If Denver impounds your car and you don’t claim it, the city has a few options: auction it off, turn it into scrap metal, or allow law enforcement to use it.
Now, the city may add another option.
A bill before the Denver City Council would allow the city to donate them to nonprofit educational institutions in Denver.
The proposal is meant to help schools like the Emily Griffith Technical College, CEC Early College and Montbello Career & Technical Education teach students about auto repair and other workforce opportunities.
Those schools have been having a hard time finding vehicles to work on. The cost of used cars and trucks spiked in 2020 after decades of relative stability, and never quite came back down.
Emily Griffith Technical College approached Councilmember Jamie Torres for help, and she worked with city staff on a proposal.
“As much as we want to proceed down the path, we need to be legal,” said Adrina Gibson, deputy director of the Department of General Services.
The goal of the proposed rule is to give each institution between five and ten vehicles a year — up to 100 in total per year. The cars would need to be valued under $1,500, roadworthy and meet the city’s legal conditions for disposal.
Here’s how impounds currently work.
The city receives a complaint about an abandoned car, and the Sheriff Department investigates.
The vehicle is towed to an impound lot. Once there, the city checks ownership status and reviews stolen vehicle reports.
The Sheriff Department notifies the owners, who have 30 days to respond. After that, the car can be auctioned or scrapped.
The entire process takes roughly 45 days.
The impound-to-auction program generates millions in revenue.
In 2024, the city sold 3,719 cars for a total of more than $6 million. The average sale was for $1,640.
The downside is that impounding vehicles is expensive: $1,020 each — cutting significantly into the city’s proceeds.
Proponents argue donating impounded vehicles to nonprofits would provide dozens of training vehicles for workforce development, increase opportunities for technical skill-building for residents entering trades and reduce time and storage costs for the city.
“It seems like a win-win,” Torres said.
The proposal passed City Council’s Finance and Business committee with all six present council members voting in support. The full council will consider the change in September.
