Montana Towing Laws: Your Rights When Your Car Is Towed

Primary law: Mont. Code Ann. § 61-12-401; Title 61, ch. 8, part 9 (Professional Tow Truck Act) · Last verified July 2026. General information, not legal advice.

Montana's towing framework is built around abandoned vehicles and licensed tow trucks rather than consumer price protection. Under Mont. Code Ann. § 61-12-401, a vehicle is considered abandoned after 48 hours on a public highway or five days on city streets, public property, or private property. A private landowner who wants a vehicle removed must call law enforcement at the start of that five-day period and can only remove the vehicle after documenting the wait. The Professional Tow Truck Act (Title 61, ch. 8, part 9) governs licensing, equipment, and law-enforcement rotation tows, administered by the Montana Highway Patrol.

Montana has no verified statewide cap on towing or storage fees for nonconsent tows, no verified drop-fee rule, and no verified statewide signage requirement for private lots. Pricing for police-rotation tows is influenced by the Highway Patrol's rotation system requirements, but private-property towing costs are largely market-driven and may be addressed, if at all, by local ordinance. The state's most distinctive consumer feature is procedural: the five-day waiting period plus mandatory law-enforcement contact makes truly instant patrol-style private-property towing harder to justify than in most states.

If your car vanishes in Montana, call the county sheriff, city police, or Highway Patrol — a lawful private-property removal required a call to one of those agencies at the start of the five-day wait, so they should have a record. Ask when the landowner reported the vehicle; if five days had not elapsed, the removal may not have followed the abandoned-vehicle statute. Get an itemized invoice, photograph the scene, and pay to release the car before storage mounts. Complaints about tow operators go to the Montana DOJ's Tow Truck Complaint Resolution Committee via the Highway Patrol's tow truck administrator.

Montana towing rules at a glance

How to get your car back in Montana

1. Call the county sheriff, city police, or Montana Highway Patrol to locate the vehicle and find out when it was reported.
2. Ask whether the landowner called law enforcement at the start of the required 5-day waiting period — if not, challenge the removal.
3. Request an itemized invoice for all towing and storage charges before paying.
4. Pay and retrieve the car promptly to stop daily storage fees, keeping all receipts.
5. File a complaint with the Montana Highway Patrol's tow truck administrator / DOJ Tow Truck Complaint Resolution Committee if the operator acted improperly.

Where to complain about an illegal tow

Montana Department of Justice / Montana Highway Patrol (Tow Truck Complaint Resolution Committee) handles towing complaints in Montana. Keep your receipt, photos of any signage (or lack of it), and notes on dates and times — they decide most fee disputes.

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