This website and the documents it makes are not a substitute for the advice of an attorney.
Plain-language guides for people who were towed, and the audits, reports and court rulings behind them. Each summary is ours; follow the link to read the original.
Newest first. Government reports are public records; the others belong to their authors, so we link to them and do not post copies.
Staff's reasons for the 2022 fee increase and for allowing a tow management contractor: freeing an officer who oversaw wrecker companies, shorter waits for wreckers, and data on wrecker operations. It estimates $200,000 a year in added fee revenue.
Why it matters: Explains why police tow fees went up in 2022 and who pays them.
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Reports a second 2021 auction at the impound lot with 101 items, Friday viewing from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and a 10 a.m. Saturday start.
Why it matters: Confirms the auction pattern in 2021.
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Reports a Saturday auction at the CCPD impound lot of 126 items, with viewing the day before, in-person and online bidding, registration required and an 18-and-over rule.
Why it matters: One of the few public descriptions of how the City lot's auctions run.
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The best official count we have found: about 14,000 vehicles a year towed to the City impound lot. It also explains that the City began using lot software in 2017 and pays per tow.
Why it matters: Shows the size of the police impound system in Corpus Christi.
An estimate in a staff memo, not an audited count.
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Answering a question from TDLR, the Attorney General concluded that peace officers may impound a vehicle when the driver cannot show proof of insurance, in constitutionally reasonable circumstances, and that a city may adopt an impound ordinance that does not conflict with state law. It also concluded that a court would likely find a city may not make a storage facility check proof of insurance before releasing a vehicle impounded for that reason.
Why it matters: CCPD's impound page lists proof of insurance among the papers needed for release; this opinion is the State's legal analysis of a related question.
An Attorney General opinion is not a court ruling, and it does not mention Corpus Christi. It addresses vehicles impounded for lack of insurance and release from a storage facility.
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Lists every change in the 2015 rewrite, with the old and new fee for each charge, and says the department met with wrecker companies six times between 2012 and 2014 before proposing it.
Why it matters: The only official before-and-after fee table we found for the 2011 to 2015 amounts.
It proposed a $150 private property impound; the ordinance text shows $145.
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Court rulings about towing in Corpus Christi. A case decides the dispute in front of the court; whether it applies to a tow depends on the facts.
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