Abandoned vehicles
If a vehicle on the street has not moved for two months, it may be considered abandoned.
We may impound an abandoned vehicle, even if it is registered.
Each year around 170 vehicles are considered abandoned in the City of Melbourne.
When you report a suspected abandoned vehicle, we investigate by:
- attempting to contact the last known owner to move the vehicle
- checking if the vehicle is registered and that it’s not stolen
- monitoring the vehicle while we wait to hear from the owner.
We can then remove and impound the vehicle if the owner takes no action.
This can take anywhere from 7 to 60 business days, depending on the registration status.
Resident vehicles
We understand that resident vehicles may be parked for longer periods of time than other vehicles (for example, if residents are using sustainable transport options as their primary form of transport and not often using their vehicle, or if they go on holidays) and we take this into account when undertaking our investigations. If a vehicle is currently registered and we confirm the owner is living in the area, we do not typically consider these vehicles to be abandoned.