Parking the truck on your street
A truck that has to circle the block or park a long walk away is billed by the hour, so the curb matters. The city's enforceable option is a CDOT Moving Van Parking permit, applied for online. It costs $30 a day per vehicle outside downtown and $60 a day inside the Central Business District (CDOT 2026 fee schedule).
Ward offices hand out free no-parking signs too, posted at least 48 hours ahead. They are not enforceable, so nobody gets a ticket or a tow for ignoring them (44th Ward). We do not file permits or post signs. Book the curb before move day and tell us which side of the street it is on.
Loading from the alley
In a two-flat or a three-flat, the back gate on the alley is often the shorter carry. City code allows a truck in an alley only as long as loading takes, with at least 10 feet of the alley left open and no blocked garage or gate (Municipal Code 9-64-130). Tell us if the back gate, the porch stairs or the garage is the easier way out.
Downtown hours and Lake Shore Drive
Inside Michigan, Harrison, Halsted and Chicago Avenue, freight vehicles longer than 33 feet may not load or unload from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays and Saturdays unless they use an off-street dock. Trucks also need a city permit to drive on Lake Shore Drive and the boulevards (Municipal Code 9-72-010 and 9-72-020). If your building has a dock, ask for a dock time when you book the elevator.
Winter parking bans
From December 1 to April 1, parking is banned from 3 a.m. to 7 a.m. on 107 miles of main streets, snow or not. A car left there is towed for at least $150, plus a $60 ticket and $25 a day in storage. A separate ban covers another 500 miles of streets once 2 inches of snow fall (Streets and Sanitation). For a winter move, check your street before you plan where the truck stands.
Game days near Wrigley Field
On event days, commercial trucks are kept out of the blocks between Halsted and Racine, from Belmont to Irving Park, from 90 minutes before the event until an hour after it. A Lake View move on a game day needs a time outside that window (44th Ward).
High-rise move rules
Building rules differ, but the ones Chicago condo associations publish repeat the same points: book the service elevator a week or 72 hours ahead, move on weekdays inside set hours such as 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., give the building a certificate of insurance, and sometimes pay a move fee and a deposit. Ask your management office for the rules in writing and send them to us. We send the certificate once we have the exact wording.
Why Chicago moves are billed by the hour
The state sets this. The Illinois Commerce Commission lets movers bill by the hour when a move is shorter than 50 miles, or when it stays inside the seven counties of Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry and Will. Past that, a move inside Illinois is charged by weight and distance. An Illinois estimate is not binding: at delivery you pay up to 110% of the written estimate, the crew unloads, and you have 30 days for any balance (ICC consumer guide). That is why the written estimate should name your stairs, elevators and heavy items. Each one left out turns into time on the bill.
