What happens when a traffic stop, a tow, and a private parking lot all meet in the same place
I recently had a conversation with a customer while we were watching somebody get pulled over.
The state police officer already had the lights on. The driver then pulled into a CVS parking lot.
The customer looked at the situation and said something along the lines of:
“That was smart. He pulled onto private property, so they can’t tow him there.”
And my response was basically:
No. That is not how this works.
Pulling into a privately owned parking lot does not suddenly create some legal sanctuary around your vehicle.
If anything, you have simply moved the situation from one place to another while potentially adding another party with an interest in what happens to the vehicle:
the property owner.
The Traffic Stop Did Not Disappear
The first thing people need to separate is the traffic stop itself.
If the police officer has already activated the emergency lights and is directing you to stop, pulling into a private parking lot does not make the traffic stop disappear.
In many situations, pulling off the roadway and into a parking lot may actually be the safer place to stop.
That does not mean the driver has somehow escaped police authority because the pavement underneath the tires belongs to CVS instead of the city or state.
There may be legal differences between conduct occurring on a public roadway and conduct occurring entirely on private property, depending on the law involved.
That is a separate issue.
What I am talking about here is somebody who is already being stopped and then pulls onto private property.
The private-property sign does not create a force field behind them.
Can the Police Tow the Vehicle?
Potentially, yes.
The important part is that there still has to be a lawful reason to tow or seize it.
If police have legal authority to seize a vehicle because it is evidence connected to an alleged crime, was allegedly used in the commission of a crime, is subject to lawful impoundment, or some other legal basis exists, the fact that the car is now sitting in a CVS parking lot does not automatically make it untouchable.
That is the distinction I was making.
The parking lot does not erase whatever legal authority existed before the driver turned into it.
And then there are all the other complications involving the vehicle itself.
Registration.
Plates.
Insurance.
Whether the person driving it can legally continue operating it.
Whether another licensed driver is available.
Whether the vehicle is being held as evidence.
Whether it is unsafe to move.
Whether applicable law or department policy allows or requires impoundment.
Those are separate questions.
What you cannot safely assume is:
“I made it onto private property, therefore the police cannot tow the car.”
That is far too broad.
Evidence Is a Different Matter
One of the more obvious situations is when the vehicle itself becomes part of a criminal investigation.
If investigators have a lawful basis to treat the vehicle as evidence, private property does not automatically prevent them from taking custody of it.
That does not mean police can simply tow any vehicle whenever they feel like it.
There still has to be lawful authority behind the seizure.
But once that authority exists, whether the vehicle is sitting on the shoulder of a public road or in a commercial parking lot is not the magical dividing line some people seem to think it is.
That is why I keep coming back to the same point:
Private property is not automatically protection from police action.
Then There Is the Property Owner
Now we get to the part that makes the customer’s argument even stranger.
Let’s say, for the sake of discussion, the police do not tow the vehicle.
That still does not necessarily mean the car can remain in the CVS parking lot indefinitely.
CVS, or whoever actually owns or controls that property, has its own property rights.
Private-property towing rules vary by jurisdiction, but businesses commonly have procedures allowing unauthorized, abandoned, or improperly parked vehicles to be removed.
That can involve signage.
It can involve direct notice.
It can involve waiting periods.
It can involve notifying police.
It can involve specific requirements for the towing company.
The exact process depends on where you are.
But the basic idea is not unusual at all:
You cannot automatically turn somebody else’s parking lot into long-term vehicle storage simply because your car is already sitting there.
I Have Dealt With This in Corporate Security
This is not theoretical to me.
Working corporate security, we had situations involving vehicles that employees had essentially abandoned on company property.
Those vehicles did not simply sit there forever because the employee had once been allowed to park there.
There was a process.
The vehicle would be identified.
The situation would be documented.
Notice would be given.
In some cases, the vehicle itself would be posted or marked with a notification.
A period of time would be allowed for the owner to deal with it.
And if the vehicle remained after the appropriate notifications and waiting period, a tow company could eventually be called to remove it from the property.
The important part is that this was not somebody randomly deciding:
“I don’t like that car. Tow it.”
Corporate security documented the situation and followed the process required by company policy and whatever laws applied.
That is the difference between properly managing private property and simply making things up as you go.
Employee Parking Is Still Permission
This is another thing people sometimes misunderstand.
If you work somewhere and the company allows you to park in its lot, that does not necessarily mean you have acquired some permanent right to store your vehicle there.
Your permission to use that property is connected to the relationship you have with the property owner.
If that employment relationship ends, especially if you are explicitly told that you are no longer allowed on company property, the fact that your car was previously permitted there does not necessarily mean it can stay indefinitely.
That is where security, human resources, property management, and towing procedures can all eventually intersect.
The corporation has to deal with the abandoned property.
And at some point, if the owner does nothing, removal becomes the practical solution.
Signs Matter, but They Are Not the Entire Story
A lot of commercial properties post signs stating things such as:
Customer parking only.
No overnight parking.
Unauthorized vehicles subject to towing.
Parking permitted only during business hours.
Those signs are there for a reason.
But I would not tell people that every state has exactly the same sign requirements or that a particular number of signs automatically makes every tow lawful.
Private-property towing is heavily dependent on jurisdiction.
Some places have detailed signage requirements.
Some have notification requirements.
Some distinguish abandoned vehicles from ordinary parking violations.
Some have special rules involving tow rates, storage fees, police notification, or how quickly a vehicle can be removed.
That is why any specific dispute needs to be looked at under the law where it actually occurred.
The broader principle remains:
Private property owners can have the ability to remove unauthorized vehicles from their property.
One Tow Can Have More Than One Possible Authority Behind It
This is the easiest way to understand the entire situation.
Imagine the vehicle sitting in that CVS parking lot.
There could potentially be two entirely separate paths toward that car being towed.
The first is police authority.
The police may have a lawful reason arising from the traffic stop, an arrest, an investigation, the condition of the vehicle, or some other applicable law to seize or impound it.
The second is property-owner authority.
If the vehicle is left behind, CVS or the actual property owner may eventually have its own ability to have the vehicle removed under private-property towing rules.
Those are not the same thing.
And one does not automatically cancel the other.
“But It’s Private Property” Is Not an Answer
That is really the phrase that started this entire discussion.
People sometimes say “private property” as though those two words settle everything.
They don’t.
Private property actually creates another layer of rights and responsibilities.
The police may still have lawful authority relating to the vehicle.
The property owner has authority over the use of its property.
The driver or vehicle owner still has rights.
And the towing company has to operate under whatever laws regulate towing in that jurisdiction.
All of those interests can exist at the same time.
That is why the statement:
“They can’t tow me because I’m on private property.”
is not something I would ever rely on.
A Parking Lot Is Not a Legal Escape Hatch
Pulling into a commercial parking lot can be the responsible way to complete a traffic stop.
It gets you out of moving traffic.
It may provide better lighting.
It may give the officer and driver more room.
But that is completely different from believing:
“If I can just get onto CVS property, the police lose authority over the car.”
That is not a sensible assumption.
And if the vehicle ends up being left there, you may have simply introduced a second problem:
Now the property owner has a vehicle sitting on its land that it may not want there.
The Lesson
The larger lesson here is the same one I keep coming back to whenever we talk about private property.
Ownership matters. Permission matters. Authority matters.
A traffic stop does not necessarily disappear because you crossed from public pavement onto private pavement.
A lawful vehicle seizure does not necessarily become impossible because the car is sitting in a commercial parking lot.
And a private parking lot is not automatically free vehicle storage after the police leave.
If a car remains there long enough without authorization, the property owner may eventually have its own process for having it removed.
So if somebody tells you:
“The smartest thing he did was pull onto private property because they can’t tow him there,”
the correct response is much simpler:
Private property is not a force field.
It just changes which legal and property-rights questions need to be answered.
This article discusses general security, property, traffic-stop, and towing concepts. Laws governing vehicle seizures, impoundment, private-property towing, signage, notice, and parking vary by jurisdiction. Nothing here should be treated as legal advice.