The impound lot

When the police take your car, it does not vanish into a black hole. It sits physically

in the impound yard at Mission Row or in Sandy Shores, where everyone can see it — including you.

The legal route is to drive to the depot and pay the fee. If the officer set a time

lock, it has to run out first. That is the safe way, and the car is clean afterwards.

The other route is to take it yourself.

The car can be stolen — by anyone

A car in the yard is locked like any other stranger's car. It has to be broken into and

hotwired, and that applies to you too, even though it is your own car. There are no

keys to be had.

Nor is the owner the only one who can try. If your car is in the yard, someone else can

just as easily drive it out from under you — and you can do the same to them.

While the car sits in the yard it cannot be damaged. Nobody can blow it up while you

think about what to do.

The alarm goes off

Drive a car out of the yard and the alarm sounds immediately: a siren on site that

everyone nearby can hear, and a call to every officer on duty with a marker on the map.

You are not leaving quietly.

It is not free, even if you get away

Two things follow the car:

• The fee does not disappear. It stays as a debt on the vehicle and must be paid the

next time you collect the car legally anywhere. You have postponed the bill, not

deleted it.

• The plate becomes wanted. Police patrol cars scan plates in traffic automatically,

and if you drive past an officer they are notified at once and can see exactly which

car it is.

Pay the debt and the wanted status is dropped. Then the car is clean.

How long does it stay there?

As long as you are online — and for 30 minutes after you log off. That is the same rule

as for parked cars. After that it goes into the depot, and the legal route is the only

one left.

That also means someone can still get to it for half an hour after you have gone.

Treat it as roleplay. Stealing a car from the police yard is a scene, not a shortcut

— it is built so that someone is meant to notice.