How do I find out where my car has been towed?
Short answer
Work out who towed it first. In NSW, use Transport for NSW's Find My Car tool or call the Transport Management Centre on 131 700. Elsewhere, call the council that owns the street, the centre or building manager for a private car park, or the Police Assistance Line on 131 444 if police impounded it.
Verified · 9 cited sources
There is no national towed-car hotline, because four different bodies tow cars for four different reasons and each keeps its own records. A road authority or council tows from a clearway, bus lane or tow-away zone. A shopping centre, apartment block or private car park arranges its own tow through a contractor. Police impound a vehicle after hooning, unlicensed or drink driving. And a vehicle can be seized for being unregistered. Start with what the kerb looked like — the signage, the line marking, whether the land was public or private — because that is what tells you which number to ring.
NSW is the most self-service of the jurisdictions. The nsw.gov.au guidance on what to do if your car gets towed points you to the Find My Car tool, and says to contact the Transport Management Centre on 131 700 if the vehicle is not listed there. It also explains the part that surprises people: a clearway tow usually moves the car to a nearby legal parking space rather than to a yard, so once you find it you drive away and the tow-away charge — $251 on that page when we read it, and not varied by distance — arrives later by mail. A separate parking fine can still follow.
Councils and private landowners usually work through a contracted tow operator, and it is the operator, not the council, that holds the vehicle. The City of Port Phillip in Melbourne is a typical example: it directs drivers to Nationwide Towing's online impound lookup or to 134 869 with the registration number, and says towed vehicles are held at Collingwood. Other councils run the same arrangement with different contractors, so the council switchboard is the fastest route to the right yard. In NSW, what a tow operator may then charge is capped — NSW Fair Trading publishes maximum fees for light vehicles set under the Tow Truck Regulation 2020, and takes complaints on 13 32 20.
If police took the car, the paperwork tells you where it went. Queensland Police issue a Form 157 Impounding Notice or a Form 201 Immobilising Notice stating how long the vehicle is held and where it was towed; general enquiries go to Policelink on 131 444. Victoria Police run a Vehicle Impoundment Support Unit at Preston on (03) 8480 1600, with [email protected] as the alternative, and say the impoundment form names the storage location. WA Police run a Vehicle Impound Unit in East Perth, open 7am to 3pm on weekdays, with general enquiries on 9373 2440 and property and vehicle release on 6319 4530.
The other jurisdictions run the same pattern through their own police. Tasmania Police publish clamping and confiscation rules under which a vehicle may be held for at least 28 days on a first offence, and three months or longer for a repeat. In South Australia the Legal Services Commission's Law Handbook sets out the scheme under the Criminal Law (Clamping, Impounding and Forfeiture of Vehicles) Act 2007: police impound for 28 days, and the Commissioner of Police can apply to the Magistrates Court to extend that to a maximum of 90 days. The ACT and Northern Territory schemes sit in their road transport and traffic legislation, and the linked guide sets them out.
Before you drive to the yard, assemble what they will ask for. Victoria Police require 100 points of identification, proof of ownership if the vehicle is not registered in your name, and an ASIC company extract for a company-registered car, and state that they do not offer payment plans and require full payment on collection. Queensland Police require government photo identification, proof of ownership, and a release notice or written authority if someone else is collecting. Western Australia is explicit that the owner carries the towage and storage costs whether or not they were driving.
Finally, rule out the two possibilities that are not a tow at all. A financier can repossess a vehicle under a car loan, and a car can be stolen. If nobody has a record of towing it, report it to police on 131 444 so a theft report and event number exist — insurers ask for that number before they will move on a claim.
- NSW: Find My Car first, then the Transport Management Centre on 131 700
- Council or private car park: ring the council or the centre manager for the contracted tow operator
- Police impound: the impoundment notice names the yard; Policelink and state impound units confirm it
- Bring 100 points of ID and proof of ownership, and expect to pay in full on collection
- A NSW clearway tow moves the car to a nearby legal space; the tow-away charge arrives by mail later
- If no one towed it, report a theft to police on 131 444 and get the event number
Go deeper
People also ask
Sources & provenance
Facts verified
- 1.What to do if your car gets towed OfficialNSW GovernmentUsed for: Find My Car tool, Transport Management Centre on 131 700, that the car is moved to a nearby parking space, and the published tow-away charge
- 2.Your rights when your vehicle is towed RegulatorNSW Fair TradingUsed for: That NSW sets maximum charges for towing light vehicles, and the NSW Fair Trading contact line 13 32 20 for complaints about a tow operator
- 3.Tow truck fees for light vehicles OfficialNSW GovernmentUsed for: That the maximum tow truck charges for light vehicles are set under Part 5 of the Tow Truck Regulation 2020, and that separate maximums apply to towing, distance, out-of-hours work and daily storage
- 4.Vehicle impounds OfficialVictoria PoliceUsed for: Vehicle Impoundment Support Unit on (03) 8480 1600, the impound email address, the 100-point ID requirement and that no payment plans are offered
- 5.Vehicle impoundment OfficialQueensland Police ServiceUsed for: Form 157 Impounding Notice stating where the vehicle was towed, Policelink on 131 444, and the identification and release-notice requirements
- 6.Collect an impounded vehicle OfficialGovernment of Western AustraliaUsed for: WA Police Vehicle Impound Unit at East Perth, its 7am to 3pm weekday hours, general enquiries on 9373 2440 and property and vehicle release on 6319 4530, and that the vehicle owner is responsible for all towage and storage costs irrespective of who was driving
- 7.Towed vehicles: report or retrieve OfficialCity of Port PhillipUsed for: A worked council example — Nationwide Towing as the contracted operator, the online impound lookup and 134 869 line, and the Collingwood holding yard
- 8.Clamping, impounding, seizure and forfeiture of vehicles OfficialLegal Services Commission of South AustraliaUsed for: The South Australian scheme under the Criminal Law (Clamping, Impounding and Forfeiture of Vehicles) Act 2007, the 28-day police impoundment, and the Commissioner's power to apply to the Magistrates Court to extend it to 90 days
- 9.Vehicle clamping and confiscation OfficialTasmania PoliceUsed for: The offences that trigger clamping or impoundment in Tasmania, the minimum 28-day holding period on a first offence and three months or longer for a repeat
Not a source — AI-assisted analysis on this page
- AI-assisted analysis — four bodies, four sets of records — The organising idea of this page — that a towed car has one of four custodians, and that identifying which one comes before any phone call — is our synthesis across the NSW, council, police and consumer sources cited. None of them describes the four routes together or tells a reader to diagnose the custodian first; each addresses only its own. The observation that the operator rather than the council holds a council-ordered tow, and the closing advice to rule out repossession and theft when no body has a record, are also ours rather than statements any cited source makes.
The phone numbers, lookup tools, holding periods and collection requirements are lifted from the NSW Government, NSW Fair Trading, Victoria Police, Queensland Police, WA, City of Port Phillip, Tasmania Police and South Australian Law Handbook pages cited. The framing — that you must first identify which of four bodies towed the car, and that ruling out repossession and theft comes last — is our own reasoning across those sources rather than a statement any one of them makes, and is disclosed separately in the sources list. Tow-away charges, release fees, daily storage rates and impound-unit phone numbers are set separately by each road authority, council and police service and change regularly; the NSW figure quoted was on that page when we read it. Confirm the amount with the body holding your vehicle before you travel to collect it.
Facts on this page are taken from the sources listed above — Australian government departments, regulators, statutory bodies and official statistical releases. Comparisons, judgements and "which option suits whom" conclusions are AI-assisted analysis written over those sources; they are marked in the text and listed as an AI-analysis entry in the sources, not attributed to any authority. Rates, thresholds, fees and processing times change, often at the start of a financial year; figures are current as at the review date shown and should be confirmed with the responsible agency before you rely on them for money or legal decisions.