What Happens If Your Car Is Towed After an Accident?

After a serious crash, if your car can't be driven, it gets towed, usually to a storage or impound lot. And here's the part that surprises people: the meter starts running immediately. Storage fees accrue every single day your car sits there, and they can quietly grow into hundreds of dollars while you're still dealing with the aftermath. Knowing who pays, and moving fast, is what keeps a towed car from becoming an expensive second problem. Here's what to do.

Why the clock matters

A car towed from a crash scene usually lands at a storage lot, and that lot charges a daily storage rate on top of the towing fee itself. Those daily charges are the real danger, because they keep climbing whether or not anything is happening with your claim. A car that sits for two weeks while you sort out insurance can rack up serious storage costs, and insurers will only cover what's reasonable. The single most useful thing you can do is shorten the number of days the car sits.

Who pays for the tow and storage

The good news is that towing and reasonable storage are usually covered, but by which coverage depends on the crash:

• Your collision coverage generally pays to tow your car to a repair shop and covers reasonable storage as part of the claim.
• The at-fault driver's liability can cover your towing and storage when someone else caused the crash.
• Roadside assistance or towing coverage, if you carry it, may handle the tow itself.
• Comprehensive coverage applies if the car was towed after a non-collision event, like a flood or fire.

If you only carry Florida's required minimum, note that PIP and PDL don't cover towing your own car. That's a job for collision or the at-fault party's coverage, which is one more reason the minimum leaves gaps.

Move fast: the first 48 hours

• Get the tow details at the scene if you can: the towing company's name, phone number, and where the car is going.
• Call your insurer right away to open the claim and ask them to arrange moving the car to an approved repair facility.
• Ask where your car is and what the daily storage rate is, so you know what's accruing.
• Don't let it sit. The faster the car moves to a shop or is released, the smaller the storage bill.

Getting your belongings and the car released

Your personal items are still in the car, and you have a right to retrieve them, so get them out early rather than letting them sit in a lot. To release the car, the storage facility will typically want proof of ownership and identification, and if fees are owed, they often must be paid before the car leaves, even if you'll be reimbursed later through the claim. Keep every receipt: the towing invoice and storage charges are what your insurer reimburses against, so documentation is what gets your money back.

If the car is totaled

Sometimes the car isn't worth repairing. If your insurer declares it a total loss, they generally take possession of the vehicle, which stops the storage clock, and pay you its actual cash value. The faster that determination happens, the less storage piles up, which is yet another reason to open the claim immediately. For how insurers decide a car is beyond saving, see our guide on how total loss is calculated in Florida.

The bottom line

A car towed after a crash isn't just an inconvenience, it's a bill that grows every day it sits. Collision coverage or the at-fault driver's liability usually pays for towing and reasonable storage, but insurers only cover what's reasonable, so speed is your friend. Call your insurer first, get your belongings out, keep every receipt, and get the car moved or released fast. The quicker you act, the less that storage lot costs you.