Part I of this post ended by noting that, like the racing forfeiture provisions in G.S. 20-141.3—and unlike the DWI seizure and forfeiture laws—the new felony speeding to elude seizure and forfeiture provisions in G.S. 20-141.5 fail to specify that payment of towing and storage costs is required to obtain the release of a motor vehicle before sale, giving rise to the question of who bears the towing and storage costs when a motor vehicle is seized but not sold. Cf. G.S. 20-28.3(e), (e2), (e3), and (n) (making “payment of all towing and storage charges” a condition of a motor vehicle’s release). Perhaps the legislature’s failure to address this issue reflects the view that an entity in the regular business of towing and storing motor vehicles that contracts with a sheriff to tow and store vehicles seized pursuant to G.S. 20-141.5 acquires a possessory lien for reasonable charges for towing and storage. See G.S. 44A-2(d) (providing that “[a]ny person who . . . tows[] or stores motor vehicles in the ordinary course of the person's business pursuant to an express or implied contract with an owner or legal possessor of the motor vehicle, except for a motor vehicle seized pursuant to G.S. 20‑28.3, has a lien upon the motor vehicle for reasonable charges for such . . . towing [and] storing”); State v. Davy, 100 N.C. App. 551, 561 (1990) (recognizing that a private storage facility acquired a lien for storage fees for a truck impounded as an item of evidence [...]
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