Car stolen from Maryland racks up $2,000 in fees at DC impound lot

[intheflow]

2. The impoundment costs for towed vehicles that were stolen is a racket.

This just happened to my housemate last week. Someone stole her car and took it joyriding, banged it all up, then ditched it across town. Because it was the same city, she got a call within 24 hours after it was towed. It was in the impoundment lot for two days, and the ransom she was forced to pay was $230! Yes! Impoundment was $115 a day!! I can see charging people who did the wrong thing, like parking in front of a hydrant or whatever illegal thing got the car towed, but my housemate did nothing wrong and she had to fork over 1/3 of her weekly pay because why? The police should have a deal with the tow companies that people recovering stolen property only have to pay mileage to the tow companies.