Abandoned vehicle removal in Aurora
A car sitting too long on a street near Aurora can get flagged and towed. Here is how the rules actually work.
What Illinois law says
Chicago publishes exactly what makes a vehicle abandoned, and it is more specific than most people expect. A vehicle can be classified as abandoned if it is on a public way in a state of disrepair such that it cannot be driven in its present condition, if it has not been moved or used for more than seven consecutive days and is apparently deserted, if it has been left on the public way without state registration or a temporary state registration placard for two or more days, or if it is a hazardous dilapidated vehicle left in full view of the general public, whether on public or private property. Bicycles are excluded. Only one of those has to be true. The city has run abandoned-vehicle removal through a private contractor since 1989, and it says more than 500,000 vehicles have been towed and impounded under that programme.
How it works in Aurora
- 1 Check the seven-day test
A vehicle that has not been moved or used for more than seven consecutive days and is apparently deserted meets the city's definition on its own, whatever condition it is in.
- 2 Check the registration test
A vehicle left on the public way without state registration or a temporary state registration placard for two or more days also meets the definition. Two days, not seven.
- 3 Check the condition tests
A vehicle on a public way in a state of disrepair that makes it incapable of being driven qualifies, and so does a hazardous dilapidated vehicle left in full view of the general public, whether it is on public or private property.
- 4 Report it through 311
Abandoned vehicles are reported by calling 311, and open complaints and completed requests are both tracked. If you are the owner and the car is missing, 311 is also how you find out whether it was taken as abandoned.
- 5 Check the process outside the city
A suburb runs its own abandoned-vehicle programme with its own timeline and its own impound. Call that village directly rather than assuming the city's seven-day test applies.
- 6 Consider removal instead
If the vehicle is yours and it is not worth repairing, arranging a junk-car pickup is usually cheaper and always less stressful than letting it be flagged. Illinois junking paperwork is permanent, so it is worth a short conversation first.
What this looks like around Aurora
Older housing stock through Cicero, Berwyn and Melrose Park means older vehicles, and a vehicle that fails an expensive repair is often worth more gone than kept. If it is yours and it is not going to be fixed, arranging a removal beats waiting for a village to flag it.
Aurora runs its own impound and spans four counties. Three of them, Kane, DuPage and Will, are inside Illinois Commerce Commission relocation jurisdiction, so the private-property rules hold across essentially the whole city. Se habla espanol. 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.
Aurora holds 180,542 residents, the second-largest city in Illinois, with a median household income of $74,659 and a Hispanic share of 41.53 percent. It spans four counties, Kane, DuPage, Will and Kendall, and sits along the Fox River. Interstate 88 and Illinois Route 59 are the main roads, with Eola Road serving the east side, where development took off in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The BNSF Railway runs Eola Yard here, the city is the final stop on Metra's BNSF Line and has two Metra stops, and Aurora Municipal Airport works as a reliever for O'Hare and Midway while handling a real volume of international cargo. The Hollywood Casino downtown, built in 1993, started the first serious downtown redevelopment in twenty years. Three things make Aurora matter to a towing site. Spanish is not a courtesy here, it is how a large share of the city talks to a dispatcher, and the register is the same Mexican-American Spanish used on Chicago's Southwest Side. A working rail yard and a cargo airport put real intermodal and heavy-duty work on the map. And Kane, DuPage and Will are all inside the Illinois Commerce Commission's relocation jurisdiction, so the state private-property rules apply across the whole city. Operators cover I-88, Route 59, Eola Yard and the downtown district.
Common Aurora questions
How long can a car sit before it's abandoned in Aurora?
In the City of Chicago, a vehicle that has not been moved or used for more than seven consecutive days and is apparently deserted meets the definition of abandoned. It is only one of four tests, though: disrepair, missing registration for two or more days, and hazardous dilapidated condition each qualify on their own.
Can my car be towed for expired registration in Aurora?
In the city, a vehicle left on the public way without state registration or a temporary state registration placard for two or more days meets the abandoned-vehicle definition. That is a much shorter window than the seven-day test and it catches a lot of people out.
What if my car is parked in front of my own house in Aurora?
The city's tests are about the vehicle's condition, registration and whether it has moved, not about who owns the house it is parked in front of. A registered, drivable car that gets moved is not abandoned. Suburban rules vary, so check with your village.
Does Quick Tow Chicago buy or remove junk cars in Aurora?
Yes. Removal is usually free and we pay cash where the vehicle has scrap or parts value. Illinois paperwork matters more than the price here, because a junking certificate ends the vehicle's title permanently. Call (773) 830-6930.
Related help for Aurora
Abandoned vehicles in the rest of the West Suburbs area
Need your car towed once it's released in Aurora?
We can't waive the yard's fees. We can line up an operator the moment it clears.