Unpaid impound & disposal · Joliet, IL

What happens if you don't pay impound in Joliet

If your car has been sitting unpaid at a lot near Joliet, here is what actually happens next.

The short version

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.

Step by step

How it works in Joliet

  1. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.

Joliet context

What this looks like around Joliet

For commercial equipment along the freight corridor the daily rate is higher and the arithmetic turns bad fast. Work out early whether the vehicle is worth the balance, because the Illinois junking certificate ends a title permanently once that road is taken.

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.

Joliet impound FAQs

Common Joliet questions

How long before an unpaid tow becomes a real problem in Joliet?

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 Joliet?

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 Joliet?

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 Joliet?

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.

Nearby

Unpaid impound & disposal in the rest of the Will County Corridor area

Serving Joliet

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.