VIC towing rules
Victorian towing fees and allocation
You run trucks in Victoria. Inside the controlled area the allocation centre decides who attends, and the accident towing maximums are gazetted every year, so the figure you may charge moves whether you noticed or not.
Regulator: Department of Transport and Planning, Victoria. Accident Towing Services Act 2007 (Vic). Victoria Government Gazette No. S 257, 22 May 2026. Figures last checked .
How much can a tow truck charge for an accident tow in VIC?
In Victoria the maximum charge for towing a light vehicle from an accident is $289.60 including GST, inside the controlled area. Distance beyond 8 km adds $4.60 per kilometre. Work outside 8am to 5pm on a weekday adds a flat $98.80. These are maximums set under the Accident Towing Services Act 2007 (Vic).
Caps apply to accident tows of motor cars under 4.0 tonnes inside a declared controlled area. Outside the controlled area there is no gazetted maximum.
| Accident tow, light vehicle the tow including the first kilometres, before after-hours is added | $289.60 |
|---|---|
| Distance beyond 8 km inside the controlled area | $4.60 per km |
| Outside 8am to 5pm on a weekday A flat amount, not a percentage | plus $98.80 |
- Source: Gazette S 257 (22 May 2026), notice under s212H of the Accident Towing Services Act 2007, applying from .
- Last checked .
- Transport Victoria, information for the towing industry, Essential Services Commission, accident towing
- This table may be reused with credit to TowConnect, under CC BY 4.0.
TowConnect warns you before you save a job priced above the cap, and offers the capped figure in one tap.
How much can you charge to store a vehicle in VIC?
In Victoria the maximum daily storage charge for a light vehicle is $22.20 including GST, locked yard, per day. A motorcycle is $6.80 per day. The gazette prints storage by cover rather than geography. The figures here are the locked-yard rates, which are the stricter of the two.
| Light vehicle, locked yard, per day | $22.20 per day |
|---|---|
| Motorcycle, locked yard, per day | $6.80 per day |
The gazette prints storage by cover rather than geography. The figures here are the locked-yard rates, which are the stricter of the two.
- Source: Gazette S 257 (22 May 2026), notice under s212H of the Accident Towing Services Act 2007.
- Last checked .
- Transport Victoria, information for the towing industry, Essential Services Commission, accident towing
- This table may be reused with credit to TowConnect, under CC BY 4.0.
One tap fills the capped rate on your yard's rate card, converted to your ex-tax basis, and the nightly accrual takes it from there.
The VIC caps and records.
Towing a light vehicle from an accident in Victoria is capped at $289.60 including GST inside the controlled area, and that figure covers the tow including the first kilometres, before after-hours is added. Distance is charged on top beyond 8 km, at $4.60 a kilometre. Work outside 8am to 5pm on a weekday adds a flat $98.80 to the tow. Storage of a light vehicle is capped at $22.20, locked yard, per day. These figures come from Gazette S 257 (22 May 2026), applying from , and were last checked . Accident work inside the controlled area is allocated by a scheme, and its job number ties the tow to it. Alongside the money, a VIC operator keeps seven kinds of record for this work, each of them listed on this page. Regulator: Department of Transport and Planning, Victoria.
What records must a VIC tow operator keep?
Victoria prescribes what each licensed tow truck's records must contain, not a register form. At the truck's depot, for at least a year after the last entry, keep invoice copies, every authority to tow on paper and in date order, each driver's details, the manager's details and the salvage photographs. Complaints are recorded too, and given to the Department on request.
- Copies of invoices for towing and storing accident damaged vehicles
- Every authority to tow, completed or partly completed, on paper and in date order
- The name, address, accreditation number and driver licence number of each person who drives the truck
- The name, address and accreditation number of the person who manages the business
- Salvage photographs, each linked to the authority to tow it belongs to
- Every complaint, recorded and given to the Department on request
- Inspection and maintenance records for each licensed tow truck and its equipment, kept for two years
TowConnect does not yet produce these records the way Victoria lists them. The four approved register forms it generates are the NSW ones.
- Source: Accident Towing Services Regulations 2019 (Vic) regs 10, 19, 20 and 43, and the Accident Towing Services Act 2007 (Vic) ss 90, 142 and 143.
- Last checked .
- Accident Towing Services Regulations 2019 (Vic), Accident Towing Services Act 2007 (Vic)
How TowConnect meets the law.
| VIC requires | TowConnect |
|---|---|
| Accident work inside the controlled area is allocated, and each tow carries a job number. | TowConnect Arrival mode records that the job came from an allocation scheme, and the allocation job number sits on the job. |
| Gazetted maximums are inclusive of GST and change each year. | TowConnect Each gazette is stored as a new dated entry. A job priced last year still reconciles against last year's figures. |
| An accident tow needs a signed authority to tow in the prescribed form, from a bound book numbered in series. | TowConnect The authority to tow is Victoria's prescribed paper form, and it stays paper. TowConnect records its number against the job, beside the photos and the customer's signature on the driver's phone, so the two agree. |
| Charges outside the controlled area are not capped. | TowConnect TowConnect warns only where a cap exists, and says so rather than inventing one. |
VIC, specifically
Who decides which operator attends an accident in Victoria?
Inside the controlled area a Victorian operator does not chase accident work. The allocation centre rosters it and issues a job number, and that number is what ties the tow to the scheme. It is the reason TowConnect asks how the job arrived before it asks anything else.
What is changing
The Essential Services Commission has said it no longer reviews accident towing and storage charges after the 2026 amendments. The gazetted figures above are current. When whatever replaces that review publishes new amounts, they become a new dated entry and every workspace gets them at once.
One product, each state's rules.
NSW
New South Wales
Dollar caps on accident towing and storage, and five records Fair Trading wants kept.
QLD
Queensland
Maximums written in fee units, free storage first, and written notice before the daily rate.
WA
Western Australia
Capped crash tow and storage in Perth and Peel, with penalties for charging above.
General information, not legal advice. Figures shown are the ones the app uses, with the instrument and the date they came from.