Can the towing company force the owner to pick up the impounded car The owner abandoned it already?

The laws of towing and impounding vary from state to state. In Washington state, the towing company can not force anyone to redeem a vehicle from the impound lot. But after 21 days they can auction the vehicle to the highest bidder. The price that the vehicle sells for at the auction is deducted from the amount owed to the towing company. The balance DOES have to be paid by the registered owner, or it will be turned over to collections. Also according to RCW 46.55 the last registered owner of record is responsible for the fees of towing and storage of an abandoned vehicle. Failure to pay will result in a traffic infraction (failure to redeem) under 46.63. A lean will be placed against the registered owners license and any attempt to renew his or her license will denied until the deficiency and all penalties (collection fees) have been satisfied under RCW 46.63 and RCW 46.55.140. Once again these are Washington State laws, but most other states are similar to this. The other method used by some states is that the towing company is not required to auction the abandoned vehicle and after a certain amount of time, it is awarded to them as payment. These states usually to not permit the tow company to turn the balance over to collections and that would be the end of it. Once again you would need to check the towing and impounding laws of your particular state to find out for certain what their policy is.