Can a police officer take my car in the State of Oregon?

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Here are a couple of reasons a cop can “take your car.” They mostly deal with doing something illegal or committing a serious traffic offense.

Driving without insurance

Until the pandemic that started in 2020, police officers routinely impounded automobiles for failure to provide proof of insurance at the scene of an accident or a traffic stop. The onboard computer system connected to the Oregon DMV usually flags a car for not being covered by insurance just by the officer running the plate number. Still, a cop asks for proof, either as an identification card or a screen on your phone app that says your insurance is valid for the car you are driving. If you failed to prove you had valid insurance, the officer could, at their discretion, have you step out of the vehicle, keep some of your personal items like a purse or phone, and impound the car. This meant you had to find another way to get to your destination.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the police were instructed to maintain social distancing and to relax the action of impounding your automobile. You might still have received a ticket and been charged with driving without insurance, which carries a three-year SR22 requirement. I’ve noticed that this practice of impounding a car for failure to carry proof of insurance has still not returned to pre-pandemic levels based on reports I have received from customers and prospects I have quoted. I wouldn’t push my luck, though. An officer may still exercise the option of having your car towed for failure to carry insurance.

Driving while suspended

police officer ticketing driver and towing car image created with Grok AI The action of impounding a vehicle for driving a car with a suspended license or suspended driving privileges has changed little, even during the pandemic. If while suspended you are caught driving a car, with or without insurance, a police officer may have the car impounded. Often they will wait with you at the scene of the traffic stop and wait until someone with a valid license can come and drive the car away.

Commission of a serious crime involving the use of a vehicle

If your car was driven while committing a crime, whether or not you were the driver, it most likely would be towed and impounded for as long as it takes to investigate and prosecute the crime. Customers have reported their cars stolen and then recovered by the police only to have them held as evidence in a police impound lot for months or even a year. The insurer might declare the vehicle a total loss if the car suffered significant damage or is unretrievable, then wait for the salvage value when finally released.

Abandoned vehicles

If your automobile breaks down or is involved in an accident rendering it undrivable on a busy roadway, a police officer may call for a tow truck to have it removed. The reason is that it might obstruct the free flow of traffic and be a safety hazard for you and others. A client of mine was involved in an accident and pulled off to the side at a busy intersection. While we were on the phone trying to order a tow truck on her roadside assistance program, the police officer ordered her to move the car or he would have it towed. We begged him to let her wait for the truck that was on its way so she wouldn’t have to pay to retrieve the vehicle from the impound lot. He finally relented when we gave him an estimated time that the truck would arrive. Meanwhile, her car was nearly hit twice by speeding traffic through that busy intersection while she stood on the sidewalk waiting for the tow service.

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