Abandoned vehicle removal in Joliet
A car sitting too long on a street near Joliet 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 Joliet
- 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 Joliet
Along the freight corridor the abandoned-vehicle problem shifts to commercial equipment: a dead trailer or box truck in a yard is a heavier job with a different paperwork trail, and the Illinois salvage statute's 20-day clock applies to whoever ends up holding the title.
Joliet runs its own impound, in Will County, which sits inside Illinois Commerce Commission relocation jurisdiction. For commercial equipment the weight tier is what moves the number, and for a private-lot tow the state's sign and distance rules apply. 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.
Joliet holds 150,362 residents, the third-most populous city in Illinois, with a median household income of $72,871 and a Hispanic share of 33.59 percent. Interstates 80 and 55 both run through it and link up near Channahon just west of the city, a connection made in the 1960s that reshaped the whole area. The Des Plaines River splits the city; Central Joliet is everything west of the river and east of I-55, and US 30 crosses the river at the Ruby Street Bridge. The Joliet Transportation Center is the terminus of Metra's Heritage Corridor from Union Station and the Rock Island District from LaSalle Street. Chicagoland Speedway and Route 66 Raceway sit south of town, and Joliet Regional Airport is off Jefferson Street near I-55. What makes Joliet the most important commercial towing market on this map is the freight. Two interstates crossing at the continent's largest inland intermodal complex means tractor-trailers, containers, dropped trailers and recovery work that is worth several times an ordinary car tow, and it runs around the clock because freight does. A third of the city speaks Spanish at home in meaningful numbers, so the Spanish version of this page is not optional. Will County is inside Illinois Commerce Commission relocation jurisdiction, so private-property rules apply here too. Operators cover I-80, I-55, the intermodal yards and the downtown river district.
Common Joliet questions
How long can a car sit before it's abandoned in Joliet?
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 Joliet?
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 Joliet?
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 Joliet?
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 Joliet
Abandoned vehicles in the rest of the Will County Corridor area
Need your car towed once it's released in Joliet?
We can't waive the yard's fees. We can line up an operator the moment it clears.