Also known as: vehicle exceptions · automobile exception · car exception
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A Fourth Amendment doctrine that allows law enforcement officers to search a vehicle without a warrant when they have probable cause to believe it contains contraband or evidence of a crime. The doctrine rests on the vehicle's ready mobility and the reduced expectation of privacy associated with automobiles compared to homes. Officers may search the vehicle and any containers that could hold the object of the search.
Officer Ramirez stops Vanessa Vinson for speeding and smells marijuana. He has probable cause at the roadside. Ramirez seizes the car, tows it to the station, and searches the trunk two hours later without a warrant, finding drugs. The search is valid because the initial probable cause supports the later stationhouse search.
Officers receive a tip that Vivian Vaughn keeps stolen goods in her car parked in the driveway next to her house. Without a warrant they walk onto the driveway and open the trunk. The search is invalid because the driveway is curtilage and the automobile exception does not justify entry onto protected residential property.
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Officer Torres stops Vincent Valdez and his passenger Valerie Viera. A trained dog alerts at the car door. Torres searches the vehicle and opens Valerie's purse on the back seat, finding pills. The search of the purse is lawful because the dog alert supplied probable cause to search the car and its containers.
During a traffic stop of Vaughn Valentine's truck, an officer sees a firearm in plain view on the floorboard while lawfully searching for drugs. The officer seizes the gun. The seizure is valid because the item was discovered in plain view during a search justified by probable cause under the vehicle exception.
Police develop probable cause that Vincente Vukovic's car contains evidence but the vehicle sits parked in his driveway for days. Officers tow and search it without a warrant. The search is valid because the initial probable cause at the time of seizure supports the later search even after impoundment.
Officers stop a motor home driven by Venture Holdings employees on the highway and develop probable cause that it contains contraband. They search the vehicle without a warrant. The search is lawful because the motor home was readily mobile and possessed the attributes of an automobile at the time of the stop.
Yes. When officers show that a narcotics-detection dog completed a bona fide training program and holds current certification, the dog's alert ordinarily supplies probable cause to search the vehicle and its containers, absent specific evidence that undermines the dog's reliability.
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Yes. Once probable cause exists to search the vehicle, officers may open any container that could reasonably hold the object of the search, including sealed or labeled containers such as file boxes.
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No. The exception does not apply when the vehicle is situated in a way that objectively indicates it is being used as a residence, such as being elevated on blocks or connected to utilities at a fixed site.
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No. The automobile exception does not authorize officers to enter the curtilage of a home to search a vehicle without a warrant. Separate justification is required for the entry onto protected residential property.
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…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…