Impoundment yard procedures
 

When it comes to a person picking up a vehicle after it's been impounded, are the procedures or rules the same for every wrecking yard in BC or are some things left up to the employee's discretion ? in regard to the persons actual ownership of the vehicle.

I am not quite sure of the procedures for release if the vehicle was towed for being unlawfully parked (parking ticket, private lot etc). I think these are set by the individual municipalities for operating a tow yard. For example, for City of Burnaby the impound lot would follow the Vehicle Immobilization and Towing bylaw (https://burnaby.civicweb.net/document/9914) for all vehicles towed for being unlawfully parked, and I am sure other municipalities would have differing bylaws regarding operating impound lots.

Vehicles impounded by the RCMP/Municipal Police Force for either excessive speed, DUI, moving violations etc, must follow Procedures for Impound Lot Operators (ILO) as set by the Provincial Government.

Link to the act below:

http://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/dri...procedures.pdf

I am just gonna copy and paste a small section of Section 5. Normal Release of a vehicle

“3 or 7 day impoundments: The registered owner does not need to make a Request for Vehicle Release (MV2711) or an Order for Release (MV2713A) or (MV2713B) for 3 or 7 day impoundments. However, if the registered owner wants to appoint another person to retrieve the vehicle on his/her behalf, he/she will need to attend a Driver's Service Centre, Government Agent or Agent to fill out the Owner's Authorization (MV2712).

30 or 60 day impoundments: The registered owner makes a Request for Release application at a Driver Services Centre, Government Agent or Appointed Agent. The registered owner fills out the Owner's Authorization (MV2712) if he/she wants to appoint another person to retrieve the vehicle on his/her behalf. If approved, the Driver Services Centre, Government Agent, or Appointed Agent will fax the Order of Release (MV2713A) to the ILO and will fax a copy of the Request for Release and…”

I hope that answers your question.

Thank you, excellent information, I'll explain a bit more about the situation, this happened back in 2005 so maby some of the procedures have changed over the years, back in 2005 we sold our car and six months later we started receiving invoices for towing and storage charges, the first one was from our local wreckers, it turns out the car was never registered out of my moms name the people who bought it probably never intended to ever register or even insure the car, they simply gave it to their kid to drive all over BC without a licence, I think the bill was around $ 450 the first time, to our amazement a few months later this happened again, this time the kid was busted up in Kamloops, the 2nd bill was almost a grand, we cleared this up without a problem, but the reason we received these bills was because the car was still in my moms name, what I'm wondering is, how did these people continue to get access to an impounded car without being the registered owners ? a lesson learned, always make sure the purchaser of your vehicle registers it into their name before it leaves your property !

I'm confused, it's been 10 years and your just now worried about this?

As far as I know the only person who can pick up the car is the registered owner, when I got my car impounded years ago, they didn't even want to release it to a family member with my same last name, and same address. They eventually called me, and did release the car to said family member, but in general they didn't want to.

Yeah it's been awhile but I'm not exactly worried about it, just completely baffled at how the same car could've been released from impound a 2nd time to someone who's not on the registration, everything that happens involving that car comes back to the registered owner, including accidents with fatalities, this kind of thing never should've happened, you've pointed out some of the proper procedures that should've taken place but in my case didn't, I'm looking for answers as to what the fuck happened.

When you sell a vehicle, to protect yourself the tax & transfer form MUST be COMPLETED FULLY...date of sale, milage, purchaser info etc. Do not just sign it and hand it over. Take a copy of the FULLY completed form and write up a bill of sale. Also remove your old plates and turn them in if you get new ones.Many Autoplan agents have a fill-in-the-blanks form for free. Until the car is actually transferred on paper the MV Act says the last listed owner (you) are still the owner and 100% responsible for anything as the resgistered owner...tickets, impound fees etc.

I used to stop cars being driven by people not mentioned on the tax & transfer. The form would be signed by the original owner and none of the other info completed. Sometimes the current driver would be several people down the line from the first purchaser. Nobody did the paperwork and just kept flipping it. Unless the form is 100% completed, if you get stopped, you get a $598 fine and a tow job for an uninsured vehicle.

Whenever I sell a vehicle now I just do it at the insurance office to ensure the transfer is complete, even though I have all the signed and completed paperwork. Half the time people ask me to put the price lower on the form (fraud) which I decline, and which gives me suspicion they may be more inclined to commit other fraud, like not putting it in their name for awhile.