How to dispute a tow in Bolingbrook
Think a tow near Bolingbrook was wrong? Illinois gives you real leverage, but which route you take depends entirely on who towed the car.
What Illinois law says
There are two completely separate complaint routes in Illinois and using the wrong one wastes weeks. If a municipality impounded your vehicle, 625 ILCS 5/11-208.7 gives you a right to an administrative hearing, with notice required within 10 days and an initial hearing convened no later than 45 days after that notice is mailed. If a private property had it relocated, the regulator is the Illinois Commerce Commission, and the relocator's own invoice has the complaint form on the back of it. Work out which happened first. A vehicle taken off a public street by a municipality is the first route; a vehicle taken out of a lot by a licensed relocator is the second.
How it works in Bolingbrook
- 1 Work out who towed it
A municipal impound and a private-property relocation have different regulators, different deadlines and different paperwork. Getting this wrong is the single most common reason a complaint goes nowhere.
- 2 For a municipal impound, watch the notice
State law requires notice within 10 days of the impoundment and an initial hearing scheduled and convened no later than 45 days after the date that notice was mailed. If no notice arrived, say so.
- 3 For a relocation, check the sign first
Removing a vehicle from a property that lacks the signs required under 18a-302 is unlawful. Photograph the lot, including the absence of a compliant sign, before anything changes.
- 4 Check the distance and the police call
A relocator cannot take a vehicle more than 10 air miles from where it was parked, or 15 from an unincorporated area, and must notify local police within one hour of the removal.
- 5 Check the rate
Charging above the rates set by the Commission is unlawful under 18a-300(12), and 18a-300(18) requires any amount charged in excess of the reasonable rate the Commission establishes to be refunded.
- 6 File it with the right body
Relocation complaints go to the Illinois Commerce Commission, 9511 W. Harrison Street, Des Plaines, Illinois 60016, phone (847) 294-4326, using the form on the back of the Relocation Towing Invoice. Municipal impound disputes go through that municipality's administrative hearing process.
What this looks like around Bolingbrook
Will County is inside Commission jurisdiction, so a relocation dispute in Joliet, Bolingbrook, Romeoville or Lockport goes to the Commission, while a municipal impound dispute goes to that city's administrative hearing process under state law.
Bolingbrook runs its own impound. Park-and-ride lots are the usual source of a private-lot dispute here, and a relocator working one still has to meet the state's sign, distance and notification rules. 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.
Bolingbrook holds 73,922 residents with a median household income of $92,184 and a median family income of $102,174, mostly in Will County with a DuPage portion. Interstate 55, the Stevenson, runs through the southern part of the village, heading northeast toward Chicago and southwest toward Plainfield and Joliet, and Interstate 355, the Veterans Memorial Tollway, runs along the far east side. Illinois Route 53, locally Bolingbrook Drive, runs north-south through the middle, and Westbury, off Route 53, was the village's first subdivision. Clow International Airport sits off Boughton Road with a runway of roughly 3,362 feet, and the Promenade Bolingbrook anchors the retail. The detail that changes how a breakdown gets handled here is that Pace routes 755, 850 and 851 run express to downtown Chicago on the shoulder of I-55, using park-and-ride facilities in the village. A disabled vehicle on that shoulder is not just exposed to traffic, it is occupying an active bus route at rush hour, and getting it clear quickly matters to more than the driver. The park-and-ride lots themselves are the other steady source of work, collecting vehicles that sit all day and sometimes all week. Operators cover I-55, I-355, Route 53 and the park-and-ride lots.
Common Bolingbrook questions
How long do I have to dispute a tow in Bolingbrook?
For a municipal impound, state law requires notice within 10 days and an initial hearing convened no later than 45 days after that notice is mailed, so the timetable is driven by the notice date. For a private-property relocation, file the complaint form from the back of your invoice with the Illinois Commerce Commission as soon as you have it.
What if the lot had no sign in Bolingbrook?
Under 18a-300(10) it is unlawful to remove a vehicle from property on which signs are required and on which appropriate signs under 18a-302 are not posted. Photograph the lot before anything is changed, and include the photographs with your complaint.
What if I could not reach the towing company in Bolingbrook?
If after a reasonable effort you could not make telephone contact with the relocator for a period of one hour from your first attempt, during a period when they are required to answer, the statute says all fees for towing, storage or otherwise are to be waived. Keep a log of the times you called.
Can Quick Tow Chicago settle my tow dispute in Bolingbrook?
No. We are not the towing company, the village or the Commission, and we have no standing in your dispute. We can tell you which route applies and what the law requires, and move the car once it is released. Call (773) 830-6930.
Related help for Bolingbrook
Disputing a tow in the rest of the Will County Corridor area
Need your car towed once it's released in Bolingbrook?
We can't waive the yard's fees. We can line up an operator the moment it clears.