Car Towed Malaysia 2026: Find It, Get It Back, the Fees

You walk back to where you parked and find a dry rectangle of tarmac where your car used to be. Walao eh. Before you assume the worst, know that Malaysian law gives several different bodies a way to move a car — a city council, the police, JPJ, your condo’s management corporation, an expressway concessionaire — and a finance company can take it back under a separate Act. Each one keeps the car somewhere different, charges differently, and runs a different clock.

This guide takes them in the order to check: who took it, where it is, what to bring, what it costs, and where to complain. It draws on the Road Transport Act 1987 in the Attorney General’s Chambers’ updated text as at 15 October 2023, three councils’ own towing pages, the strata by-laws, JPJ’s and PDRM’s own pages, PIAM’s consumer material and the Hire-Purchase Act 1967. Where no official page prints a figure, none is printed here. The crash itself — the scene, the police report and the claim — is in this site’s guide to what to do after a car accident in Malaysia.

Quick Answer: call the enforcement depot of the council where you parked before anything else — DBKL’s towed-vehicle claims counter runs 24 hours, and MBJB lets you search its removal records by registration number online. Under section 48, the Road Transport Act requires written notice to the owner within 24 hours of a removal and gives 1 month from that notice to claim, and forfeits an unclaimed car after 12 months; a council tow-away under section 65 runs on a longer clock, covered below. What you pay depends on the council: for a car DBKL publishes RM50 for clamping, RM100 for removal and RM100 a day for storage, while MBJB publishes RM120 for towing, RM15 for the first day and RM5 a day after. If no council, police station, JPJ office, management office or finance company has it, report it stolen at a police station.

• The first call: the council depot, not the police.
• The clock: 4 hours to claim a clamped car before it can be towed; storage is charged by the day.
• The trap at an accident: a tow truck nobody sent. Get the authorised operator’s name and registration number from your insurer and wait for that truck.

Who took itWhere it isWhat to bring

Six ways a car leaves its parking bay, and who each answers to

The law hands the power to move a car to different people for different reasons, and the reason decides where the car goes and who you pay.

A council, the police or a JPJ officer, for obstruction. Section 48(2) of the Road Transport Act 1987 says that where a car is left on a road in a position likely to cause danger, obstruction or undue inconvenience, a police officer, a road transport officer or “any appropriate authority” may clamp its wheel or move it to another road or place named in a notice, where it stays at the owner’s risk. Section 67 defines that authority by road: a local authority declared for the purpose, the Dato Bandar in Kuala Lumpur, the State Government elsewhere, the Highway Authority’s Director General on its roads, and Perbadanan Putrajaya in Putrajaya.

Councils also tow under their own parking orders made under the Act. Kuala Lumpur’s 2016 order lets the Datuk Bandar remove or clamp any car parked in breach of it, and removes any car left in a bay for more than 1 day after the paid time runs out. Subang Jaya’s order allows immediate towing of a car parked in breach of its two-hour bay rules.

Anyone on that list, for a broken-down or abandoned car. Section 65 covers vehicles that have broken down, after an accident or otherwise, or been left in an obstructive position. In the updated text as at 15 October 2023, the police, road transport officers, the Dato Bandar, Perbadanan Putrajaya, the head of a city or municipal council, the Highway Authority’s Director General and any expressway concession company he has authorised in writing may all have such a car removed. The Ministry of Transport’s older English copy of the Act lists no city or municipal councils here; it predates the current wording.

Police and JPJ, to identify a driver or stop an offence. Section 64 is a seizure with its own release rules, covered further down. Your condo’s management corporation can tow or clamp under by-law 25 of the strata by-laws, and a finance company can repossess under the Hire-Purchase Act 1967. Neither leaves the car in a council depot.

If none of these has it, treat it as stolen — the last section before the verdict explains where that report goes.

The notices the law says you must be given

For a clamp or tow under section 48, the Road Transport Act sets out a sequence.

• A clamp: the officer must give the owner written notice immediately. The owner, or anyone with a claim to the car, has 4 hours from the time of the notice to turn up and ask for it to be released. With no claim in that time, the car may be towed.
• A tow: the officer must give the owner written notice within 24 hours, telling the owner to come and claim the car within 1 month of the date of that notice.
• Release: on a claim, the car may be released once the clamping, removal and detention fees prescribed by the Minister are paid.
• Nobody comes: a car not claimed within 12 months of the date of removal is forfeited, and ownership passes to the Director General.

The other routes run on different clocks. A broken-down or abandoned car removed under section 65 gets a written notice “with reasonable despatch”; if nobody claims it within 3 months, the officer may, after giving 1 month’s notice in the Gazette, sell it by public auction. Any surplus after the fees goes to the owner, and is forfeited if unclaimed for 12 months. A car seized under section 64 also carries a written notice, and if it is unclaimed after 3 months the officer refers it to a Magistrate for an order on forfeiture or disposal.

Council parking orders can copy the same pattern with their own twist. Subang Jaya’s repeats the 4-hour and 1-month steps, but says the fee is whatever the council sets under the order, and that an unclaimed car vests in the council rather than the Director General.

The Act addresses every one of these notices to the owner, not to whoever was driving.

Finding the car before the storage fees pile up

Speed matters for one plain reason: storage is charged by the day. At DBKL’s published rate, every day a car stays in the depot adds RM100.

Kuala Lumpur. DBKL tows cars that obstruct traffic, through patrols and public complaints, to the towed-vehicle depot run by its Enforcement Department on Jalan Tun Razak, 50400 Kuala Lumpur. The claims counter runs 24 hours on 03-4024 4424; the administrative counter is 03-4026 7223, and the page gives a WhatsApp number, 013-666 3255. The Enforcement Department’s radio room also runs 24 hours, on 03-4010 6273.

Broken-down and abandoned vehicles go to DBKL’s Salak Selatan depot, Lot 4428 Stor Jalan Besar Salak Selatan, 57100 Kuala Lumpur, open Monday to Thursday from 8.00 am to 10.00 pm and on Friday from 8.00 am to 12.15 pm. Its telephone field on the page is blank apart from “603-”.

Johor Bahru. MBJB is the one of the three that offers an online lookup. Its FAQ points to MBJBSpot and to an online lookup, the “My VIS” vehicle-removal record, searchable by registration number; the counter is at the Enforcement Department, Aras Bawah, Bangunan Jotic, Jalan Ayer Molek, 80888 Johor Bahru.

Penang Island. MBPP’s towed-vehicle depot is at No. 23, Jalan Timah, 10150 George Town, with 16-hour business hours and a claims counter on 04-229 1179.

Every other council publishes its own arrangements, or none, and its enforcement department is the place to ask.

The police. PDRM’s online checks cover police report decisions, traffic summonses, recruitment and general licences — not towed vehicles. The channels it does publish are its stations and the state operations rooms listed in its directory — Kuala Lumpur’s is 03-2146 0585. During the December 2021 floods, PDRM’s Criminal Investigation Department director set out what a report about a towed car should contain: who towed it, whether that was the local authority, the towing company’s details and where the car was taken — and, for every report, the location.

Everywhere else. A JPJ seizure is claimed at the JPJ office where the car was seized. A condo tow starts at the management office. A repossession comes with a written receipt stating where and when the car was taken, covered below.

What three councils publish, and why the numbers do not line up

DBKL and MBPP both say their fee tables follow the 2012 amendment to the road transport rules. The official list of subsidiary legislation names a 2012 instrument on exactly this subject, the Road Transport (Fee for Clamping, Removal and Detention of Motor Vehicles) Rules 2012, P.U.(A) 11/2012 — but none of the official pages behind this guide carries its schedule, so the only figures available are the ones each council prints for itself.

The car rows of DBKL and MBPP agree; little else does. For a motorcycle DBKL lists RM20 for clamping, RM30 for removal and RM50 a day, while MBPP lists only a detention figure of RM20 a day. For lorries and buses DBKL splits at 3000 kg unladen (RM100, RM300 and RM200 a day below it; RM150, RM400 and RM300 a day above it), while MBPP lists one row at RM300, RM300 and RM100 a day. MBJB charges RM80 to tow a motorcycle, RM400 for a lorry or bus under 5 tonnes and RM1,200 above that.

Councils do not all charge under the same instrument, either. Subang Jaya’s parking order sets its clamping, removal and detention fee “as determined by the Council under this Order”; Kuala Lumpur’s own order points back to the rules made under the Act.

DBKL and MBJB also list a compound for the offence itself, which is a separate bill. DBKL lists RM100 or RM150 for a car depending on the offence; MBJB lists RM250 to RM500 by type of offence, in an answer that also covers seized goods. MBPP’s compound column is blank. Checking and paying compounds is covered in this site’s guide to traffic summons in Malaysia.

Abandoned vehicles have their own table in Kuala Lumpur. For a car, van or pick-up DBKL publishes RM250 to transport it, RM10 a day for detention and a RM500 compound.

What to bring to the counter

The three published lists ask for different things, and they differ most on what happens when someone other than the owner goes.

One document needs planning: the statutory declaration. DBKL’s Malay page calls it a surat akuan sumpah from a Commissioner for Oaths; the English version of the same page calls it an “affidavit”. Either way it is made before a Commissioner for Oaths, which this site covers in its guide to commissioners for oaths and statutory declarations.

Police and JPJ seizures run on a different section

A seizure under section 64 is about the offence, not the parking. It applies where a car is used in breach of the Act, an order under it or its licence, and the car or driver cannot be sufficiently identified, or taking the car is needed to stop the offence continuing. A police officer, a road transport officer authorised in writing by the Director General, or the Dato Bandar may then take the car to a “place of safety”.

The car stays there until it is released by order of a Magistrate, a Chief Police Officer, a Director, a Deputy Director authorised in writing by the Director General, or the Dato Bandar — and the section says it must not be kept longer than necessary to identify the driver or stop the offence. It is held at the owner’s risk until the removal and detention fees are paid. Moving it from the place of safety without authority is itself an offence.

JPJ’s own page turns that into three release conditions: the identity of the driver or the car has been established, the offence has been stopped, or a court has ordered its release. Besides the registered owner, JPJ will release a seized car to a financial institution with a court order if the owner has not claimed it, to the police or customs, to someone authorised under the estate of an owner who has died, and to named officers of a company that owns it.

The claim is made at the JPJ office where the car was seized, and JPJ’s client charter sets 30 minutes as its service standard for releasing a seized vehicle, and 10 minutes for paying a compound. For police removals under section 65, the fee is payable to the Chief Police Officer.

Condo and apartment car parks: what by-law 25 allows

Condos and apartments under strata title have written rules on this. The Third Schedule to the Strata Management (Maintenance and Management) Regulations 2015 sets by-laws that bind the developer, the joint management body, the management corporation, and every owner, tenant and occupier. By-law 25 deals with vehicles.

• Every vehicle must be properly parked in a designated bay without obstructing the next vehicle or the flow of traffic.
• An improperly parked vehicle may be towed away or wheel-clamped by the management corporation, at the owner’s cost, without prior notice.
• The same applies to an unauthorised vehicle on common property, a vehicle outside a designated bay, or one parked in a bay designated for another proprietor.
• The clamp comes off only after payment of a charge the management corporation imposes, which shall not exceed RM200, together with any towing cost and holding charge the management corporation actually incurred.
• The management corporation is not liable for damage or loss caused to the vehicle by the towing or clamping.

Read the wording closely. The RM200 ceiling applies to the clamp charge; the towing and holding costs are pass-through amounts, limited to what was “actually incurred”. And the rule covers tenants and occupiers as well as owners, because the by-laws bind them too. KPKT’s housing department still lists P.U.(A) 107 of 2015 as the regulations under Act 757.

Abandoned cars are handled differently. Subang Jaya’s guideline says towing one out of an apartment compound is the management’s responsibility, not the council’s: a police report, an owner check with JPJ and a reminder notice on the notice board and the vehicle come first, and only if nobody responds within 30 days of the notice may the management tow it out, at its own cost, after sending the council’s application form to the COB department.

Outside strata schemes — shopping malls, office towers, privately run open lots — none of the official pages this guide draws on sets rules for clamping or towing, or caps what may be charged. The Road Transport Act powers described above belong to named public bodies and authorised concessionaires. Whether a particular private clamp or tow was lawful is a question for a court or tribunal on its own facts, and this guide does not answer it. For disputes inside a strata scheme, the Commissioner of Buildings and the Strata Management Tribunal are covered in this site’s guide to strata maintenance fees, JMBs and MCs.

At an accident or breakdown: the tow truck you called, and the one you did not

Here the danger is a stranger. PIAM tells motorists to contact their insurer immediately after an accident and to avoid unscrupulous individuals looking to capitalise on it. PIAM and the Malaysian Takaful Association’s consumer site is blunter: deal only with authorised tow trucks, get the name and registration number of the authorised operator from your insurer or takaful operator, and wait for it to arrive. Unauthorised tow-truck providers, it warns, might charge exorbitant towing fees or overcharge for repairs. In its words, touts do not have any rights to your vehicle. The rest of the accident — the police report and the claim — is in the guides to car accident claims and car insurance claims.

The insurer’s own route is its 24-hour helpline or its digital roadside assistance app, which PIAM says takes your location by GPS and shows the tow truck’s estimated arrival and details, including its licence plate number, until it reaches the authorised repairer. It covers breakdowns, flat tyres and low batteries too.

Free towing is real but unquantified. PIAM and MTA say your insurer can confirm free towing within policy or certificate limits, and that most include free towing “within a distance” for comprehensive policyholders — but no official page names the distance. PIAM’s March 2026 advice was simply that comprehensive cover should include roadside assistance and towing, and to read the policy wording. The number is in your own policy.

On 13 April 2026 PIAM said rising costs had led to possible disruption or temporary suspension among tow-truck operators. Insurers responded with priority dispatch for motorists stranded on highways, in accidents or in hazardous situations, appointments for towing from homes or safe places, panel-workshop support, and, at some insurers, reimbursement for independent towing subject to the terms of the comprehensive policy. PIAM’s guidance: check your coverage and whether reimbursement is available before engaging an independent tow truck, and keep all official receipts and service reports.

On an expressway there is a further option. Section 65 lets an expressway concession company authorised by the Highway Authority remove a broken-down or obstructing vehicle, and the fee is then payable to that company. PLUS says its PLUSRonda service covers vehicle repairs and towing for Class 1 vehicles, reached through the toll-free PLUSLine on 1800-88-0000 or the emergency telephones placed every 2 kilometres.

Not towed at all: repossession, or theft

If the car is financed and payments have been missed, it may not have been towed at all. Section 16 of the Hire-Purchase Act 1967 sets the conditions for repossession for missed instalments: where the instalments paid amount to not more than 75% of the total cash price, there must have been two successive defaults and a Fourth Schedule notice giving you at least 21 days, which must have expired. Where more than 75% has been paid, the finance company needs a court order first. It may skip the notice only if it has reasonable grounds to believe the car will be removed or concealed, and the burden of proving that lies on the finance company.

The 2011 repossession regulations add the steps you can check. A second notice of intention to repossess must be sent by registered post, no earlier than 14 days after the first. The repossession agent must show a permit, an identity card and the repossession order, and that order must name the agent, the permit number, the finance company and its storage place. Repossession is carried out between 9.00 am and 9.00 pm, unless the Controller grants the agent an extension of time.

Afterwards the Act leaves a paper trail pointing at the car. The finance company must hand you, or send you immediately if you were not there, a document acknowledging receipt of the car, stating the date, time and place where it was taken. Within 21 days of taking the car it must serve a Fifth Schedule notice on you and every guarantor.

If no council, police station, JPJ office, management office or finance company has it, treat it as stolen. PDRM says a report can be made at any police station, even if the incident happened outside that station’s area, and a copy certified by the district police chief costs a minimum of RM2.00, bought on the spot or within 3 days. Its online e-Reporting system is only for losses not connected with a crime, so a stolen car goes to a station; for crime, e-Reporting points to the Pusat Kawalan lines 03-2266 3333 and 03-2031 9999, to 999, or to the nearest station.

Damage, disputes and who hears a complaint

On damage, the statutes are short. Under section 48(7) and section 65(5) of the Road Transport Act, the officer, the authority and anyone acting under their direction are not liable for loss or damage to the car, its fittings or contents while it is clamped, removed or detained, unless the damage was caused negligently or wilfully. Subang Jaya’s parking order says the same. Kuala Lumpur’s order says the Datuk Bandar is not liable for damage or to pay compensation for a removal or while the car is in custody. The strata by-law says the management corporation is not liable for damage or loss from towing or clamping. Whether damage was caused negligently is a question of fact for a court.

Complaints go by who took the car, starting at the counter of the body that has it. Beyond that, the Public Complaints Bureau (BPA) investigates complaints about government agencies, a term that expressly includes local authorities, through the SISPAA website and the Respons Rakyat app — but not matters for the courts or tribunals, the EAIC or the IPCC. JPJ runs its own complaints channel at jpj.spab.gov.my, and PDRM its own complaints system, SISPAA PDRM. A complaint about an insurer’s towing service goes to the insurer’s Complaints Unit and then to BNM LINK or the Financial Markets Ombudsman Service, as set out in the car insurance claims guide.

For a private towing company’s bill, the Consumer Claims Tribunal (TTPM) hears redress claims for goods and services under Act 599 of up to RM50,000 that accrued within 3 years, brought by consumers buying for personal or household use — but it has no jurisdiction where another tribunal has been set up by law for the subject, and whether a particular towing dispute fits is for the tribunal to decide.

Walaoeh Verdict

Work down the list in order. Call the depot of the council where you parked first; in Kuala Lumpur that line runs 24 hours, and in Johor Bahru you can search online. Go quickly, because storage is charged by the day, and bring the original grant and cover note, or a statutory declaration. Trust only the fee table on your own council’s page or counter; three councils publish three different pictures. At an accident, let only the tow truck your insurer names touch the car, and if you had to use another, keep every receipt. In a condo, the clamp charge is capped at RM200 plus actual costs. And if nobody has it, it is a police station matter.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources

Every figure above comes from one of these, all checked on 23 September 2026.

• Laws of Malaysia, Act 333 — Akta Pengangkutan Jalan 1987, the Attorney General’s Chambers’ updated text as at 15 October 2023 (last amended by Act A1684), hosted by JPJ. Sections 48, 64, 65 and 67. The Ministry of Transport’s older English copy predates the current wording of sections 64 and 65.
• Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur — Tunda Kenderaan (and its English version) and the hotline page; the Kuala Lumpur parking order, P.U.(A) 196/2016, paragraphs 38 and 42 to 44.
• Majlis Bandaraya Pulau Pinang — Jabatan Penguatkuasaan.
• Majlis Bandaraya Johor Bahru — Soalan Lazim (towing and seizure, questions 18 and 19) and the My VIS removal-record lookup.
• Majlis Bandaraya Subang Jaya — its 2007 parking order, paragraphs 35D and 36A, and its guideline on towing abandoned vehicles inside apartment compounds.
• The official list of subsidiary legislation on data.gov.my, for the name of P.U.(A) 11/2012.
• Strata Management (Maintenance and Management) Regulations 2015, P.U.(A) 107/2015, Third Schedule, by-laws 1 and 25; and KPKT’s list of regulations under Act 757.
• Jabatan Pengangkutan Jalan — Prosedur Menuntut Kenderaan Disita JPJ and its client charter.
• Polis Diraja Malaysia — how to make a police report, e-Reporting, e-Perkhidmatan, the operations-room directory, and its December 2021 guidance on reporting towed and stolen cars.
• PIAM — press releases of 13 April 2026 on towing disruptions and 16 March 2026, its article on digital roadside help, and the motor insurance consumer guide.
• PIAM and the Malaysian Takaful Association, ‘Jom, Level Up’ — what to do after an accident, filing motor claims digitally and essential motor services.
• PLUS Malaysia Berhad — Road Safety.
• KPDN — Hire-Purchase Act 1967 (updated text as at 1 May 2019), section 16, and the 2011 repossession regulations, regulations 15 to 18.
• Biro Pengaduan Awam — Tatacara Pengurusan Aduan Awam; Tribunal Tuntutan Pengguna Malaysia — Bidang Kuasa Tribunal.