City of Chicago impound fees come from two published schedules. The city’s Common Towing Questions page lists a $250 or $350 tow fee, plus daily storage of $50 or $100. Its winter parking page separately lists a minimum $150 tow, a $60 ticket, and $25 daily storage.
Why Chicago has two published fee sets
The first schedule appears on the city’s general towing page. It cites Municipal Code 9-92-080 and separates vehicles by weight. A vehicle under 8,000 pounds carries a $250 tow fee and $50 daily storage. A vehicle weighing 8,000 pounds or more carries a $350 tow fee and $100 daily storage.
The second schedule appears on Chicago’s Winter Snow Parking Restrictions page. That page states a minimum $150 towing fee, a $60 ticket, and a $25 daily storage fee for winter parking-ban tows.
Both schedules come directly from the City of Chicago. They shouldn’t be merged, averaged, or treated as interchangeable. Start with the reason written on the tow record or notice. Then compare it with the city page covering that type of tow.
A winter restriction tow isn’t the same billing context as another city pound tow. The word “minimum” also matters on the winter page. It doesn’t support treating $150 as a universal Chicago tow price.
These figures belong to the city, not Quick Tow Chicago. We don’t operate the pounds, set their fees, or collect their charges. Our separate Chicago impound cost guide explains how to organize the city’s published charges without turning them into one misleading rate.
What the general city schedule covers
Chicago’s general schedule uses the vehicle’s weight to determine both towing and storage charges. Under 8,000 pounds, the published amounts are $250 for towing and $50 per storage day. At 8,000 pounds or more, they’re $350 and $100 per day.
Those amounts don’t include every possible balance attached to a vehicle. The city requires all applicable charges and fines to be paid before release. It also won’t release a vehicle without current state plates and a Chicago Vehicle Sticker where required. A police investigation hold can prevent release even when someone arrives ready to pay.
Payment options are specific. City pounds accept cash, Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express, or Diners Club. Checks and money orders aren’t accepted. Confirm your payment method before heading across the city, especially if the vehicle is at Doty Avenue or near O’Hare.
The city operates four auto pounds around Chicago:
- Central Auto Pound, 500 E Wacker Drive, Lower Level
- O’Hare International Airport Auto Pound, Bessie Coleman Drive
- Auto Pound #2, 103rd and Doty Avenue
- Auto Pound #6, 701 N Sacramento Avenue
All four are listed as open 24 hours a day, every day. That doesn’t mean every vehicle is immediately releasable. Holds, missing documents, and unpaid balances can stop the process at the service window.
How the winter parking schedule works
Chicago’s Winter Overnight Parking Ban covers 107 miles of arterial streets. It runs from 3 a.m. to 7 a.m., December 1 through April 1. Enforcement doesn’t depend on snowfall. The permanent signs control, even when the pavement is dry.
Vehicles towed under that overnight ban go to Pound #2 at 10301 S Doty Avenue or Pound #6 at 701 N Sacramento Avenue. The winter restrictions page publishes its own amounts: a minimum $150 towing fee, a $60 ticket, and $25 storage per day.
Chicago also has a separate Two-Inch Parking Ban. It covers another 500 miles of main streets. That restriction activates when at least two inches of snow are on the street. It can apply at any time and on any calendar date.
The city says vehicles affected by the two-inch ban could receive a ticket or be relocated. A relocation matters because the car may have been moved to another street rather than taken into a pound. Don’t assume every missing car after snow is accumulating city storage charges.
These winter rules are easy to confuse along streets feeding the Kennedy, Dan Ryan, Eisenhower, Stevenson, Edens, and Bishop Ford. Check the posted sign and the city’s winter page. Then use the tow record to identify which published schedule matches the event.
First identify which towing system has the car
Three towing systems operate across the Chicago metro. Their rules and fees aren’t interchangeable.
A City of Chicago tow falls under the city pound system. The two city-published schedules discussed above apply only within that city context. If a vehicle disappeared during street work or an emergency, it may have been relocated instead. The city advises drivers to check its Find Your Towed Vehicle tool before reporting the vehicle stolen.
A suburban municipal impound is different. Berwyn, Cicero, Naperville, Joliet, and other municipalities set their own administrative fees. Chicago’s pound schedule doesn’t establish what any suburb charges.
Under 625 ILCS 5/11-208.7, a municipal administrative fee must be reasonable and tied to administrative and processing costs. The statute doesn’t set a dollar cap. It provides notice within 10 days and an initial administrative hearing no later than 45 days after notice is mailed. No individual suburb’s current fee could be confirmed from the approved sources for this page. Check that municipality’s ordinance or impound notice.
Private-property relocation is the third system. In Cook, DuPage, Kane, Will, and Winnebago counties, that work is performed by commercial vehicle relocators licensed by the Illinois Commerce Commission. Their rules don’t become Chicago pound rules merely because the tow happened inside the city. Our guide to Chicago private towing laws explains that distinction.
What to bring and which deadlines matter
Every person claiming a vehicle needs valid photo identification. Proof of ownership can be a valid title, current registration card, or bill of sale no more than 30 days old. A lessee needs the lease agreement.
Someone acting for the owner needs an original notarized letter. The person driving the vehicle away also needs a current valid driver’s license. Bring the required documents before making a long trip to the pound.
The city normally stores a vehicle for no less than 21 days from the date it mails notice to the registered owner. Under Municipal Code 9-92-100(a), that owner has the right to one 15-day extension before sale or disposal. The extension must be requested through the Auto Pound Office.
An unclaimed vehicle may be sold at auction or otherwise disposed of. Disposal doesn’t erase the owner’s remaining fines and fees. Act from the mailed-notice date, not from the day you happen to find the car.
A general post-tow hearing deadline for an ordinary Chicago tow couldn’t be confirmed from the city sources approved for this page. A current maximum storage cap also couldn’t be confirmed. Don’t rely on numbers circulating through old articles or forum posts. Ask the Bureau of Traffic Services which rule applies to the tow record in hand.
If the city has released the vehicle but it won’t run, the pound issue has ended and a new transport problem has started. That’s when an independent operator may need to move it from the lot.
When to call us
Once the pound releases your car, call if it won’t start, can’t be driven safely, or needs emergency towing away from the lot. Our line is answered 24 hours a day; after the notice, calls are recorded, and we match you with an independent local operator whose price is quoted before dispatch. Call us at (773) 830-6930.