The paperwork, not the wreckage

After a Crash in Kalamazoo County: Reports, Rotation Tows and Storage

Our accident towing page covers the hour after a collision. This one covers the two weeks after — who took your car, why you may not have been asked, and what you still control.

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Who chooses the truckOften not you

Who chooses the destinationStill you

Clock starts atPolice release

StorageRunning from day one

Why this is a separate page

The Wreck Is Over in an Hour. The Paperwork Takes Weeks

Almost everything written about car accidents stops at the roadside. Check for injuries, call 911, exchange details, wait for a truck. All correct, all covered on our accident towing page, and all finished within an hour or two. What nobody prepares you for is the part that follows: a vehicle in a lot you did not choose, a report you cannot yet obtain, an insurer waiting on that report, and a storage charge accruing through all of it.

The single structural fact that explains most of the confusion is this: after a serious collision, your vehicle is not simply yours to collect. It is held, and the clock that governs what happens to it does not start when it was towed. It starts when law enforcement releases it. Until that happens, the storage bill is growing and almost none of your options are open.

People lose money in that gap, not through anybody’s bad faith but through simply not knowing which lever to pull and when. This page is about the levers. As with the rest of this section, it is general information rather than legal advice, and anything genuinely contested needs somebody qualified who has heard your facts.

What happens once you have gone home

The Chain Your Vehicle Moves Through

The rotation call

When an officer needs a roadway cleared, they generally call the next operator on their rotation list rather than asking your preference. It is a system designed to clear roads fast and distribute work fairly, not to match customers to companies.

The vehicle is held, not stored

After a significant collision the vehicle may be held pending investigation. That is different from ordinary storage in effect — you cannot simply collect it — but identical in cost, because the daily charge runs regardless.

The report is written

The attending officer files a crash report. It will not be available immediately, and your insurer will usually want it. Get the report number at the scene if you possibly can, because chasing it afterward is slower than it should be.

Law enforcement releases it

The pivotal moment. Every deadline that follows counts from this date, not from the crash. Ask the agency directly when release happened rather than assuming it coincided with anything else.

Twenty days begin

Under MCL 257.252a, a vehicle removed after a crash is considered abandoned if not redeemed within 20 days of that release, with the custodian reporting it between 20 and 30 days and LEIN entry following within 24 hours.

The insurer decides

Repairable or total loss. That determination changes who takes the vehicle and where it goes, and it is the point at which leaving it in an expensive lot stops being neutral and starts being a choice.

The levers you do have

Four Things Still in Your Control

Say a name, if you are asked

Officers sometimes ask whether you have a preference before making the rotation call, particularly where the vehicle is not blocking anything urgent. If you are asked, answer. If you are not asked, that is not a fight worth having on a roadside at night.

Find the release date, early and directly

Call the police agency and ask specifically when the vehicle was or will be released. It gates everything and nobody will volunteer it. It is also the only way to know how much of your 20 days you have actually used.

Choose where it ends up

This is the part people forget they still hold. Whoever towed it from the scene does not get to decide where it lives afterward. Moving a vehicle from a holding lot to your chosen body shop, your insurer’s facility or your own driveway is an ordinary second tow, and it is usually far cheaper than the storage it prevents.

Do the math before two weeks pass, not after

Daily storage rate against what the vehicle is worth to you, with a date attached. If the insurer is slow and the lot is expensive, moving the car while the claim continues is often the cheaper path. Ask your adjuster whether they object — most do not.

Straight answers

After the Crash Questions

Why did a company I have never heard of take my car?

Because the officer called the rotation rather than asking you. Police agencies keep a list of operators and work through it in turn, which exists to clear roads quickly and distribute the work fairly rather than to match you with a company you know. It is not a sign anything has gone wrong. What it does mean is that the relationship you have is now with a company you did not choose, so read the paperwork they give you carefully and ask for the daily storage figure right away.

How do I get the crash report, and why does everyone want it?

You request it from the agency whose officer attended, and it typically takes a few days to become available. Your insurer wants it because it is the neutral account of what happened, which is what claims turn on when two drivers remember things differently. The single most useful thing you can do is get the report number at the scene — with it, retrieving the report later is straightforward; without it, you are describing a date and an intersection to somebody in a records office.

My car is being held for investigation. Am I still paying storage?

Generally yes, and this is the part people find hardest to accept. The daily charge is for the space the vehicle occupies, and it does not pause because you are not permitted to collect it. That is precisely why establishing the release date matters so much — it is both the moment your options open and the moment the clock on the 20 days begins. Ask the agency for a realistic timeframe rather than waiting to be told.

The insurer says total loss. Do I still need to do anything about the car?

Usually the insurer takes the vehicle and handles the title, but do not assume that has happened simply because somebody said the words. Until the handover is actually complete, storage may still be accruing and the vehicle may still be your responsibility. Ask your adjuster directly: who is collecting it, from where, and on what date. Then confirm with the lot. A week of assuming somebody else has dealt with it is a week of charges.

Can you move it from the lot to my body shop?

Yes, and it is one of the more useful jobs we do. Once law enforcement has released the vehicle and any outstanding charges at the holding lot are settled, moving it is an ordinary tow — priced on distance and on whether it rolls and steers, quoted before we head out. We have no interest in where it goes because we do not own a body shop and take no referral fee, so the destination is genuinely your call. In most cases a single move costs less than another week of sitting still.

Car Stuck in Someone Else’s Lot?

Once it is released, moving it is straightforward. Tell us where it is and whether it rolls.

☎ Call (269) 350-8697

More: Accident towing · Abandoned vehicle timeline · Your rights when your car is towed

Statutory references are to the Michigan Vehicle Code, Act 300 of 1949, as published by the Michigan Legislature. General information, not legal advice. For a specific dispute, consult a qualified attorney.