How to get your car out of impound in Joliet
If your car got towed in Joliet, 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 Joliet
- 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 Joliet
Joliet, Bolingbrook, Romeoville and Lockport each run their own impound. For a commercial vehicle the weight tier is usually what moves the number, and for anything recovered from a refinery or an intermodal yard expect the site's own access rules on top of the municipal process.
Joliet runs its own impound, in Will County, which sits inside Illinois Commerce Commission relocation jurisdiction. For commercial equipment the weight tier is what moves the number, and for a private-lot tow the state's sign and distance rules apply. Se habla espanol. 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.
Joliet holds 150,362 residents, the third-most populous city in Illinois, with a median household income of $72,871 and a Hispanic share of 33.59 percent. Interstates 80 and 55 both run through it and link up near Channahon just west of the city, a connection made in the 1960s that reshaped the whole area. The Des Plaines River splits the city; Central Joliet is everything west of the river and east of I-55, and US 30 crosses the river at the Ruby Street Bridge. The Joliet Transportation Center is the terminus of Metra's Heritage Corridor from Union Station and the Rock Island District from LaSalle Street. Chicagoland Speedway and Route 66 Raceway sit south of town, and Joliet Regional Airport is off Jefferson Street near I-55. What makes Joliet the most important commercial towing market on this map is the freight. Two interstates crossing at the continent's largest inland intermodal complex means tractor-trailers, containers, dropped trailers and recovery work that is worth several times an ordinary car tow, and it runs around the clock because freight does. A third of the city speaks Spanish at home in meaningful numbers, so the Spanish version of this page is not optional. Will County is inside Illinois Commerce Commission relocation jurisdiction, so private-property rules apply here too. Operators cover I-80, I-55, the intermodal yards and the downtown river district.
Common Joliet questions
How do I find out where my car was towed in Joliet?
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 Joliet?
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 Joliet?
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 Joliet?
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 Joliet
Impound release process in the rest of the Will County Corridor area
Need your car towed once it's released in Joliet?
We can't waive the yard's fees. We can line up an operator the moment it clears.