Florida's DWI Vehicle Impoundment

Vehicle Impoundment: Overnight impoundment of the vehicle of an individual arrested for impaired driving is a typical practice in most States. Thirteen States have laws that permit longer-term impoundments based on a DWI conviction. These States are California, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont, and Wisconsin.

Strengthening and Increasing the Use of Vehicle and Vehicle Plate Sanctions

Interviews with State and local officials, members of the judiciary, and law enforcement officers suggest that while impoundment and forfeiture legislation is common, these laws are grossly under utilized.

The reasons cited include:
(1) These laws often are reserved for the relatively few multiple DWI offenders rather than the more numerousfirst offenders.
(2) There are difficulties in dealing with non-offender owners.
(3) It is costly to store junked vehicles that are not reclaimed by their owners.
(4) Judges are reluctant to punish innocent family members.

Yet some States have developed innovative ways for dealing with these problems. For example, Minnesota experienced a twelve-fold increase in the use of its license plate impoundment law when the State switched from courtbased to administrative enforcement of the impoundment law.