Canberra's Abandoned Car Problem Worsens, Tow Operators Report Surge

For every abandoned car visible on Canberra roads, tow truck operator Josh Harrison believes several more are hidden in publicly accessible underground car parks.

Mr Harrison believes apartment basements and commercial parking lots have become repositories for cars that are broken down, uneconomical to repair, or back-of-mind.

"Someone drives a car there for whatever reason, it's there for a day or two, it doesn't start … so, they leave it there for a little while and then it just gets forgotten," he said.

Mr Harrison is not alone in his frustration.

Ms Sweeney established TNA Towing in 2019 after working in the local industry for more than a decade.

Similarly for Mr Harrison, requests to his business, Underground Towing & Salvage, to remove suspected abandoned vehicles had doubled in the past 12 to 18 months — now sitting at about 10 per week.

He considers cost-of-living pressures a major factor in the increase, saying some motorists leave broken-down or damaged vehicles because they cannot afford towing, repairs or disposal — and more motorists are forgoing comprehensive insurance, leaving them with fewer options after a crash.

Mr Harrison believes fluctuating scrap prices are also playing a role.

"Scrap prices have gone down significantly," he said.

"Obviously, people want to get money for the vehicle and then when it's not enough … they just kind of put it in the basket for later."

Ms Sweeney is seeing the same trend.

"I do believe that as comprehensive car insurance [prices] go up … and people are living week to week, [it] isn't a necessity anymore," Ms Sweeney said.

"Just look at the Tuggeranong Parkway, the Majura Parkway; any day of the week there's two or three vehicles just sitting there waiting for someone to take them away because the owner has no other option other than to just part with it.

"They get worse and worse in condition, as they stay on the roadside longer and longer. So, often they'll be set on fire, their windows will be smashed."

Declaring a vehicle abandoned takes time

Even when a vehicle seems genuinely abandoned and should be removed, the process is often far more complicated than calling a tow truck.

"Sometimes, we can't even just go and move them off our own back to make the public safer because obviously it's illegal for us to just remove someone's car because we feel like it," Mr Harrison said.

"I definitely believe that the process or timeline of the system, taking care of it, could be brought forward."

Under the ACT's Uncollected Goods Act, vehicles abandoned on private property must be dealt with by the body corporate or landowner.

They are required to hold the vehicle for 14 days and make reasonable efforts to identify and contact the owner.

Public unleased land — such as roadsides, nature strips, and government parks — is regulated under the Litter Act 2004 and Road Transport (Safety and Traffic Management) Act 1999, which allow abandoned vehicles to be towed by Access Canberra.

Access Canberra's Senior Director of Construction, Planning, and Land Use Regulation, Bob Alford, said it responds to abandoned vehicles "on a very frequent basis".

"A lot of the time, we have to triage the complaints and then actually ascertain whether or not the vehicle is in fact abandoned, or it's just been left at a location while people have been away from the vehicle for an extended period of time," he said.

Before formally declaring a vehicle abandoned and arranging removal, "authorised officers must have reasonable grounds and conduct thorough enquiries to determine ownership and intent", according to the government.

Mr Alford said the ACT "doesn't actually have a set time frame" for those enquiries.

"We usually are running … around about four, maybe six weeks before we can actually get a full resolution, particularly where we have difficulty locating and contacting the owner."

Government figures don't account for every abandoned vehicle

Between 1 January 2022 and 6 July 2026, 11,574 reports of an abandoned vehicle were lodged through the government's Fix My Street portal.

Of the roughly 1,300 abandoned vehicle reports submitted last financial year, only a fraction — around 160 — qualified for contracted removal.

Mr Alford said the figure had not "really changed" over the past few years and the ACT government had previously said many reports were resolved through "contact with owners who may have experienced breakdowns or registration issues".

But the government figures do not account for every abandoned vehicle.

"A single submission may relate to multiple abandoned vehicles, [and] it is possible for multiple individuals to make a submission about the same vehicle," an ACT government spokesperson said.

Reports are investigated by the City and Environment Directorate's licensing and compliance unit, which employs 16 compliance officers.

They assess and respond to complaints related to illegal camping and dumping, overhanging foliage, footpath obstructions, moveable signs, land permits, and shopping trolleys, as well as abandoned vehicles.

Some reports may also have related to genuinely abandoned vehicles that were ultimately removed privately — by tow truck and cash-for-cars operators, and insurers — before the ACT government completed its investigation process.

The number of Fix My Street reports of abandoned vehicles almost halved after anonymous reporting was removed in March 2024, but Mr Alford said the change has improved investigations rather than discouraged reporting.

Ms Sweeney is not so sure.

Ms Sweeney said motorists should seek advice before abandoning a vehicle.

"I had to tow a car the other day for a woman, who had been in an accident. She didn't have insurance; the guy driving didn't have insurance [and it] was in my local area so I just helped her out and towed her car home for free," she said.