Will County, IL Parking Rules: Towing & Impound Rights (2026)

Will County's towing and impoundment rules sit in Chapter 78 of the county code, added by Ordinance 15-158 on 5-21-2015. Section 78.10 adopts 625 ILCS 5/11-208.7 by reference, which is the state provision that lets an Illinois county build its own impound-and-release procedure. Section 78.20 fixes the price: the administrative fee for the proper towing of vehicles within the jurisdictional boundaries of Will County by the Will County Sheriff's Office is $350 per vehicle, per tow. That $350 is a county charge and is separate from what the tow yard bills for the hook and for daily storage.

Reach matters here and the code is specific about it. The trigger in § 78.35(A) is a sheriff's deputy who has cause to believe a vehicle is subject to impoundment, and § 78.20 ties the fee to a tow performed by the Will County Sheriff's Office. Chapter 78 therefore governs Sheriff-ordered tows, which in practice means unincorporated Will County and county road patrol. It is not a countywide tow ordinance binding every police department inside the county line: Joliet, Bolingbrook and Romeoville each run their own municipal impound programs under their own codes, and a tow ordered by one of those departments is not a Chapter 78 tow. Chapter 78 also does not regulate what a private towing company may charge for a non-consent tow, because commercial vehicle relocators in Illinois are licensed and rate-regulated by the Illinois Commerce Commission under 625 ILCS 5/18a.

Section 78.30 lists the offenses that put a vehicle in the program, tracking 625 ILCS 5/11-208.7(b): DUI under § 11-501, driving while a license is suspended or revoked under § 6-303, driving on a license expired more than one year or never having been licensed at all, felony use of the vehicle, Cannabis Control Act and Illinois Controlled Substances Act offenses, weapons offenses under Criminal Code §§ 24-1, 24-1.5 and 24-3.1, theft offenses under Article 16 or 16A, outstanding circuit clerk warrants for failing to answer §§ 6-101, 6-303 or 11-501 charges, and interfering with a funeral procession under § 11-503. Two carve-outs are worth knowing. The fee does not apply if the vehicle was stolen at the time and the theft was reported to police within 24 hours of discovery. And a § 6-303 suspension does not trigger seizure if the suspension is only for an unpaid parking or moving citation or for failing an emissions test.

The owner's release path runs on two clocks. At the time of the tow the deputy must notify, or reasonably attempt to notify, the owner or lessee of the seizure and of the right to an administrative hearing. The vehicle stays impounded pending that hearing unless the owner, lessee or a lienholder posts a bond equal to the $350 fee and also pays all towing and storage charges, which buys the car back immediately; the county holds the bond until the hearing officer rules, or until a reviewing court rules if there is judicial review. The Sheriff or a designee must then serve notice of hearing on the registered owner, lessee and any lienholder of record, personally or by first class mail to the Secretary of State address, within ten days of the impound, and the initial hearing must be convened no later than 45 days after that notice is mailed. The hearing officer must be an attorney licensed in Illinois for at least three years and must issue a written decision either sustaining or overruling the impoundment. If it is sustained, the posted fee is forfeited to the county. If it is overturned, the bond comes back and the tow company must release the car on the hearing officer's order.

After the decision the file closes fast. Section 78.60 deems any vehicle not retrieved from the towing or storage facility within 35 days of the hearing officer's written decision to be abandoned, and it is disposed of under 625 ILCS 5/4-201 et seq. Appeals go to the Circuit Court of Will County under the Administrative Review Law, 735 ILCS 5/3-101 et seq. An unpaid fee that survives the review deadline is enforceable in the same manner as a court judgment, though § 78.50(B) records that the county recognizes the Circuit Court's authority to award an equitable refund. Collected fees go to Capital Fund #304 to offset arrest, detention, impound and release costs.

A second and separate county impound path exists for unpaid tickets. Section 77.10 lets the Traffic Compliance Administrator immobilize or tow a vehicle whose registered owner has unpaid final determinations on multiple standing, parking or compliance violations; the section opens by stating a ten-violation threshold while the notice conditions that follow refer to five or more. That route requires a pre-towing notice giving 14 days to pay or to request a hearing, caps the hearing at 60 days after the request, and charges $50 for installing and removing an immobilization device on top of towing and daily impound charges.