To request a post-storage hearing in San Diego, call or email SDPD Tow Administration within 10 days of your mailed notice, at 858-495-7830 or [email protected].

This is a narrower, more procedural question than know your rights when your car gets towed in San Diego, which covers the broader picture of tow laws, private property rules, and what an officer can and can’t do. A post-storage hearing is one specific tool: a formal request to have the San Diego Police Department review whether your tow was valid, filed within a fixed deadline after the fact. Quick Tow SD doesn’t run an impound lot and can’t release a police-held car ourselves. What we can do is get you and your car home once it’s released.

What a post-storage hearing actually is

After a police-directed tow, the agency mails you a notice. That notice starts a clock. In San Diego, you have 10 days from the date on that mailed notice to request a post-storage hearing through SDPD Tow Administration. Miss the window and you generally lose the right to challenge the tow this way, even if you had a good case.

The hearing isn’t a courtroom. It’s a review, usually by phone or in writing, where SDPD Tow Administration looks at whether the officer had legal grounds to order the tow in the first place. Common grounds for a valid tow include an unlicensed or suspended driver, expired registration past the legal limit, a DUI arrest, or a vehicle blocking traffic or parked illegally in a way the code allows towing for.

What a hearing can and can’t do

This is the part people get wrong. A post-storage hearing can:

  • Find the tow itself was invalid (no legal basis for the officer’s order)
  • Get the car released early, which stops the daily storage clock from running further
  • Support a refund request for fees tied to an invalid tow

It cannot:

  • Erase a legitimate debt you owe if the tow was valid. If the officer had proper grounds, you still owe the tow fee, storage, and the TICR fee even after a hearing.
  • Waive fees automatically just because you disagree with the tow. You need an actual legal defect, not just frustration with the cost.
  • Speed up how fast you can pick up your car if you don’t request it. The daily storage rate keeps running until you either get an early release through a winning hearing or pay in full and retrieve the vehicle.

If you’re looking at the dollar amount instead of the legal question, the hearing isn’t the tool you need. Our full breakdown of what it costs to get a car out of impound in San Diego covers the fee structure, daily storage rates, and how the total adds up day by day.

Step-by-step: how to request the hearing

  1. Find your mailed notice and note the date. Your 10-day window starts from the date on that notice, not the day your car was towed.
  2. Call or email SDPD Tow Administration right away. Reach them at 858-495-7830 or [email protected]. Don’t wait until day 9 to start.
  3. State clearly that you’re requesting a post-storage hearing and give your name, the case or citation number from the notice, and the vehicle’s license plate.
  4. Explain your grounds in a sentence or two. Was the driver actually licensed? Was the registration current? Was there a mix-up with the vehicle’s location or ownership? Specifics matter more than general complaints.
  5. Wait for the determination. Tow Administration generally provides a valid or invalid ruling within about 2 business days, excluding weekends and holidays.
  6. If the tow is ruled invalid, ask about next steps for release and any refund. Refund questions for amounts already paid route through the Public Liability Division at 619-236-6670.
  7. If the tow is ruled valid, you still need to pay and retrieve the car through the normal release process. See how to get your car back from impound for the documents and payment steps.
  8. If you can’t locate which lot has your car, SDPD non-emergency at 619-531-2000 can point you the right direction, or start with our guide on how to find your towed car in San Diego.

If your tow followed a DUI arrest, the hearing question can get more complicated because California law allows longer holds in some DUI cases. That’s a different legal track than a routine post-storage hearing, and it deserves its own explanation. Our guide to DUI vehicle impound rules in California walks through when a 30-day hold applies and what a registered owner who wasn’t driving can do.

Once the car is released

A post-storage hearing gets you the legal outcome. It doesn’t get the car home. Whether the tow was ruled valid or invalid, once the vehicle is released you still need a way to move it, especially if the impound lot is across town or the car needs a flatbed. Call Quick Tow SD at (858) 923-5787 and we’ll get you and your car home the same day, no lot access needed on our end.

The bottom line

A post-storage hearing is a narrow, deadline-driven tool. You have 10 days from your mailed notice, SDPD Tow Administration handles the request, and the determination usually lands within about 2 business days. It can undo an invalid tow. It won’t undo a valid one. Know which situation you’re in before you call.