Car Towed in Shelby Township? How to Find It and Get It Back

Published 4 November 2026

You come back to the lot behind your apartment, or the curb on a side street off 23 Mile, and the space is empty. Towed or stolen? Michigan law makes that easier to answer than it feels, because the police hear about a lawful tow before the car leaves the spot.

Below, in order: ruling out a theft, the private-lot and police-impound rules in the Michigan Vehicle Code, what the yard asks for, and how to recover your belongings or challenge the tow.

Start at the lot's entrances. Before a property owner can have a car towed without its owner's consent, MCL 257.252k requires a posted notice at each one naming the towing service and its phone number, so the sign may tell you who to call. MCL 257.252l lists the exceptions: land plainly part of a single- or two-family home, a spot you were told in person was reserved and subject to towing, and police-ordered removals.

Next, call the police for the place the car was parked. Under MCL 257.252a, a tow company must tell them before hauling a car off private property, and within 24 hours they check it against theft reports and log it as abandoned in LEIN, the state's Law Enforcement Information Network. They needn't verify first that the tow followed the rules; a court can settle that. For their own tows, MCL 257.252d has police check for a theft report beforehand and log the impound within 24 hours.

In Shelby Township, call the police business line, (586) 731-2121; in Utica, city dispatch, (586) 731-2345; in Macomb or Washington Township, the Macomb County Sheriff, 586-469-5151. No record of a tow anywhere? Report the car stolen while you're on the line.

A car parked on a lot without permission counts as abandoned under MCL 257.252a, so a lot tow follows the abandoned-vehicle rules from the start, and the lot owner has the car taken by a local towing agency, meaning one whose storage lot is within 15 miles of the community's border.

The state's notice gives the car's year, make and VIN, where and when it was taken, the towing agency, the custodian's business address, how to redeem or contest, and a petition form. Only owners and lenders on Michigan's records get one; for a car titled elsewhere, the state's own answers on abandoned cars point to its online search and the help desk, 517-636-5234.

The clock, counted from the tow:

• Within 24 hours: police notify the Secretary of State through LEIN, naming the custodian and the court with jurisdiction.
• Within 7 days after that: the Secretary of State mails the owner and any lender a Notice of Abandoned Vehicle (form TR-52E) and posts the details on a state website for finding towed cars.
• 10 days after the notice: if you haven't redeemed the car or asked for a hearing, a secured party such as your lender may redeem it.
• 20 days after the notice: your deadline to redeem or petition the court. After it, the custodian must offer the car at a public sale, advertised in a newspaper at least 5 days ahead; if the sale falls short of the charges, the tow company may bill the last titled owner, within the limits of MCL 257.252i.

A tow an officer orders under MCL 257.252d starts as an impound, not an abandonment. The reasons range from a tow-away zone, a car boxing in another or parked in a disability space, to a snow emergency, a suspected theft, crime evidence and a crash that left the car unsafe to drive.

Three rules follow. Unredeemed after 7 days, the car is reported to police, logged as abandoned and put on the timetable above. A car held as stolen, as evidence or after an undrivable crash leaves the yard only after the police agency releases it. And a released crash car counts as abandoned only if it sits unclaimed for 20 days, the Secretary of State says.

So a fresh impound may not show up yet in the state's search, which is built for cars processed as abandoned; the agency that ordered the tow is the quicker lead. If yours began with a crash or a breakdown, what to do in the first ten minutes after a breakdown on M-53 or Hall Road covers the minutes before an officer makes that call.

The Secretary of State's checklist is short: show the custodian the registration and/or the title as proof the car is yours. With an electronic title, the Notice of Abandoned Vehicle letter can serve as that proof. For a car held for the police, get their release first.

Then the money. The redemption fee and the cap on repeat visits are written into MCL 257.252a and listed with Michigan's other towing fee rules on our cost page. The towing and daily storage charges aren't fixed in the statute; for a police tow, the Attorney General's towing alert suggests checking them with the agency involved. Storage can keep accruing until the car is released.

If illness or anything else keeps you away, the Secretary of State says only the custodian can approve someone acting for you, so ask about naming a person in writing. Sold the car but got a notice anyway? Once you signed the title over you can't reclaim it, and the state's only advice is to keep your records.

Get your things out early. The custodian must let you inspect the car and remove personal property during regular business hours where it's held, with no fee for the first visit. Waiting has a cost: an unredeemed car goes to a public sale that, under MCL 257.252g, covers "a vehicle and its contents."

To contest the tow, or the fees unless a police or local-government contract set them, file the petition sent with the notice (or court form DC 90) with the court it names within 20 days. For a car taken in Shelby Township, expect the district court Macomb County lists for Shelby Township, Macomb Township and Utica, at 586-739-7325. A towing and storage bond posted with the court frees the car meanwhile.

The court sets a hearing within 30 days, and under MCL 257.252f the police, the tow company or the lot owner must show they followed the law. A lot owner who skipped the sign rules repays the towing and storage; unreasonable fees earn a reduction or refund; a car police wrongly declared abandoned is released, with police covering the charges.

A car that sat in storage or came off a crash scene may not drive away. If it needs a truck to your mechanic or driveway, the light-duty towing service here in Shelby Township prices that trip by phone before a truck leaves.