Illinois Towing Laws: Fees, Notice Rules, and Getting Your Car Back

Illinois regulates who may tow a vehicle, what a tow operator can charge, and how quickly a car has to be returned. Most of these rules sit in the Illinois Vehicle Code and are enforced by local police and the Illinois Commerce Commission. This article is part of Illinois consumer protection laws, and it covers trespass tows from private lots, the fee caps that apply, and how to reclaim a vehicle and the belongings inside it. A tow is different from a repossession, where a lender takes a vehicle after a missed payment; that process is covered separately in Illinois car repossession laws.

When a tow is legal in Illinois

Two broad categories of towing exist in Illinois: removals authorized by a law enforcement agency, and removals a private property owner arranges directly.

Police-authorized tows cover abandoned vehicles, traffic hazards, and certain arrests. Under 625 ILCS 5/4-203, law enforcement can authorize removal when a vehicle sits abandoned on an expressway for 2 hours, on a highway in an urban district for 10 hours, or on a rural highway for 24 hours. The same section lets police impound a vehicle after certain arrests, such as a driver taken into custody for a second DUI offense.

Private-property towing is the situation most drivers run into. The owner or lessor of private property, or someone they authorize, may have a vehicle that is parked without permission removed by a towing service. That authority comes from subsection (f) of 625 ILCS 5/4-203, and it applies only if the tow company follows a list of conditions on signage, notice, rates, and release. A company that removes vehicles from private lots for hire is a “commercial vehicle relocator” and is licensed and regulated by the Illinois Commerce Commission under 625 ILCS 5/18a-100.

What a tow company must do before and after towing

The conditions in 625 ILCS 5/4-203(f) are the heart of Illinois trespass-towing law. A lot owner who wants unauthorized vehicles towed at the driver’s expense generally has to post a warning sign with light-reflective letters at least 2 inches high, placed at each driveway entrance and kept up continuously for at least 24 hours before any tow. The sign must state that unauthorized vehicles will be towed at the owner’s expense and must list the towing company’s name and current phone number.

The tow operator has its own duties. It must remove the vehicle only on the express written instruction of the property owner, and it must notify the local law enforcement agency within 30 minutes of completing the tow, reporting the vehicle’s make, model, color, and plate. A commercial relocator has a parallel duty under 625 ILCS 5/18a-300 to notify law enforcement within one hour of removing a trespassing vehicle. That notice is why a driver who returns to an empty parking space can call the non-emergency police line and find out where the car went.

Illinois also limits how far a relocator can take a vehicle. Section 18a-300 bars a relocator from towing a car more than 10 air miles from where it was parked, or 15 air miles when the tow starts in an unincorporated part of a county. The relocator’s tow trucks must display the company’s name, address, and phone number on both sides.

Limits on towing and storage fees

Trespass-tow charges in Illinois are capped. Under 625 ILCS 5/18a-200, the Illinois Commerce Commission sets the maximum rates a relocator can charge, and those rates cannot exceed the mean average of the five highest police-tow rates in the area. The tow company must file its current rate schedule with local law enforcement and post an identical schedule at its storage lot, per 625 ILCS 5/4-203(f).

Two fee limits matter most to drivers. First, as of 2026 a relocator cannot charge any storage fee for the first 24 hours after a tow, under Section 18a-200. Second, if the owner or driver arrives while the vehicle is being hooked up but before it has actually been removed, the tow operator has to disconnect it and release it for a service fee of no more than one-half the posted towing rate. That half-rate “drop fee” rule appears in both Section 4-203(f) and 625 ILCS 5/18a-300.

How to get your car back

Once a car has been towed from private property, 625 ILCS 5/4-203(f) requires the tow company to store it at the company’s own place of business and to release it within one-half hour after it is requested during business hours. The driver has the right to inspect the vehicle before accepting it, and no tow company can require a signed waiver of liability for tow or storage damage as a condition of release. A detailed, signed receipt showing the tow company’s legal name must be given to whoever pays.

1. Find out where the car was towed

   Because the tow company had to notify police within 30 minutes, the local law enforcement agency usually has a record of the tow and the storage location. Call the non-emergency line for the police department where the car was parked.

2. Confirm the charges against the posted rate

   Ask for the total and compare it to the rate schedule the company must post at its lot and file with police. Storage for the first 24 hours cannot be billed at all.

3. Bring an accepted form of payment

   Cash, cashier’s or certified check, debit card, credit card, and wire transfer are all valid, and the driver picks which one to use.

4. Inspect the vehicle and collect a receipt

   Look the car over before accepting it, and get the signed receipt showing the company’s legal name. The vehicle must be handed over within one-half hour of the request during business hours.

Getting your personal property back

A tow company holds a lien on a towed vehicle for its charges, but that lien does not extend to everything inside the car. Subsection (g) of 625 ILCS 5/4-203 exempts a specific list of personal items, so a driver can retrieve them even before paying the tow bill. The exempt items include child safety seats and booster seats, eyeglasses, food, medicine, medical and health-care devices such as hearing aids, any driver’s license or other identifying documents, and any cash, credit cards, checks, or a wallet or purse containing them.

The lien on the vehicle itself is also capped. Under Section 4-203(g), the total lien cannot exceed $2,000 as of 2026, and it cannot be inflated with charges for services the Vehicle Code does not authorize. When a car is towed because it was involved in a crash, a driver who shows proof of an insurance policy covering towing and storage can reclaim all other personal property in the vehicle as well.

If your car was towed improperly

Not every tow follows the rules, and Illinois gives drivers several avenues when one does not. The Illinois Commerce Commission regulates commercial relocators and investigates written complaints against them under 625 ILCS 5/18a-200. A relocator must post the name, address, and phone number of the nearest Commission office at the location where it returns vehicles, so complaint contact information is available on site.

Two protections carry real financial teeth. If a driver makes a reasonable effort to reach the relocator by phone and cannot, all fees for towing and storage are waived under 625 ILCS 5/18a-300; the statute treats three attempted calls within an hour, at least two of them 45 minutes apart, as sufficient proof of that effort. And a person who wrongly causes a vehicle to be towed is liable to the owner for the cost of removal, transportation, and storage, plus any resulting damage, attorney’s fees, and court costs, under Section 4-203. Violating the private-property towing conditions is a Class C misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than $100 and not more than $500.

Drivers can also raise towing problems with state consumer protection authorities. The Illinois Attorney General’s office handles auto and consumer complaints and accepts submissions through its complaint filing process, and the general steps for submitting one are described in Illinois Attorney General complaints.