How to get your car out of impound in Elmhurst
If your car got towed in Elmhurst, here is how to find it and get it back today.
What Illinois law says
Chicago is unusual in one important way: a car that is gone has not necessarily been impounded. The city also 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. Its own advice is to call 311 before reporting the vehicle stolen. If it was impounded by the city, it is at one of four auto pounds, all open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year: Central at 500 E Wacker Dr on the lower level, the O'Hare pound on Bessie Coleman Drive, Pound 2 at 103rd and Doty Avenue, and Pound 6 at 701 N Sacramento Avenue. If a suburb towed it, none of that applies, because every village runs its own impound with its own fee. Work out which of the three situations you are in first, because they have almost nothing in common.
How it works in Elmhurst
- 1 Call 311 before you drive anywhere
The city relocates vehicles as well as impounding them, sometimes with no signs posted, and 311 will tell you which pound has it or whether it was moved instead. This is the city's own instruction and it saves a wasted trip.
- 2 Ask whether police are holding it
Vehicles held for narcotics, DUI, firearms, fleeing and eluding, a suspended or revoked licence and a long list of similar reasons cannot be released at the pound at all. Those go through the Vehicle Impoundment Office at 400 W Superior.
- 3 Bring the right documents
Valid photo identification for everyone claiming the vehicle, proof of ownership as a valid title, a current registration card or a bill of sale not more than 30 days old, a lease agreement if you are the lessee, and an original notarized letter from the owner if you are acting for them.
- 4 Check plates, sticker and fines
No vehicle is released without current state plates and a Chicago Vehicle Sticker where required, and all charges and fines have to be paid in full. If you are driving it out, you need a current valid driver's licence.
- 5 Know how they take payment
Cash, Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express or Diners Club. No checks and no money orders. The tow is $250 under 8,000 pounds or $350 at or above, with storage at $50 or $100 a day.
- 6 Watch the clock
Vehicles are normally stored no less than 21 days from the date the city mails notice to the registered owner, and under 9-92-100(a) you have a right to one extension of 15 days. Request it from the Auto Pound Office at 312.746.4954.
What this looks like around Elmhurst
Oak Park, Cicero, Berwyn, Melrose Park, Schiller Park, Elmhurst, Naperville, Aurora and Elgin each run their own impound. If the vehicle came out of a shopping-centre or apartment lot rather than off the street, it is a relocation under state law instead, performed by a company licensed by the Illinois Commerce Commission, and that is a different process again.
Elmhurst runs its own impound, in DuPage County. DuPage is one of the five counties where the Illinois Commerce Commission regulates private-property relocation, so the sign, distance and rate rules apply here exactly as they do in Cook. 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.
Elmhurst holds 45,786 residents with a median household income of $123,869 and a median family income of $148,663, which makes it one of the wealthier places we cover. It is in DuPage County. Interstates 290 and 294 both border the city, and North Avenue, York Street and Roosevelt Road carry the surface traffic. Elmhurst Memorial Hospital, founded in 1926, was the first hospital in DuPage County. The rail picture here is unusually busy for a town this size: Metra Union Pacific West runs commuter service, Union Pacific runs freight on the same line, and Canadian National operates the former Illinois Central Freeport Subdivision to the south. O'Hare is roughly eighteen minutes away and Midway about thirty-three. Two consequences for towing. High household incomes mean newer and more expensive vehicles, which means flatbed-only requests and owners who expect the handling standards a dealer would use. And multiple active freight lines through a residential town mean grade crossings, blocked crossings and the occasional vehicle that needs to come off a crossing quickly. DuPage County is inside Illinois Commerce Commission jurisdiction, so the private-property relocation rules apply here just as they do in Cook. Operators cover both expressway frontages, the York Street corridor and the hospital campus.
Common Elmhurst questions
How do I find out where my car was towed in Elmhurst?
Call 311. Inside the city that tells you which of the four pounds has the vehicle, or whether it was relocated rather than impounded, which is a real and common outcome the city warns about itself. If a suburb towed it, call that village's police department directly.
What will I owe to get my car out of impound in Elmhurst?
If the City of Chicago towed it, the published fees are $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 split, under Municipal Code 9-92-080. If a suburb towed it, that village sets its own administrative fee and it will not match the city's.
Can I pay with a check in Elmhurst?
Not at a City of Chicago pound. The city takes cash, Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express or Diners Club, and it states plainly that checks and money orders are not accepted. Suburban impounds set their own payment rules, so ask before you drive over.
Can Quick Tow Chicago release my car from impound in Elmhurst?
No, and we will not pretend otherwise. We connect drivers with private tow and roadside operators. We are not the pound, the village or the police department holding your car, so we cannot waive fees or speed up a release. What we can do is help you work out who has it and line up an operator once it is released. Call (773) 830-6930.
Related help for Elmhurst
Impound release process in the rest of the West Suburbs area
Need your car towed once it's released in Elmhurst?
We can't waive the yard's fees. We can line up an operator the moment it clears.