TowingBossPro Blog — Running a Towing Business

Adding Impound and Storage to Your Towing Business

Storage can be one of the most profitable parts of a towing business, and one of the most frustrating. Every day a vehicle sits in your yard, it should be earning a daily rate. But storage is also where money gets lost most easily. A start date not written down. A car forgotten in the back row. An invoice that counted three days when it should have counted twelve.

If you are thinking about adding impound and storage, or you already have a yard and suspect you are not billing all of it, here is how to think about it.

Why Storage Matters

After adding transports, covered in Adding Vehicle Transports to Your Towing Business, storage is the next step for many companies. Accident tows often end up in storage while an insurance company or owner decides what to do. Private property impounds usually require storage. Some customers just need a place to keep a vehicle for a few days.

Storage turns a one-time tow into ongoing revenue. But it only works if every day is counted and billed.

Storage also changes your relationship with insurance companies and accounts, since they may need to arrange pickup or inspections at your yard. Clean records and clear invoices make those interactions smoother and protect you when someone questions a charge.

The Yard and the Rules

A storage yard needs space, security, and the ability to get vehicles in and out safely. Fencing, lighting, and controlled access are common. Many areas have specific requirements for tow storage yards, including location, hours of access for owners to retrieve vehicles, posted rates, and how long you must hold a vehicle.

These rules vary a lot by city, county and state, and they change. Check your local requirements before you open a yard or start impounding, and keep up with changes. Storage rates in some areas are also regulated, so check what applies to you.

Get Every Vehicle In the System on Day One

The single most important storage habit is recording each vehicle the day it comes in. Year, make, model, color, plate, VIN, where it came from, and the date it arrived. Photos of its condition.

In TowingBossPro, every call carries the vehicle details, and drivers take vehicle photos from the app. Impound and Storage is its own category, so storage vehicles are easy to see. When a vehicle goes into storage, the daily rate is added to the invoice, so you are not counting days on a calendar.

Make this a rule for every driver: no vehicle goes through the gate without being in the system. It is much easier to enforce one simple rule than to chase missing records weeks later when someone comes to claim a car.

Let the Daily Rate Do the Counting

Counting storage days by hand is where most money gets lost. Someone forgets, or rounds down, or the vehicle sits through a holiday weekend nobody counted.

Having the daily rate added to the invoice automatically means the bill reflects how long the vehicle actually sat. When the owner or insurance company comes to pick it up, the total is ready. No arguments about when it arrived, no guessing.

Make Release Smooth

When someone comes to pick up a vehicle, the process should be quick and clear. Have the invoice ready with the storage days included. Take payment on the spot or let them pay online before they arrive. Have photos available if there are any questions about condition.

A smooth release cuts down on disputes and reviews that complain about the experience, even when the customer was not happy to be paying.

Decide your release process ahead of time and write it down. What do you need to see before a vehicle leaves? Who is allowed to release it? Requirements for releasing vehicles vary by area, so check your local rules. A clear process protects you from releasing a vehicle to the wrong person.

Watch for Vehicles That Sit Too Long

Some vehicles never get picked up. The storage bill keeps growing, but you are not collecting it. Watch for vehicles that have been in the yard a long time and follow your local process for unclaimed vehicles. Those processes vary by area and are outside what TowingBossPro handles, so check your local rules and talk to someone who knows them.

Keeping every storage call in the Impound and Storage category gives you one list to review each week, so nothing gets forgotten in the back row. With new service lines in place, the next challenge is handling the rush, starting with storms. More on the full system is on the towing business software page.