O.C.G.A.

O.C.G.A. § 40-6-206 (2019)

When police officers may remove vehicles; uninsured vehicles

✓ O.C.G.A. — 2019 edition (Public.Resource.Org Release 73)

Code text and O.C.G.A. statutory annotations on this page reflect the 2019 Official Code of Georgia Annotated (Public.Resource.Org Release 73, 2019-08-21; public domain per Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). The Syfert case-law annotations in Notes of Decisions, below, are current.

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(a) Whenever any police officer finds a vehicle in violation of any of the provisions of Code Section 40-6-202, such officer is authorized to move such vehicle or require the driver or other person in charge of the vehicle to move it to a position off the roadway. (b) Any police officer is authorized to remove or cause to be removed to a place of safety any unattended vehicle illegally left standing upon any highway, bridge, or causeway or in any tunnel. (c) Any police officer is authorized to remove or cause to be removed to the nearest garage or other place of safety any vehicle found upon a highway when: (1) Report has been made that such vehicle has been stolen or taken without the consent of its owner; (2) The person or persons in charge of such vehicle are unable to provide for its custody or removal; (3) The person driving or in control of such vehicle is arrested for an alleged offense for which the officer is required by law to take the person arrested before a proper magistrate without unnecessary delay;

(4) Any such vehicle has been left unattended for 24 hours or more; or (5) Such vehicle is stopped, except when traffic congestion makes movement impossible, on a controlled-access highway which is part of The Dwight D. Eisenhower System of Interstate and Defense Highways for more than eight hours, unless such vehicle constitutes a traffic hazard, in which case it may be removed immediately. (d) Because uninsured vehicles pose a threat to the public safety and health, any law enforcement officer is authorized to remove or cause to be removed to the nearest garage or other place of safety the vehicle of a person who is charged under subsection (a) or (b) of Code Section 40-6-10 if such person admits to the law enforcement officer that there is no insurance in effect on the vehicle or if the law enforcement officer verifies that the proof of insurance provided by such person is fraudulent.

History

(Ga. L. 1953, Nov.-Dec. Sess., p. 556, § 91; Code 1933, § 68A-1002, enacted by Ga. L. 1974, p. 633, § 1; Ga. L. 1975, p. 1286, § 1; Ga. L. 1985, p. 149, § 40; Ga. L. 1987, p. 542, § 5; Ga. L. 1990, p. 2048, § 5; Ga. L. 2000, p. 136, § 40.)

Annotations

Cross references. - Right of person to have removed any car parked without authorization upon property possessed by such person, § 44-1-13. Code Commission notes. - Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 2001, a comma

was deleted following ‘‘Defense Highways’’ in paragraph (c)(5). Law reviews. - For comment on Wilkinson v. Townsend, 96 Ga. App. 179, 99 S.E.2d 539 (1957), see 9 Mercer L. Rev. 372 (1958).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS No lien arises under Ga. L. 1953, Nov.-Dec., Sess., p. 556, and detention of the automobile by the garage against the demands of the owner amounts to a conversion. Wilkinson v. Townsend, 96 Ga. App. 179, 99 S.E.2d 539 (1957) commented on in 9 Mercer L. Rev. 372 (1958). Indefinite retention of vehicles not authorized. - Enforcement officers initially authorized to remove or impound a vehicle do not have a duty to retain pos-

session indefinitely; the statutes require only the removal to a ‘‘garage or other place of safety,’’ not necessarily into the custody of the authorities, and there is nothing about the vehicle’s ultimate disposition. Strickland v. Vaughn, 221 Ga. App. 636, 472 S.E.2d 159 (1996). Cited in State v. Lamb, 202 Ga. App. 69, 413 S.E.2d 511 (1991); Ahmad v. State, 312 Ga. App. 703, 719 S.E.2d 563 (2011).

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL Possible liability of officers removing vehicles personally liable for gross negligence. - Peace officers who cause vehicles to be removed from the

public roadway are personally liable for those acts which constitute gross negligence with respect to the vehicle. 1974 Op. Att’y Gen. No. 74-99.

RESEARCH REFERENCES Am. Jur. 2d. - 7A Am. Jur. 2d, Automobiles and Highway Traffic, § 313. C.J.S. - 60 C.J.S., Motor Vehicles, § 63. 60A C.J.S., Motor Vehicles, §§ 789, 790. ALR. - Lien for towing or storage,

ordered by public officer, of motor vehicle, 85 A.L.R.3d 199. State or municipal towing, impounding, or destruction of motor vehicles parked or abandoned on streets or highways, 32 A.L.R.4th 728.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 7 cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1988–2025 · leading case: State v. Lamb, 413 S.E.2d 511 (Ga. Ct. App. 1991).

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State v. Lamb, 413 S.E.2d 511 (Ga. Ct. App. 1991). · cites it 12× “OCGA § 17-6-11 (a), this latter step is a necessary corollary to taking the license so as not to summarily impose the penalty of a temporary suspension.”

State v. Howard, 592 S.E.2d 88 (Ga. Ct. App. 2003). · cites it 4× “” See OCGA § 40-6-206 (d). Further, the deputy observed “some minor body damage on the front” and “some fluid on the highway where something was leaking from underneath” the car.”

Davis v. the State, 769 S.E.2d 183 (Ga. Ct. App. 2015). · cites it 4× “10 We note that impoundment was not proper under OCGA § 40-6-206 (d), which provides that “[bjecause uninsured vehicles pose a threat to the public safety and health,” law enforcement officers may impound a vehicle when a person is charged with OCGA § 40-6-10 (a) or (b) “if such…”

Strickland v. Vaughn, 472 S.E.2d 159 (Ga. Ct. App. 1996). · cites it 6× “, OCGA § 40-6-206 (police officers authorized to remove unattended, stolen, uninsured, or otherwise hazardous vehicles), OCGA § 40-11-3 (peace officers authorized to remove abandoned vehicles), OCGA § 25-3-2 (fire department authorized to remove vehicles obstructing access).”

State v. McCloud, 370 S.E.2d 831 (Ga. Ct. App. 1988). · cites it 2× “The 1983 Opinion of the Attorney General had advised the Commissioner of Public Safety that such a vehicle could be impounded prior to the statute’s enactment.”

Ahmad v. State, 719 S.E.2d 563 (Ga. Ct. App. 2011). · cites it 2× “OCGA § 40-6-206 (d). OCGA § 16-3-5; Boatright v.”

Daniel Manuel Huertas v. State (Ga. Ct. App. 2025). · cites it 4× “With regard to the detective’s decision to impound the truck and trailer, the trial court found that it could only have been based upon OCGA § 40-6-206, which allows a law enforcement officer to remove or cause to be removed an uninsured vehicle under certain circumstances.”

— 40-6-206(d) — 1 case

State v. Howard, 592 S.E.2d 88 (Ga. Ct. App. 2003). “” See OCGA § 40-6-206 (d). Further, the deputy observed “some minor body damage on the front” and “some fluid on the highway where something was leaking from underneath” the car.”

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.