Tow truck scheme

The Tow Truck Act 2023 and Tow Truck Regulation 2024, provide the framework for crash related towing, the towing of police seized vehicles from off-street regulated parking areas, and the towing of vehicles from private property within regulated areas in Queensland.

The legislation also provides the framework and requirements for accredited drivers and assistants using authorised tow trucks. Drivers and assistants must be employed by an accredited tow truck operator.

The Act provides for the accreditation of:

Tow truck drivers—authorised to drive/operate a tow truck in a regulated area.
Tow truck assistants—authorised to operate or assist with the operation of a tow truck in a regulated area. A tow truck assistant is not authorised to drive a tow truck.
Tow truck operators—authorised to operate a tow truck business.
Authorised tow truck vehicles—tow truck/s operating in regulated areas in accordance with scheme requirements and under an accredited tow truck operator.

The main purpose of accrediting tow truck operators, drivers and assistants is to regulate the:

towing of damaged vehicles from the scene of an incident
towing of vehicles seized by police from off-street regulated parking areas
towing of vehicles parked on private property
subsequent handling and storage of those vehicles
holding of property found in the vehicle, in safe custody, until it can be returned to the vehicle owner
maximum fees that may be charged when towing in a regulated area.

The scheme does not regulate vehicle breakdown towing or trade towing.

On this page:

Regulated areas

The tow truck scheme operates in the following regulated areas:

The Shires of: Beaudesert, Boonah, Caboolture, Esk, Gatton, Kilcoy, Laidley, Maroochy, Noosa, Pine Rivers and Redland.
The Cities of: Brisbane, Bundaberg, Cairns, Caloundra, Gold Coast, Hervey Bay, Ipswich, Logan, Mackay, Maryborough, Redcliffe, Rockhampton and Toowoomba.
The areas made up of the parishes of:
- Clement and Hinchinbrook in the county of Gray
- Beor, Bohle, Coonambelah, Ettrick, Halifax, Hervey, Lansdowne, Magnetic, Margenta, Rokeby, Ross, Stuart and Wyoming in the county of Elphinstone.

Note: For the purpose of the scheme the above pre-15 March 2008 local government areas (pre-amalgamation) are taken as the current regulated areas.

You can view detailed maps of regulated areas through the Queensland Globe. Open Queensland Globe and add the transportation layer and select the check box for tow truck regulated areas. You can select the search topic to search an address or zoom to see a location. Regulated areas are shown in yellow.

Maximum regulated towing charges

Goods and services tax (GST) notice

The amount shown includes goods and services tax.

The Tow Truck Regulation 2024, provides the maximum charges that apply to towing a damaged vehicle from a crash and towing a vehicle from private property in regulated areas.

Crash towing maximum regulated towing fee:

$419.05—for the first 50km
$8.35—for each kilometre over 50km.

Private property towing maximum regulated fees:

$290.05—for release from the holding yard,
$174.05—for the onsite release of the vehicle after it is secured ready for towing,
$29.00—per day for storing a private property towed vehicle in the holding yard.

Note: Call-out fees and other fees such as for taking steps to locate the owner, travelling to the place where the vehicle is located, allowing the vehicle owner access to the vehicle at the holding yard (within business hours) and other incidental fees cannot be charged. A property owner and motorist cannot both be charged for towing the vehicle.

The maximum towing charge includes:

1 hour working time at the scene (e.g. loading vehicle on tow truck, cleaning up broken glass and other debris)
transportation of the vehicle from the crash to the agreed destination
transportation of the private property towed vehicle to the accredited tow truck operators nearest holding yard with sufficient capacity
72 hours storage in holding yard.

Legislation

The Tow Truck Act 2023 and Tow Truck Regulation 2024 provides for:

accreditation of operators, drivers and assistants
authorised tow trucks
obligations and standards of conduct for accreditation holders
amending, suspending and cancelling accreditations
records/towing authorities/towing consents
towing and storage requirements
tow truck specifications
maximum towing charges
accreditation fees
tow truck regulated areas
regulated towing services offences.

The Tow Truck Act 2023 and the Tow Truck Regulation 2024 legislation can be found on the Office of the Queensland Parliamentary Counsel website.

Private property parking and towing

Private property parking signage guidelines

Appropriate signage is integral to the lawful removal of vehicles from private property. It is recommended that property owners and occupiers provide fair notice to motorists in the form of signage, before arrangements are made for unauthorised vehicles to be towed from the property. This may reduce the risk of litigation brought against occupiers in the case of an unlawful removal.

Clear, highly visible signs with comprehensive information are important to establish the legal basis to have vehicles removed and may, in fact, reduce the need to remove any vehicles if motorists understand where they can and cannot park and on what conditions.

To assist private property owners and occupiers with how to provide clear signage, guidance on the recommended signage at private property parking locations is provided below.

Private Property Signage Guideline

Tow truck hotline

Phone 1800 681 636 to provide the department with information about tow truck operator towing practices.

Last updated 27 August 2024

Fee increase

On 1 July 2024, most fees were frozen at their current level for 1 year to ease cost-of-living pressures for Queenslanders.

Tow truck scheme maximum regulated fees have increased by 3.4%. The freeze does not apply to these fees as they are collected by private tow truck operator accreditation holders.

You can contact [email protected] to find out more about the increases on specific fees.

Fine increase

On 1 July 2024 our fines and penalties increased by 4.2% in line with the government's indexation policy.