What happens if you don't pay impound in Des Plaines
If your car has been sitting unpaid at a lot near Des Plaines, here is what actually happens next.
What Illinois law says
An unpaid impound does not sit still. Storage accrues daily, and at the end of the clock the vehicle can be disposed of or sold at auction while you still owe the fines and fees. In the City of Chicago the timetable is published: 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) the registered owner has the right to one extension of 15 days before the vehicle is sold or otherwise disposed of. If the vehicle is never claimed it may be disposed of or sold at auction, and the owner remains responsible for any fines or fees related to the violation. A suburban impound runs its own timetable, so the only reliable source there is the department that ordered the tow.
How it works in Des Plaines
- 1 Understand what the clock is for
The 21-day figure inside the city is the point at which the city may dispose of the vehicle, not a period during which you cannot collect it. You can collect it the same day if there is no police hold and you can pay.
- 2 Watch for the notice
The clock starts from the date the city mails notice to the registered owner, so a change of address that never reached the Secretary of State is how people lose cars they did not know were impounded.
- 3 Use the one extension you get
Under 9-92-100(a) the registered owner has the right to one extension of 15 days before the vehicle is sold or otherwise disposed of. Request it from the Auto Pound Office at 312.746.4954.
- 4 Confirm the running balance
Ask for the tow charge and the daily storage rate separately, and ask what today's total is. Inside the city those are $250 or $350 to tow and $50 or $100 per day to store.
- 5 Know what happens at the end
If the vehicle is not claimed it may be disposed of or sold at auction, and the owner is still responsible for any fines or fees related to the violation. Losing the car does not clear the debt.
- 6 Decide whether the car is worth saving
Compare the running balance against what the vehicle is actually worth. If the answer is no, a junk-car pickup with a cash offer is a cleaner ending than a lien sale, and Illinois junking paperwork is final, so decide once.
What this looks like around Des Plaines
Village impounds out here set their own daily rate and their own disposal timetable. Call the department that ordered the tow on day one and ask for both numbers, because the difference between acting on day two and day twelve is usually larger than people expect.
Des Plaines runs its own impound. A tow off a tollway is a different matter again, since the vehicle usually goes wherever the responding agency directs, so call the department that ordered it before you drive anywhere. 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.
Des Plaines holds 60,675 residents and sits immediately north of O'Hare International Airport, which is what turned it from a river town into a suburb after the Second World War. Two interstates cross it, I-90, the Jane Addams and formerly the Northwest Tollway, and I-294, the Tri-State, and River Road, Mannheim Road, Touhy Avenue and Golf Road carry the surface traffic between them. Rivers Casino opened here in July 2011 after the city approved the zoning in 2010, and a 24-hour casino changes the shape of a night: the calls that come in at three in the morning are lockouts and dead batteries in a parking structure, not highway recovery. The city is also where American Airlines Flight 191 came down in 1979, just north of Touhy Avenue. Worth knowing for anyone reading weather here: the National Weather Service's official Chicago observations are taken at O'Hare next door, so the 38.4 inch annual snow normal and the 121 nights a year at or below freezing are literally this city's numbers. Operators cover both tollways, the O'Hare hotel and cargo belt, and the casino district.
Common Des Plaines questions
How long before an unpaid tow becomes a real problem in Des Plaines?
Immediately, because storage accrues daily. Inside the city the disposal clock is no less than 21 days from the date the city mails notice to the registered owner, with a right to one 15-day extension, but the cost problem starts on day one at $50 or $100 a day.
What notice do I get before losing my car in Des Plaines?
The City of Chicago mails notice to the registered owner and the storage clock runs from that date. That is why the address on your registration matters: if the notice goes to an old address, the clock still runs.
How much will I owe if I wait to pay in Des Plaines?
Inside the city, the tow is $250 for a vehicle under 8,000 pounds or $350 at 8,000 pounds or more, and storage is $50 or $100 per day on the same split. Multiply the daily rate by the days elapsed and add the tow. A suburban impound sets its own figures.
Does Quick Tow Chicago handle lien sales in Des Plaines?
No. We are not the lot holding your vehicle and we have no part in its disposal. What we can do is help you work out who has it, what the balance is likely to be, and whether a junk-car pickup makes more sense than paying it out. Call (773) 830-6930.
Related help for Des Plaines
Unpaid impound & disposal in the rest of the North & Northwest Suburbs area
Need your car towed once it's released in Des Plaines?
We can't waive the yard's fees. We can line up an operator the moment it clears.