Relating to abandoned vehicles

89 regulates the towing, impounding, reclaiming, and selling of abandoned vehicles and providing required notice.89. The bill decreases the time by which a person who impounds an abandoned vehicle is required to provide notice from 20 days to 10 days and increases the time a person may reclaim an abandoned vehicle from 10 days to 20 days. The bill requires notice of a tow and impoundment to be given twice; once by regular mail and once by certified mail, parcel delivery with tracking, or personal delivery by a peace officer. Additionally, the bill requires a garagekeeper to provide notice to the police authority with jurisdiction over the location where the vehicle was towed within two hours after the tow.90. The bill requires a garagekeeper to display information about the garagekeeper on vehicles the garagekeeper uses to tow an abandoned vehicle and at the garagekeeper’s place of business. Under current law, a person is required to pay all fees prior to reclaiming a vehicle. The bill prohibits a garagekeeper from calculating fees on a calendar-day basis and from charging a storage fee on a day that the garagekeeper is not open to the public. A garagekeeper must provide an itemized invoice that includes the vehicle’s vehicle identification number. In addition, the bill requires a garagekeeper to accept payment by credit card, in addition to other forms of payment. The bill strikes the requirement under current law that a person must present a valid driver’s license and proof of financial liability coverage prior to driving a vehicle away from the premises where it was impounded. The bill authorizes the registered owner of a vehicle that is impounded by a garagekeeper to retrieve personal property, as defined in the bill, from the vehicle one time, and retrieving personal property does not constitute reclaiming the vehicle. A person that impounds an abandoned vehicle must give notice of the opportunity to retrieve personal property. The bill requires a garagekeeper to allow a lienholder to inspect an impounded vehicle so long as the lienholder pays a $100 fee. In addition, a garagekeeper must keep records of the relevant details of each abandoned vehicle the garagekeeper towed or impounded for at least three years. Under current law, proceeds from the sale of an abandoned vehicle that are not retained by a police authority to cover incurred nonadministrative expenses associated with the vehicle must be held for 90 days for the vehicle owner or lienholder. Unclaimed proceeds from the sale are deposited in the road use tax fund after 90 days. The bill strikes the 90-day holding requirement.89 by striking subsection references that are amended by the bill.