Storage fees

Every shop has a car nobody comes back for. The storage fee is the shop's answer, and the state's rule is about when it may begin, not how much it is.

California's Bureau of Automotive Repair puts it in terms of the repair lien. For repairs, the lien arises when the contracted repairs are complete and the invoice is given to the customer, or 15 days after completion, "whichever occurs first" (Civil Code § 3068 as the Bureau cites it). Storage fees "cannot begin to accrue until all repairs estimated and approved by the customer have been completed" and the customer has been told the vehicle is ready. After a tear-down or inspection, fees may apply if the customer neither authorizes the repair nor collects the car within a stated time, which the Bureau recommends putting on the estimate; nothing accrues until the tear-down is finished and the itemized estimate given. In California no storage can accrue while approved repairs are under way or while a tear-down is unfinished, so a shop that bills storage from the day the car arrived has billed days the rule does not allow.

A towing authorization, where the dealer also tows, has to be on a form separate from the repair estimate (Vehicle Code § 22651.07(e), as the Bureau cites it). The Bureau has a further rule on storage rates proposed and not in force as of 2026-11-04, so the rate itself may get requirements of its own.

Other states differ, and most are silent on the day the clock starts; the rules pages hold what has been read. In Wrenchy the storage notice is an issued document, sent by the order's channel when the storage clock passes its grace.