough. Finding out it will cost thousands of dollars to get it back is worse. But there comes a point when the question shouldn't be “How am I going to pay this bill?” It should be: “Would paying this bill be a terrible financial decision?” That's a very different question. Suppose your older vehicle is worth around $3,500. You call...

It’s Worth $15,000! There are expensive mistakes, and then there is potentially walking away from a $15,000 vehicle because you can't come up with $2,000 to get it out of impound. We understand the reaction. Nobody wakes up excited to hand a tow yard a couple thousand dollars. When you call expecting a painful-but-manageable bill and hear a number that sounds more like a mortgage payment, the temptation to say, “Fine. Keep the stupid car,”...