Abandoned Vehicle Laws in Massachusetts: Fines, Towing, and Hearings

Under abandoned vehicle laws in Massachusetts, a car left unattended for more than 72 hours on a public road, private way, or someone else’s property without permission is treated as abandoned. The owner faces a $250 fine for a first offense and $500 for each later one, plus towing and storage charges, and can lose driving privileges on top of that.¹

When a Vehicle Is Legally Abandoned

Chapter 90, Section 22B sets the threshold: any vehicle left more than 72 hours on a public way, private way, or property of another without the consent of the owner or the local authority is considered abandoned.¹ Registration status does not matter. An unregistered car parked on the street for three days triggers the same process as a currently registered one.

Section 22C adds a second track. If a vehicle has sat for more than 72 hours and appears to be worth less than the cost of removing and storing it, the local superintendent of streets or another designated official can take it and dispose of it as refuse. If it looks worth more than removal costs, it goes to the police department’s custodian of lost property instead.²

Three full days is the main clock, but not the only signal. Missing plates, an expired inspection sticker, or obvious stripping or heavy damage can prompt officials to look sooner, since those conditions suggest the owner is not coming back.

Fines and License Consequences

The base fine is $250 for a first abandonment and $500 for every one after that.¹ On top of that, the owner is liable for every cost the city or town runs up handling the vehicle: towing, storage, processing, and disposal.

Under the criminal enforcement track in Section 22B(a), a conviction is reported to the Registrar of Motor Vehicles, who can revoke the offender’s license for up to three months. If the abandoned vehicle was registered in the offender’s name, or was the last vehicle registered to them, they are barred from registering any motor vehicle for a full year.¹ Filing an appeal or a motion for a new trial does not pause the revocation or the registration bar while the case is pending.

The non-criminal administrative track carries the same dollar fines and similar collateral consequences. If a vehicle is disposed of as refuse because it is worth less than removal costs, the owner has 14 days from the mailing of the notice to pay all charges. Missing that deadline triggers the fine and can lead to nonrenewal of both the driver’s license and the vehicle registration.¹

Tow and Storage Bills

The fine is often the smaller number. Massachusetts caps the involuntary tow charge at $132 for a standard passenger vehicle, and storage is capped at $35 per 24-hour period for a non-commercial vehicle.³ Oversized vehicles can cost more, and certain labor charges may apply on top.

At capped rates, two weeks in storage runs about $490, plus the $132 tow. Wait a month and you can be past $1,000 before the $250 fine is added. Retrieving the vehicle quickly is by a wide margin the cheapest outcome.

How Removal Works

Anyone can report a suspected abandoned vehicle to local police or the office responsible for public ways. A police officer or someone assigned by the parking clerk investigates and decides whether the vehicle meets the abandonment criteria.

If it does, an officer tags the vehicle. If the owner can be identified through Registry of Motor Vehicles records, the parking clerk sends a written notice by first-class mail to the owner’s last known address.¹ That notice is legally sufficient as long as it went to the RMV address on file. Whether the owner actually receives it is not the state’s problem.

The notice lists the vehicle’s location, make, color, registration and VIN, the fine and costs assessed, and the date, time, and place of a hearing. Once the vehicle is confirmed as abandoned, a licensed towing carrier removes it.

The Hearing and Your Defenses

The mailed notice sets a hearing date, but you do not have to wait. Anyone who receives a notice can walk into the parking clerk’s office during regular business hours and request an immediate hearing.¹ The hearing is your window to contest whether the vehicle was really abandoned, show valid registration, or prove that repair or removal was already arranged.

The strongest statutory defense is theft. Section 22B(b) states directly that the owner of a vehicle that was stolen and later abandoned is not subject to the abandonment penalties.¹ A police report filed before or shortly after the abandonment was discovered helps a lot.

Outside theft, you can argue the vehicle does not fit the legal definition of abandonment. Valid registration, a current inspection sticker, and evidence of a breakdown with a tow already arranged all work at the hearing. Medical emergencies, natural disasters, or other circumstances beyond your control may carry weight with a hearing officer, though the statute does not name specific exceptions for them.

One argument that does not work: claiming you never got the notice. The statute treats the mailed notice as sufficient once it goes to the RMV address on file. Keeping that address current is one of the cheapest ways to protect yourself.

If No One Claims the Vehicle

The disposal path depends on value. If a local official finds the vehicle worth less than the combined cost of removing, transporting, and storing it for three days, the parking clerk can direct a carrier to haul it away and dispose of it as refuse. A record of that disposal is kept for two years.¹

Vehicles worth more than removal costs get turned over to the police department’s custodian of lost property, who disposes of them under the lost-property provisions of Chapter 135, Sections 7 through 11 of the General Laws.² That process can include a public sale, with proceeds first covering the municipality’s removal and storage costs.

Once the vehicle is disposed of or sold, the owner still owes any balance the sale did not cover. Letting the town take the car is not a way to walk away from the bill.

Criminal Versus Non-Criminal Enforcement

Municipalities choose how to run the process. Under Section 22B(a), abandonment is a criminal offense with fines, license revocation, and a registration bar. A city or town can also vote to adopt subsections (b) through (k), replacing the criminal track with a non-criminal administrative process managed by a parking clerk.¹

The fines are identical either way: $250 first offense, $500 for repeats. The difference is the record. A criminal conviction creates one and triggers the automatic license and registration consequences. The administrative route still costs money and can still block license and registration renewal if ignored, but it does not produce a criminal record. Larger cities have generally adopted the administrative model.

Deployed Service Members

Active-duty military members get an extra layer of protection under federal law. The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act bars anyone holding a storage lien from foreclosing on or selling a service member’s property during military service and for 90 days after, unless a court order is obtained first.⁴ That applies to tow yard storage liens. A towing company that auctions a deployed service member’s vehicle without going to court faces criminal penalties, including fines and up to one year of imprisonment.

This protection does not stop the initial tow. It stops the disposal clock, giving the service member time to deal with the vehicle after returning. Notifying both the towing company and the municipality of the service member’s status is the step that actually activates the protection.

1
General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Part I, Title XIV, Chapter 90, Section 22B
2
General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Code Part I, Title XIV, Chapter 90, Section 22C
3
Mass.gov. Involuntary Trespass Towing Rates and Regulations
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 U.S. Code 3958 – Enforcement of Storage Liens