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Colorado Revised Statutes Title 42. Vehicles and Traffic § 42-4-2103. Abandonment and nonconsensual towing of motor vehicles--private property--rules

Current as of January 01, 2025 | Updated by Findlaw Staff

(1)(a) Motor vehicles abandoned at repair shops shall be removed as set forth in section 38-20-116(2.5), C.R.S.

(b) No person shall abandon any motor vehicle upon private property other than his or her own. Any owner or lessee, or the owner's or lessee's agent authorized in writing, may have an abandoned motor vehicle removed from his or her property by having it towed and impounded by an operator. Motor vehicles abandoned upon the property of a motor vehicle recycler may be recycled in accordance with part 22 of this article if the vehicle's appraisal value is less than three hundred fifty dollars.

(2)(a)(I) Any operator possessing a motor vehicle that was abandoned on private property shall notify, within thirty minutes, the department, the sheriff, or the sheriff's designee, of the county in which the motor vehicle is located or the chief of police, or the chief's designee, of the municipality in which the motor vehicle is located. The notice must include:

(A) The name of the operator;

(B) The location of the storage facility where the vehicle is located; and

(C) A description of the abandoned motor vehicle, including the make, model, color, and year; the number, issuing state, and expiration date of the license plate; and the vehicle identification number.

(II) An operator is deemed to have complied with subsection (2)(a)(I) of this section if:

(A) The operator gave the location of the storage facility to the law enforcement agency when obtaining authorization for the tow; or

(B) The operator made two or more attempts, within the thirty minutes required in subsection (2)(a)(I) of this section, to notify the responsible law enforcement agency but was unsuccessful for reasons beyond the control of the operator.

(b) Upon receiving the notice required in subsection (2)(a) of this section, the law enforcement agency that receives the notice shall:

(I) Assign the vehicle a tow report number immediately;

(II) Enter the vehicle and the fact that it has been towed in the Colorado crime information center computer system; and

(III) Ascertain, if possible, whether the vehicle has been reported stolen, and, if so, the agency shall:

(A) Recover and secure the motor vehicle;

(B) Notify its rightful owner; and

(C) Terminate the abandonment proceedings under this part 21.

(c) Upon the release of the vehicle to the owner or lienholder, the operator shall notify the responsible law enforcement agent, who shall adjust or delete the entry in the Colorado crime information center computer system. The responsible law enforcement agency and operator have the right to recover from the owner their reasonable fees for recovering and securing the vehicle. Nothing in this section authorizes fees for services that were not provided or that were provided by another person or entity.

(3)(a) Not more than ten days after a motor vehicle has been towed, an operator shall report the motor vehicle tow to the department by first-class or certified mail, by personal delivery, or by internet communication. The report must be on a form prescribed and supplied by the department.

(b) The report shall contain the following information:

(I) The fact of possession, including the date possession was taken, the location of storage of the abandoned motor vehicle and the location from which it was towed, the tow report number, and the identity of the law enforcement agency determining that the vehicle was not reported stolen;

(II) The identity of the operator possessing the abandoned motor vehicle, together with the operator's business address and telephone number and the carrier number assigned by the public utilities commission; and

(III) A description of the abandoned motor vehicle, including the make, model, color, and year, the number, issuing state, and expiration date of the license plate, or any other indicia of the motor vehicle's state of origin, and the vehicle identification number.

(c)(I)(A) Not more than ten days after a motor vehicle has been towed, an operator or its agent shall determine who the owner is and whether there is a lienholder and notify the owner and any lienholder by sending a notice by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the address of the owner and any lienholder as determined from records of the department or from the national search performed by the department in accordance with subsection (3)(c)(IV) of this section. An operator should wait twenty-four hours after the tow to notify the owner and any lienholder and send the notice as soon as reasonably practical after the twenty-four hours. An operator shall not charge more than seventy-five dollars to send the notice.

(B) If the department conducts a national title search in accordance with subparagraph (IV) of this paragraph (c), each day elapsing between the department being notified and the department returning information on the motor vehicle as a result of the search does not count against the tow operator's ten-day deadline to contact the motor vehicle's owner or any lienholder. This sub-subparagraph (B) does not affect daily storage fees.

(C) The notice must include the information required by the report set forth in paragraph (b) of this subsection (3).

(D) The cost of complying with this subsection (3)(c) is a cost of towing. The tow operator shall send the notice to the owner and lienholder within five days after receiving the information from the department in accordance with subsection (3)(c)(I)(A) of this section.

(II) The operator is not entitled to recover any daily storage fees from the day the vehicle is towed until the day the operator sends the owner and any lienholder the notice required in subsection (3)(c)(I) of this section; except that the operator may charge for the first twenty-four hours of storage in accordance with section 40-10.1-405(1)(c)(I).

(III) The department shall implement an electronic system whereby an operator registered under section 42-4-1806(2) or the agent of such operator shall have access to correct information relating to any owner and lienholder of a vehicle towed by the operator as represented in the department records. The department shall ensure that the information available to an operator or its agent is correct and is limited solely to that information necessary to contact the owner and lienholder of such vehicle.

(IV) If the tow operator determines in accordance with this subsection (3) that the department does not have a current record for a motor vehicle, the tow operator shall notify the department in writing, including electronically. Upon receiving the notice, the department shall conduct a title search with an entity that:

(A) Has a national database;

(B) May retrieve records based on both the vehicle identification number and vehicle registration number on the license plate; and

(C) Provides the following information: The vehicle identification number, the vehicle registration number, the owner's name and contact information, and the lienholder's name and contact information.

(V) Within ten working days after receiving the written notice that no record exists under subparagraph (IV) of this paragraph (c), the department shall complete its search and shall transmit all relevant information to the responsible law enforcement agency or tow operator. This ten-day period does not decrease the number of days a tow operator has to notify the owner or lienholder in accordance with this paragraph (c).

(VI) The department may charge the tow operator a fee in an amount not to exceed the lesser of five dollars or the direct and indirect costs of implementing this paragraph (c).

(4) Within three days after the receipt of the records set forth in subsection (3)(c) of this section from the department, the operator shall notify by certified mail the owner of record, including an out-of-state owner of record. The operator shall make a reasonable effort to ascertain the address of the owner of record. The notice must contain the following information:

(a) That the identified motor vehicle has been reported abandoned to the department;

(b) Repealed by Laws 2022, Ch. 416 (H.B. 22-1314), § 1, eff. Aug. 10, 2022.

(c) The location of the motor vehicle and the location from which it was towed; and

(d) That, unless claimed within thirty calendar days after the date the notice was sent, as determined from the postmark on the notice, the motor vehicle is subject to sale.

(5) The department shall maintain department-approved notice forms satisfying the requirements of subsection (4) of this section and shall make them available for use by operators and local law enforcement agencies.

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Cite this article: FindLaw.com - Colorado Revised Statutes Title 42. Vehicles and Traffic § 42-4-2103. Abandonment and nonconsensual towing of motor vehicles--private property--rules - last updated January 01, 2025 | https://codes.findlaw.com/co/title-42-vehicles-and-traffic/co-rev-st-sect-42-4-2103/

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