Terms of Service

1. Acceptance of Terms

By using Autopilot America's services, you agree to these Terms of Service. If you do not agree, please do not use our services.

2. Description of Services

Autopilot America provides Autopilot Protection, an annual membership that includes:

• Alerts and Reminders: Street cleaning notifications, renewal reminders, and parking ban alerts via email and SMS
• Automatic Ticket Contesting: Automatic monitoring of the City of Chicago database for tickets on your plate, with unlimited automated contesting for eligible tickets

3. Agent Authorization (Ticket Protection Only)

By subscribing to Ticket Protection, you explicitly authorize Autopilot America to act as your legal agent for the following purposes:

• Ticket monitoring: Check the City of Chicago payment portal and other public databases for parking and traffic citations issued to your vehicle
• Contest letters: Draft, print, and mail administrative contest letters to the City of Chicago Department of Finance on your behalf for eligible citations
• FOIA requests: Submit Freedom of Information Act requests (5 ILCS 140) to the City of Chicago Department of Finance on your behalf for enforcement records related to your citations, including but not limited to: issuing officer field notes, photographs, handheld device data with GPS coordinates, meter calibration records, sign posting records, street cleaning schedules, and camera system records
• Evidence collection: Receive, store, and present evidence you provide (registration receipts, utility bills, photographs) in support of your ticket contests
• Renewal reminders: Send reminders before your vehicle city sticker and license plate sticker renewal deadlines, and track residential parking permit requirements

Scope of authorization: You represent and warrant that you are the registered owner or authorized lessee of the vehicle(s) you register with Autopilot America. This authorization permits us to identify ourselves as your authorized agent when communicating with the City of Chicago, the Illinois Department of Finance, and related municipal agencies on your behalf. FOIA responses and enforcement records will be received at our designated email address and shared with you via your account dashboard and email notifications.

Important: You are responsible for completing your own renewals with the City of Chicago or State of Illinois when you receive our reminders. We provide reminder services only for renewals. Contest letters and FOIA requests are submitted automatically as part of the Ticket Protection service.

4. Your Responsibilities

To receive Better-Off Guarantee eligibility, you must:

• Maintain a complete and accurate profile with all required information including vehicle details, renewal dates, contact information, and street address
• Respond to our alerts confirming you have moved your vehicle when required
• Provide accurate documentation when requested (ID, proof of residency, etc.)
• Notify us immediately of any changes to your vehicles, address, or contact information
• Submit requested ticket documentation promptly when asked (the sooner you respond, the stronger your contest letter will be)
• Ensure each eligible ticket is visible to us at least 14 days before it doubles or hits boot enforcement — either by submitting it to us or by it appearing on our routine plate-monitoring scans in time for us to act

IMPORTANT: Guarantee eligibility is void if your profile information is incomplete or inaccurate at the time a ticket is issued.

5. Service Guarantees and Limitations

Renewal Filing Service

We provide renewal reminders, but you are responsible for completing filings with the City or State. Missing a renewal after reminders does not create separate cash-claim eligibility.

The Better-Off Guarantee

• Eligible tickets: Any City of Chicago ticket issued during an active paid membership period, camera tickets included.
• Renewal filing is a feature, not a guarantee: Autopilot files city sticker and licence plate renewals for members who switch auto-renewal on and provide the required details at least 30 days before expiry. That filing is a membership feature. It is NOT underwritten by this guarantee: a no-city-sticker or expired-plate ticket is treated exactly like any other eligible ticket — the member pays the face value, and Autopilot pays any late penalty, boot, tow or storage that follows. Claims made before 2026-08-21, while a broader renewal promise was published, are honoured under that earlier promise.
• Guarantee outcome: By the end of your paid year, every Chicago ticket should be ticket-free, paid on time before doubling or boot enforcement, or contested and dismissed. If the member finishes the membership year with one or more eligible tickets that have (a) doubled past the 25-day window or (b) reached boot enforcement, the remedy below applies. A ticket we contest and lose does not trigger the guarantee on its own — as long as we then pay it on time at the original fine, you're no worse off than if you'd paid it day one. The guarantee kicks in only when the ticket ends up in the bad zone: doubled past the 25-day window, or at boot enforcement.
• Remedy: The face value of a Chicago ticket is yours. Every penny the city stacks on top of it is ours: if an eligible ticket doubles on our watch, we pay the late penalty. If your car gets booted over one, we pay the boot, the tow, and the storage.
• Visibility requirement: A ticket only counts toward the guarantee if it was visible to us — either submitted by the member or surfaced by our routine plate-monitoring scans — at least 14 days before it doubled or hit boot enforcement. Tickets we never had a chance to act on are not covered.
• Claim window: Claims must be submitted within 30 days of the qualifying event (your ticket doubling or hitting boot enforcement), or within 30 days after your membership year ends — whichever is later.
• Volume limit: First 5 eligible tickets per membership year are included in guarantee consideration.
• Not covered: Tickets outside Chicago, tickets not eligible to contest, tickets with missing or late documentation, tickets we did not have at least 14 days to act on before they doubled or hit boot enforcement, or tickets that doubled while the member's payment method was declined after we notified them of the decline.

The guarantee pays the late penalty added to an eligible ticket, and — when an eligible ticket put your car on the boot list — the boot fee, the resulting tow, and the storage charges. It pays the face value of a ticket in exactly one case: a city sticker or expired-plate ticket we were set up to prevent and missed. It does not pay the face value of any other ticket, and it does not pay for a tow that happened for another reason (a tow zone, a snow route, an abandoned-vehicle tow).

Members whose membership began before 2026-08-18 may claim under either this remedy or the prior one (a full refund of the membership fee) — whichever leaves them better off. We apply the better of the two automatically; you do not have to choose.

6. Disclaimers and Limitation of Liability

"Best Effort" Basis

Autopilot America provides services on a "best effort" basis. While we strive for accuracy and timeliness, we do not guarantee:

• 100% prevention of all tickets
• Accuracy of third-party data (city schedules, permit zones, etc.)
• Uninterrupted service availability
• Delivery of all notifications (dependent on third-party email/SMS providers)

Government Authority

The City of Chicago and State of Illinois have final authority over all renewal applications. Autopilot America cannot control or guarantee their acceptance, processing times, or decisions.

Maximum Liability

Autopilot America's total liability to you is limited to the amount paid in membership fees during the prior 12 months.

Amounts owed under The Better-Off Guarantee are an exception to this cap. An approved guarantee claim is paid in full even when it exceeds the membership fees you have paid.

7. Payment Terms

• Subscription billing: Autopilot Protection Annual plan at $99/year
• Renewal fees: City sticker ($100), License plate ($155 standard, $164 vanity) paid upfront
• Permit fees: $30 one-time fee for residential parking permit filing (if applicable)
• Automatic renewal: Subscriptions renew automatically at $99/year while membership remains active
• Refunds and guarantee payouts: Membership-fee refunds and Better-Off Guarantee payouts are available only through approved Better-Off Guarantee claims

8. Cancellation

You may cancel your subscription at any time. Cancellation takes effect at the end of your current billing period. You will continue to have access to Ticket Protection through the end of the paid period.

9. Data and Privacy

Our collection and use of your personal information is governed by our Privacy Policy.

10. Changes to Terms

We may update these Terms at any time. We will notify you of material changes via email. Continued use of our services after changes constitutes acceptance of the new Terms.

11. Contact

Questions about these Terms? Email us at hello@autopilotamerica.com