WA towing rules
WA towing caps and penalties
You run trucks in Western Australia. The towing regime started on 10 January 2025; it is the newest of the four, and charging above the cap is an offence with the sharpest penalties of any state here.
Regulator: Department of Transport and Major Infrastructure, Western Australia. Towing Services Act 2024 (WA). Towing Services Regulations 2025 (WA). Figures last checked .
How much can a tow truck charge for an accident tow in WA?
In Western Australia the maximum charge for towing a light vehicle from an accident is $523 including GST, in Perth and Peel. Distance beyond 50 km adds $4.75 per kilometre. Work outside 8am to 5pm on a weekday (weekends and public holidays count as after hours) adds a flat $149. These are maximums set under the Towing Services Act 2024 (WA).
Capped charges apply in Perth and Peel. Outside those areas the standard is that a charge must not be unreasonable, with no numeric maximum.
| Accident tow, light vehicle the crash tow of a light vehicle or motorcycle and its first kilometres, before after-hours and any recovery are added | $523 |
|---|---|
| Distance beyond 50 km in Perth and Peel | $4.75 per km |
| Outside 8am to 5pm on a weekday (weekends and public holidays count as after hours) A flat amount, not a percentage | plus $149 |
- Source: Towing Services Regulations 2025 (WA) r49 and r54, as amended by the Towing Services Amendment Regulations 2026 (SL 2026/53), applying from 1 July 2026.
- Last checked .
- WA Legislation, the regulations in force, Transport WA, capped fees and maximum charges, Transport WA, towing industry reforms
- 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 WA?
In Western Australia the maximum daily storage charge for a light vehicle is $27 including GST, Perth and Peel, per day. A motorcycle is $13.50 per day. A one-off administration charge is also capped by the regulations.
| Light vehicle, Perth and Peel, per day | $27 per day |
|---|---|
| Motorcycle, Perth and Peel, per day | $13.50 per day |
A one-off administration charge is also capped by the regulations.
- Source: Towing Services Regulations 2025 (WA) r49 and r54, as amended by the Towing Services Amendment Regulations 2026 (SL 2026/53), applying from 1 July 2026.
- Last checked .
- WA Legislation, the regulations in force, Transport WA, capped fees and maximum charges, Transport WA, towing industry reforms
- 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 WA caps and records.
Towing a light vehicle from an accident in Western Australia is capped at $523 including GST in Perth and Peel, and that figure covers the crash tow of a light vehicle or motorcycle and its first kilometres, before after-hours and any recovery are added. Distance is charged on top beyond 50 km, at $4.75 a kilometre. Work outside 8am to 5pm on a weekday (weekends and public holidays count as after hours) adds a flat $149 to the tow. Storage of a light vehicle is capped at $27, Perth and Peel, per day. These figures come from Towing Services Regulations 2025 (WA), applying from , and were last checked . Alongside the money, a WA operator keeps ten kinds of record for this work, each of them listed on this page. Regulator: Department of Transport and Major Infrastructure, Western Australia.
What records must a WA tow operator keep?
Western Australia's regulations list what a towing business keeps, and DTMI sets it out as four registers: towing workers, tow trucks, crash site attendance and towing, and the storage yard. Its mandatory fields must appear; the layout is yours. Invoices, photographs, including those showing why a recovery was needed, complaints and the business's copy of each Authority to Tow are kept two years; dashcam footage three months.
- A towing worker register: each worker's name and Australian driver licence number
- A tow truck register: each truck's make and model, number plate and tow truck class
- A crash site attendance and towing register, for every attendance whether or not a vehicle is towed
- A storage yard register: each vehicle in and out, any move, and every access to a stored vehicle
- The business's copy of every Authority to Tow, on paper at the storage yard
- A copy of every invoice for towing and storage
- Each authorisation statement, where Main Roads authorised the tow
- Photographs before handling and after unloading, and photographs showing why any recovery was needed
- Dashboard camera recordings of every crash site attendance, kept three months
- Every complaint and how it was resolved
TowConnect does not yet produce these registers the way Western Australia lists them. The four approved register forms it generates are the NSW ones.
- Source: Towing Services Regulations 2025 (WA) rr 13, 16, 27, 28, 35 and 49, the Towing Services Act 2024 (WA) s 40, and the approved manner and form for record keeping.
- Last checked .
- WA Legislation, the regulations in force, WA Legislation, the Towing Services Act 2024, Transport WA, record keeping and reporting
How TowConnect meets the law.
| WA requires | TowConnect |
|---|---|
| Charging above the maximum is an offence. | TowConnect The cap is checked as the price is typed, in the office and at the scene, with a one-tap correction to the capped figure. |
| A recovery may be charged only with photographs showing why it was necessary. | TowConnect Scene photos, a damage ticksheet and a condition report are captured on the driver's phone before loading. |
| A crash tow needs a signed Authority to Tow on the approved T1 form. | TowConnect The Authority to Tow is Western Australia's approved T1 paper form, and the business's copy stays on paper at the yard. TowConnect records its number against the job, beside the photos and the customer's signature on the driver's phone, so the two agree. |
| Capped charges apply only in Perth and Peel. | TowConnect Outside the capped area TowConnect says there is no cap rather than inventing one. |
| Storage is capped per day. | TowConnect One tap fills the state's capped daily rate on the yard's rate card, converted to your ex-tax basis. |
WA, specifically
Where the cap has teeth.
Charging above the capped crash tow rate in Western Australia is an offence, and the penalty is measured against the business, not the invoice. That is the whole argument for a warning that fires while the price is being typed rather than after the customer has seen it.
Penalties for charging above the maximum: up to $12,000 for an individual and $60,000 for a body corporate.
One product, each state's rules.
NSW
New South Wales
Dollar caps on accident towing and storage, and five records Fair Trading wants kept.
VIC
Victoria
Gazetted maximums inside the controlled area, and the allocation centre that decides who attends.
QLD
Queensland
Maximums written in fee units, free storage first, and written notice before the daily rate.
General information, not legal advice. Figures shown are the ones the app uses, with the instrument and the date they came from.