Berwyn, IL Parking Rules: Abandoned Vehicles (2026)

Chapter 468 of the Berwyn Code of Ordinances defines an abandoned vehicle in § 468.01 as any vehicle in a state of disrepair that leaves it incapable of being driven in its condition, or any vehicle that has not been moved or used for seven consecutive days or more and is apparently deserted. The same section defines a highway as the entire width between the boundary lines of every publicly maintained way open to vehicular travel, and it reaches public school property as well.

Section 468.02(A) bars abandoning a vehicle or part of one on any highway in the city. Subsection (B) extends the ban to private or public property other than a highway when the vehicle is in view of the general public, with one carve-out for the property of the owner or bailee of the vehicle. On private property, removal can be authorized by or upon the order of the Superintendent of Police after a waiting period of seven days or more.

On a highway the clock is shorter. Under § 468.04, a vehicle abandoned on a highway for ten hours or more can be ordered removed by a towing service, and so can an abandoned, unattended, wrecked, burned or partially dismantled vehicle that creates a traffic hazard because of its position or impedes traffic because of its physical appearance. Whenever the Superintendent of Police orders a vehicle removed from public or private property, the owner is responsible for all towing costs.

Section 468.03 sets the pre-tow process. If notice cannot be given at the initial investigation, the city forwards notice by certified mail to the address in the most current state registration information, advising that the vehicle is on a list to be towed. The owner has 48 hours or two business days after receiving notice to ask the Parking Division of the Police Department for a hearing, and towing is delayed pending the outcome, though never more than seven days after the request. Later steps run through a Police Department record of each tow (§ 468.05), a search of Secretary of State registration records (§ 468.06) and a public sale or other disposal, with proceeds after towing, storage and processing charges going to the City Treasury (§ 468.11).