Car towed from private property in Skokie
Your car got towed from a lot or apartment complex in Skokie. Here is what Illinois law actually requires before that is allowed.
What Illinois law says
In Cook, DuPage, Kane, Will and Winnebago counties, a tow from private property is not the same thing as a police tow or a village impound. It is a relocation under the Illinois Commercial Relocation of Trespassing Vehicles Law, 625 ILCS 5/18a, and it may only be performed by a commercial vehicle relocator licensed by the Illinois Commerce Commission. That licence comes with rules the relocator has to follow, and several of them are worth real money to you if they were broken. The law does not apply to vehicles on public streets, to disabled vehicles, to repossessions, or to police-directed towing.
How it works in Skokie
- 1 Confirm it was a relocation, not a city or village tow
If the vehicle was on a public street, this is not it. Private-property relocations only cover vehicles taken from private property by a licensed relocator at the property owner's direction.
- 2 Look at the sign
Under 18a-302 the sign must be posted conspicuously in the affected area, be at least 24 inches high by 36 inches wide, sit at least 4 feet from the ground but less than 8, be illuminated or painted with reflective paint or both, and carry the relocator's name, address and telephone number plus the amount of the towing charges. No compliant sign, and the removal was unlawful.
- 3 Check the distance
A relocator may not take the vehicle more than 15 air miles from its location when towed from an unincorporated area of a county, or more than 10 air miles from anywhere else.
- 4 Ask whether police were notified
The relocator has to notify law enforcement in the jurisdiction where the vehicle was removed within one hour of the removal. That call is also how you find your car.
- 5 Use the one-hour phone rule
If after a reasonable effort you cannot make telephone contact with the relocator for a period of one hour from your first attempt, during a time the relocator is required to answer, all fees for towing, storage or otherwise are to be waived. Keep a log of your attempts with times.
- 6 Complain to the Commission
You are entitled to a complete Relocation Towing Invoice as a receipt, and the complaint form is on the back of it. Send the completed form to the Illinois Commerce Commission, 9511 W. Harrison Street, Des Plaines, Illinois 60016, or call (847) 294-4326.
What this looks like around Skokie
This is the busiest private-property towing area on the map. Woodfield Mall and the office and hotel lots around it in Schaumburg, Old Orchard in Skokie and Golf Mill in Niles all generate relocations, and every one of them is governed by the state rules, including the cap of 10 air miles from where the vehicle was parked.
Skokie runs its own impound and sets its own administrative fee. A tow from a mall or commercial lot here is a different thing again: that is a relocation performed by a company licensed by the Illinois Commerce Commission, not a village impound. 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.
Skokie holds 67,824 residents at a density of 6,739 people per square mile, with a median household income around $74,700. Its street grid is unusually legible: a major east-west road every half mile, Old Orchard, Golf, Church, Dempster, Main, Oakton, Howard and Touhy, crossed by Skokie Boulevard, Crawford Avenue and McCormick Boulevard, with the diagonals Lincoln Avenue, Niles Center Road, East Prairie Road and Gross Point Road cutting through. Interstate 94, the Edens Expressway, runs through western Skokie with interchanges at Touhy, Dempster and Old Orchard, and those three interchanges are where the crash and breakdown volume concentrates. Westfield Old Orchard anchors the retail side, the CTA Yellow Line, the old Skokie Swift, is the fastest transit into the city, and the Pace Pulse Dempster line has run O'Hare to Evanston since 2023. Mall and commercial lots are where the private-property side of the work happens here, and in Cook County that means a licensed relocator, a sign that meets the state's size and lighting rules, and a rate the Commission sets. Operators cover the Edens interchanges, the Old Orchard retail district and the half-mile arterial grid.
Common Skokie questions
Is it legal to tow my car from a parking lot in Skokie?
Yes, when it is done by a relocator licensed by the Illinois Commerce Commission and the property meets the sign requirements in 625 ILCS 5/18a-302. Removing a vehicle from a property that lacks those signs is unlawful under 18a-300(10).
Does a lot have to post a sign before towing in Skokie?
Yes, and the statute is specific. At least 24 inches high by 36 inches wide, at least 4 feet off the ground but less than 8, illuminated or painted with reflective paint or both, posted conspicuously in the affected area, and carrying the relocator's name, address and telephone number along with the towing charge. Residential property clearly reserved for residents and their vehicles is the one exception.
What if I show up before the tow truck leaves in Skokie?
Under 18a-300(9) a relocator may not remove your vehicle if you are present before the removal is complete and you are willing and able to move it immediately. For a vehicle that needs a commercial driver's licence there is a narrow exception allowing a service fee of not more than half the posted rate per tow vehicle on the scene, up to two tow vehicles.
Does Quick Tow Chicago do private-property tows in Skokie?
We are not an Illinois Commerce Commission licensed relocator and we do not pretend to be. What we do is connect property managers with relocators who hold that licence and follow the law, and help drivers work out what actually happened to their vehicle. Call (773) 830-6930.
Related help for Skokie
Private-property tows in the rest of the North & Northwest Suburbs area
Need your car towed once it's released in Skokie?
We can't waive the yard's fees. We can line up an operator the moment it clears.