Also known as: car exceptions · automobile exception · vehicle exception
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A doctrine permitting law enforcement officers to conduct a warrantless search of a readily mobile vehicle when probable cause exists to believe the vehicle contains contraband or evidence of a crime. The reduced expectation of privacy in vehicles and their inherent mobility supply the justification for proceeding without a warrant. Officers may search the entire vehicle and any containers within it that could reasonably hold the object of the search.
Curtis Cannon was stopped on the highway after officers received a reliable tip that his sedan contained stolen electronics. Officers had probable cause at the roadside but chose to tow the car to the station rather than search on the spot. Three hours later they opened the trunk and found the electronics inside a duffel bag. The evidence is admissible because the initial probable cause justified the later stationhouse search.
Cameron Cruz parked his van in the driveway immediately beside his house. Officers with probable cause to believe the van held illegal firearms walked onto the driveway and opened the rear doors without a warrant. The search violated the Fourth Amendment because the driveway formed part of the home's curtilage and required separate justification.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Cody Callahan drove a pickup with passenger Christine Castro. Officers developed probable cause that the truck carried narcotics. They opened Castro's closed purse found on the front seat and discovered pills. The search of the passenger's container was lawful under the automobile exception.
Carlos Castillo was stopped while driving a sedan. Officers had probable cause to believe the car contained heroin. They opened a paper bag and a zippered leather pouch in the trunk and recovered the drugs. The automobile exception authorized the complete search of every container that could hold the contraband.
Camila Cervantes was pulled over in her station wagon. Officers developed probable cause to search for stolen jewelry. While searching the passenger compartment they saw a distinctive bracelet in plain view on the floorboard. The bracelet was lawfully seized as part of the valid automobile search.
Canyon Construction's delivery van sat parked in a residential driveway for two days. Officers developed probable cause that it contained illegal chemicals but obtained no warrant before searching. The search was invalid because the vehicle was not readily mobile at the time of the search.
Yes. When probable cause to search existed at the time of seizure, officers may conduct the search even several days later without obtaining a warrant.
Supporting sources
Yes. Once probable cause supports a vehicle search, officers may open containers belonging to passengers that could hold the suspected contraband.
Supporting sources
No. Officers may not enter the curtilage of a home, such as a driveway immediately adjacent to the house, to search a vehicle without separate justification.
Supporting sources
No. The exception requires both mobility and a reduced expectation of privacy. A motor home located at a fixed residential site does not qualify.
Supporting sources
Officers may either search immediately or seize and tow the vehicle for a later search at the station without a warrant.
Supporting sources
…imagination can this be made into a case where "it is not practicable to secure a warrant," Carroll, supra , at 153, and the "automobile exception," despite its label, is simply irrelevant.[^maj-19] Since Carroll would not have justified a warrantless search of the Pontiac at the time Coolidge was arrested, the later search at the…