We reviewed the fees charged for vehicle towing and storage after an accident within Melbourne and the Mornington Peninsula.
Accident towing fees review 2021
-
Consultation paper6 July 2021
-
Draft report22 December 2021
-
Submissions closed11 February 2022
-
Final report1 April 2022
Overview
We reviewed the fees charged for vehicle towing and storage after an accident within Melbourne and the Mornington Peninsula.
Every four years, we conduct a review which recommends to the Minister for Roads:
- whether accident towing and storage fees are appropriate
- how accident towing and storage fees should be adjusted
- whether the fees for related services (such as salvage) should be regulated.
After receiving our recommendations, the minister may then make a determination on these fees.
Our review was for regular vehicles within Melbourne and the Mornington Peninsula only (known as the Melbourne controlled area). This means we did not review heavy vehicle fees, licence boundaries, the accident allocation scheme or accident towing fees outside this area.
Final report
Our final report outlines the basis for our recommendations to the Minister for Roads on accident towing, storage and salvage fees within Melbourne and the Mornington Peninsula.
We recommend:
- the current regulated accident towing fees are appropriate and will be increased in line with current indexation arrangements (Melbourne Transport consumer price index minus the productivity adjustment factor)
- the current regulated storage fees for the Melbourne controlled area are appropriate and will be increased in line with current indexation arrangements (Melbourne Transport consumer price index minus the productivity adjustment factor)
- the default productivity adjustment factor of 0.5 per cent should be applied
- the Minister for Roads should not make a determination on basic salvage fees under section 211 of the Accident Towing Services Act 2007.
Our assessment is primarily based on our benchmarking analysis (based on expert advice we received from Marsden Jacob), Department of Transport data and stakeholder feedback.
Current fees and charges
The current regulated fees in the Melbourne controlled area are outlined below.
|
Fee or charge description |
Charge |
|---|---|
|
Towing fees |
|
|
Base fee (including first 8km travel by tow truck) |
$227.40 |
|
Additional fee per kilometre beyond 8km |
$3.60 |
|
After hours surcharge* |
$77.60 |
|
Storage fees (charge per day) |
|
|
Car – under cover |
$25.70 |
|
Car – in car yard |
$17.40 |
|
Motorcycle – under cover |
$8.50 |
|
Motorcycle – in locked yard |
$5.40 |
* Applies 5pm to 8am Monday to Friday, 5pm to 8am Monday, and public holidays.
Got questions?
Contact us and we can help answer your questions about this project.
Resources
Final report
Draft report
Submissions to the draft report
We received two submissions to the draft report. One from the Victorian Automotive Chamber of Commerce (VACC) and one from the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA).
As well as our website, we published our draft report on Engage Victoria’s website where stakeholders could make a submission, leave general comments or raise questions. They could also email us their submissions.
Feedback covered the following areas:
- our consultation during the review
- consideration of an interim fee recommendation
- support for a cost-of-service approach
- the appropriateness of a benchmarking approach
- the application of a productivity adjustment factor
- consideration of changes to service standards and requirements.
Consultation paper
Submissions to the consultation paper
We received five submissions – three from members of the public, one from the Victorian Automotive Chamber of Commerce (VACC) and one from the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA).
As well as our website, we published our consultation paper on Engage Victoria’s website where stakeholders could make a submission, respond to specific consultation questions, leave general comments or raise questions. They could also email us their submissions.
Feedback covered the following areas:
- Level of fees and how they’re determined
- The impact of the coronavirus pandemic
- Consideration of salvage fees as part of the review
- The appropriateness of current service standards.