Is there a 30-day impound hold in Des Plaines?
Searching for a 30-day impound hold near Des Plaines? Chicago does not run one. Here is the real clock that applies.
What Illinois law says
The 30-day impound hold is a California rule that people carry with them when they move, and it does not describe what happens here. What Chicago actually has is a storage floor and a release restriction, and they are two different things. The storage floor is that a vehicle is normally kept no less than 21 days from the date the city mails notice to the registered owner, with a right to one 15-day extension. The release restriction is that vehicles impounded for certain offences cannot be released at the pound at all and require a visit to the Vehicle Impoundment Office at 400 W Superior. Neither of those is a punitive 30-day hold, and confusing them will cost you storage days you did not need to pay for.
How it works in Des Plaines
- 1 Do not assume 30 days means a hold
There is no Illinois or Chicago rule that locks a vehicle up for 30 days after a DUI tow. If you have heard that figure, it almost certainly came from another state's law.
- 2 Find out whether there is a hold at all
Vehicles impounded for narcotics, solicitation, fly dumping, firearms, defacement, fleeing and eluding, noise, drag racing, DUI, fireworks, a suspended or revoked licence, littering, reckless driving and several other reasons cannot be released at the pound and require the Vehicle Impoundment Office at 400 W Superior.
- 3 Know the real storage clock
Inside the city, storage runs no less than 21 days from the date the city mails notice to the registered owner. That is the point at which disposal becomes possible, not the point at which you are allowed to collect the car.
- 4 Use the 15-day extension if you need it
Under 9-92-100(a) the registered owner has the right to one extension of 15 days before the vehicle is sold or otherwise disposed of. Ask for it from the Auto Pound Office at 312.746.4954.
- 5 Watch what storage is costing you
At $50 a day for a vehicle under 8,000 pounds and $100 a day at or above it, a fortnight of indecision costs more than most people expect. There is no benefit to waiting.
- 6 Confirm your own case by phone
General questions go to the Bureau of Traffic Services at 312.746.4954, Monday to Friday 7am to 3pm. A suburban impound is a different phone call entirely, to the department that ordered the tow.
What this looks like around Des Plaines
A village impound in Evanston, Skokie, Des Plaines, Schaumburg or anywhere else out here runs on its own schedule, not the city's. What Illinois law fixes is procedure rather than duration: notice within 10 days, and an initial hearing convened no later than 45 days after that notice is mailed.
Des Plaines runs its own impound. A tow off a tollway is a different matter again, since the vehicle usually goes wherever the responding agency directs, so call the department that ordered it before you drive anywhere. A suburban impound is not the City of Chicago pound and does not use Chicago's published rates. Illinois law (625 ILCS 5/11-208.7) requires a municipal administrative fee to be reasonable and related to the municipality's actual administrative and processing costs, and it sets no dollar cap, which is why these figures vary so widely from village to village. What it does guarantee is procedure: notice within 10 days, an initial hearing convened no later than 45 days after that notice is mailed, and a refund of administrative fees if the hearing officer finds the vehicle was stolen or hijacked at the time it was impounded. Call the department that ordered the tow and ask for its administrative fee and daily storage rate.
Des Plaines holds 60,675 residents and sits immediately north of O'Hare International Airport, which is what turned it from a river town into a suburb after the Second World War. Two interstates cross it, I-90, the Jane Addams and formerly the Northwest Tollway, and I-294, the Tri-State, and River Road, Mannheim Road, Touhy Avenue and Golf Road carry the surface traffic between them. Rivers Casino opened here in July 2011 after the city approved the zoning in 2010, and a 24-hour casino changes the shape of a night: the calls that come in at three in the morning are lockouts and dead batteries in a parking structure, not highway recovery. The city is also where American Airlines Flight 191 came down in 1979, just north of Touhy Avenue. Worth knowing for anyone reading weather here: the National Weather Service's official Chicago observations are taken at O'Hare next door, so the 38.4 inch annual snow normal and the 121 nights a year at or below freezing are literally this city's numbers. Operators cover both tollways, the O'Hare hotel and cargo belt, and the casino district.
Common Des Plaines questions
Does Illinois really hold a car 30 days after a DUI tow in Des Plaines?
No. There is no 30-day impound hold in Illinois that works the way people describe. What exists in Chicago is a storage floor of no less than 21 days from the date the city mails notice, plus a rule that vehicles impounded for DUI and a list of other offences cannot be released at the pound and require the Vehicle Impoundment Office at 400 W Superior.
How fast can I get my car back after a tow in Des Plaines?
If there is no hold on it, as soon as you can get to the pound with the right documents and pay the charges in full. The four City of Chicago pounds are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. A suburban impound will have its own hours, so call first.
What happens if I don't deal with my car within 21 days in Des Plaines?
The city may dispose of it or sell it at auction under 9-92-100, and you still owe the fines and fees. You do have a right to one 15-day extension, but storage accrues throughout at $50 or $100 a day, so an extension buys time rather than money.
Can Quick Tow Chicago confirm my car's release date in Des Plaines?
No. Only the authority holding the vehicle can tell you that, and for a city pound that means 311 and the Bureau of Traffic Services at 312.746.4954. We can help you work out who to call and move the car once it is released. Call (773) 830-6930.
Related help for Des Plaines
Storage hold timeline in the rest of the North & Northwest Suburbs area
Need your car towed once it's released in Des Plaines?
We can't waive the yard's fees. We can line up an operator the moment it clears.