Car towed from private property in The Loop & Near North

Inside the city both regimes exist side by side, which is exactly why people get confused. A car taken off a public street by the city is an impound or a relocation under the municipal code. A car taken out of an apartment or retail lot is a relocation under state law by an Illinois Commerce Commission licensee, and the sign, distance, notification and rate rules all apply to it.

The Central Auto Pound is physically here, at 500 E Wacker Dr on the lower level, open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Before you go anywhere, call 311, because a missing downtown car is as likely to have been relocated to clear a street as impounded, and the city says plainly this can happen in an emergency with no signs posted. A City of Chicago tow has published fees: $250 to tow a vehicle under 8,000 pounds and $350 at 8,000 pounds or more, with storage at $50 or $100 per day on the same weight split, under Municipal Code 9-92-080. Payment is cash, Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express or Diners Club only, with no checks and no money orders. To release a vehicle you need photo identification, proof of ownership as a title, a current registration card or a bill of sale under 30 days old, current state plates and a Chicago Vehicle Sticker where required, and all charges and fines paid in full. Vehicles are normally stored no less than 21 days from the date the city mails notice, with a right to one 15-day extension under 9-92-100(a); request it from the Auto Pound Office at 312.746.4954.

The Loop, the Near North Side and the Near West Side make up the densest towing and relocation zone in the metro. The Near North Side is now the largest community area in Chicago at roughly 107,000 residents, with the Loop at about 42,500 and the Near West Side at 68,000. Wacker Drive runs the river's edge through the whole district, Michigan Avenue and Lake Shore Drive carry the lakefront traffic, and the Kennedy and the Dan Ryan meet at the Jane Byrne Interchange on the west edge. What makes downtown different is not volume, it is uncertainty. The city relocates vehicles to clear streets for agency work, and it says plainly that this can happen in an emergency with no opportunity to post signs. That means a downtown driver who walks back to an empty space genuinely does not know whether the car is at a pound or two blocks away, and the city's own advice is to call 311 before reporting it stolen. The Central Auto Pound is at 500 E Wacker Dr on the lower level and runs 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, so for a lot of Loop calls the vehicle has not gone far. Street festivals, film shoots and utility work all add their own posted and unposted restrictions on top of ordinary enforcement. Operators cover Grant Park, the New Eastside, River North and the river corridor, running wheel-lift for the ordinary call and flatbed for anything coming off Lake Shore Drive.