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Audits, reports, rules and contracts about towing in Chicago, each with a short summary in plain words and a link to the agency's own copy.
These are government documents. We link to the official copies. Summaries are ours; read the record itself before you rely on it.
The ICC's answers on private-property relocation: the current light-duty maximum of $238.20 plus a $2.50 invoice fee, how that maximum is tied to local police tow rates, payment rules, signs, and how to file a complaint.
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The City's open data on vehicles it towed or relocated in the last 90 days, with the tow date, the pound the car went to and the pound's phone number. It does not include private-property tows.
Official copy:
The dataset lists license plates; we link it and do not copy it.
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The City's first full audit of its auto pounds we have found. The City impounds about 81,000 cars a year at eight pound operations on five sites, most of them run by its contractor. The audit found incomplete digital records (for 15% of sampled cars it was unclear whether they were redeemed, disposed of or still held), unclear pickup rules, security and damage-claim gaps, and some wrong charges. It also gives a history of the City's pound contracts since 1989.
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The City's rules for its own tows: reasons a car may be towed, the notice of impoundment, tow and storage fees and their limits, and disposal of unclaimed cars after 18 days with one 15-day extension.
Official copy:
The code site blocks automated readers; the Chicago pack checked the text in a browser on October 6, 2026.
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COFA's look at raising the City's $150 tow and $25 daily storage fees. It says the City tows about 100,000 vehicles a year, 95% under 8,000 lbs., estimates the revenue from several fee options, notes that the pound contract was to expire in 2026, and lists the hardship higher fees could cause for low-income owners.
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The document has no date; we place it in 2025 from its contents.
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Describes how the City sells impounded and surplus vehicles through online listings, with winning bidders picking up cars at the City's salvage yard, and how cars bid over $10,000 are moved to the auction lot. It reports $1.36 million from all City auctions in 2024.
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The City's own summary of the 2020 changes: lower penalties for many offenses, a $1,000 cap on storage fees, no storage while a car is held for a police investigation or a forfeiture decision, fewer impoundable offenses, and new defenses for owners.
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This page still shows the $1,000 storage cap; the Municipal Code now sets $1,500 (December 2025).
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COFA's analysis of a proposed ordinance letting owners give up an impounded car right away. It records the 2019 storage fees ($20 a day for 5 days, then $35), about 21,000 cars a year disposed of by scrap sale, an average scrap price of $454 with the City keeping about 42%, and that the sale money is credited against the owner's debt.
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Chicago's added rules for private-property tows: written consent, police notice within 30 minutes, signs, a ban on private booting, no tow with a passenger inside, charges limited to the lower of the sign or the state rate, a free photo and truck video, and the posted Towing Bill of Rights.
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The Chicago pack checked the text in a browser on October 6, 2026.
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The City's contract with its towing and pound contractor, awarded for up to $60 million and later extended (a February 2024 amendment added about $37 million). The procurement page lists each amendment and links payment records. The OIG audit says the contract sets the security, documentation and customer-service duties at the contractor-run pounds.
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The listed end date is May 31, 2026; we have not yet found what contract covers the pounds after that date.
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The state rules for private-property relocators in Cook and four other counties: authorization, signs, police notice within one hour, release and payment, refunds, the Relocation Tow Record form, and disposal of unclaimed cars.
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We are reviewing these before we post them: