FOR RELEASE:
August 26, 2026
PRESS CONTACT:
Deanna Shoss, Communications, 773.478.8417
The City of Chicago Office of Inspector General (OIG) has published an audit examining the Department of Streets and Sanitation’s (DSS) administration of the City’s auto pounds. The audit assessed whether DSS minimizes inconsistency in services, customer hardship, vehicle damage, maintains accurate vehicle inventories, assesses and collects complete and accurate customer charges.
The City maintains eight pound operations at five locations, with management responsibilities divided among the Chicago Police Department (CPD), DSS, and DSS’s towing and pound management vendor, United Road Towing (URT). OIG found inconsistencies between DSS operated and contractor operated pounds, along with limited written guidance for staff, contributing to burdens on customers seeking to retrieve impounded vehicles. OIG directly observed pound operations from December 2023 through October 2024 and reviewed records from calendar years 2022 and 2023.
The audit also found that digital impoundment data was unreliable: in a randomly-selected sample, OIG could not determine whether 15 percent of vehicles had been redeemed, disposed of, or remained impounded. DSS relies mostly on paper records to process impoundments and retrievals, and digital impoundment records were incomplete at the time of the audit. Additionally, DSS did not clearly communicate to customers the required documentation, payment methods, or prerequisite steps needed to retrieve a vehicle. OIG also found that DSS does not monitor vehicle damage claims against its contractor and does not consistently hold URT accountable for meeting contract terms, exposing vehicles to risk of damage or theft and adding difficulty to the retrieval process.
“The City impounds an average of well over a thousand vehicles a week from all across Chicago,” said David Glockner, Inspector General for the City of Chicago. “Managing all these impoundments and safely reuniting cars and their owners is a complex challenge. Our audit found that the City’s impoundment processes generally work effectively, but the process can be more transparent and accessible for customers and reduce the risk of damage to vehicles. Having your car impounded always will make for a bad day, but it can be a little less bad,” said Glockner.
OIG recommends that DSS take steps to ensure that URT complies with its contract requirements to maintain pound security, protect vehicles from damage, act in good faith on claims of vehicle damage, and use an inventory system that interfaces with the City’s IT systems. OIG also recommends that DSS standardize pound policies and procedures related to safely moving and storing vehicles, processing loss or damage claims, and properly closing impoundment records. DSS should provide better communication regarding the documentation customers must provide to retrieve a vehicle, and consolidate customer-facing vehicle retrieval information into an accurate and easy-to-understand central source.
Lastly, DSS should coordinate with the Department of Finance (DOF) and its payment contractor to ensure that payment policies at the pounds match current DOF policies and that customers are charged consistently and correctly when retrieving vehicles.
Read the Report
Read the full report and departmental response, published on August 26, 2026.
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