Should I Really Lose My Car Over A $2,000 Impound Bill?

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,” can become surprisingly strong.

But before frustration makes a very expensive decision for you, there are two numbers you need to look at together: what you owe the impound lot and what the vehicle is actually worth.

Because a $2,000 impound bill is certainly a problem. Turning that problem into the potential loss of a vehicle worth many times that amount could be a much bigger one.

The Car Didn't Become Worthless When The Tow Truck Arrived

An impounded vehicle is still an asset. The fence, tow truck and rapidly growing headache don't magically erase its value.

Here's a simplified example:

Of course, this doesn't mean an owner simply pockets $13,000. A vehicle could have an outstanding loan, additional charges or other obligations, and every impound situation is different. The point is that the value of the vehicle deserves to be part of the decision.

If someone told you that you had $15,000 sitting inside a locked building but it would cost $2,000 to resolve the situation, would your first response really be, “Eh, they can have it”?

Probably not. Yet that's essentially what can happen when an owner becomes so focused on the impound bill that the value sitting behind the fence gets forgotten.

Unfortunately, Ignoring The Bill Doesn't Hurt Its Feelings

This is the particularly unpleasant part of an impound situation: refusing to look at the problem doesn't necessarily stop the meter.

Depending on the facility and applicable laws, storage charges may continue accumulating while the vehicle remains there. At the same time, notices, deadlines and procedures involving an unclaimed vehicle can continue moving forward.

So today's $2,000 headache may not remain today's $2,000 headache. Waiting because you're trying to figure things out is understandable. Waiting because you're hoping the entire situation will somehow disappear is considerably riskier.

Eventually, an owner can reach the worst possible combination: a bigger bill and fewer options.

What If You Don't Even Want The Car Back?

Here's where the situation becomes much more interesting.

Maybe spending thousands of dollars to retrieve the vehicle doesn't make sense because you don't actually want to keep it. Perhaps it's an extra vehicle, the payment has become burdensome, it needs repairs or this entire impound mess was the final push you needed to get rid of it.

In that situation, stop assuming the only two choices are pay the tow yard and bring it home or abandon it and lose it.

There may be another option. Depending on the vehicle, its condition and value, ownership documentation, lien status, tow facility and individual circumstances, OUTPOUND may be able to purchase the vehicle directly from impound. That's an entirely different conversation from trying to scrape together enough money to retrieve a car you don't even want.

Before You Say “Keep It,” Talk To OUTPOUND

If your vehicle has meaningful value, don't potentially surrender that value simply because the impound bill has become overwhelming.

And don't wait until the vehicle is already deep into an abandonment, lien or auction process before asking whether something else could have been done.

Contact OUTPOUND.com as soon as you realize retrieving the vehicle yourself may not be financially realistic. Let our team look at the vehicle and the situation and determine whether there's another way forward.

A $2,000 impound bill is painful.

Potentially losing a $15,000 vehicle because of it? That's the kind of math worth questioning before you walk away.