Champaign: selling a car that has stopped running

What Champaign calls inoperable

The code's definition is broad: "any vehicle that is not in working order." Working order means the parts needed to run, plus the lamps, brakes, mirrors, windshields and other equipment the Illinois Vehicle Code requires, all in proper condition. A car with a cracked windshield and a dead starter can qualify on either count.

Section 33-152 then sets the rule. No person may let an inoperable vehicle registered in their name or under their control "to be parked upon any street, alley or public property." The same section covers abandoned and nuisance vehicles on public ground. Those sections deal with streets and public land; we have not quoted any Champaign rule on private yards, and one may exist.

The 7-day tow clock

Section 33-184 lets police, fire fighters, traffic services officers and parking enforcement officers have a car removed and impounded. For an abandoned, inoperable or nuisance car on a street or public property, the tow can come "at any time after seven (7) days from the date of mailing a notice." If you were warned in writing about the same kind of violation in the preceding 365 days, that earlier warning can count.

You can ask for a tow review. If the car was towed before any notice reached you, and you reclaimed it from the towing service, the written request is due "within seven (7) days of the date the vehicle was towed." The review officer can cancel the tow authorization or have the city pay some or all of the fees. Parking where towing is authorized also counts, under the code, as consenting to the tow and to paying the tow and storage charges before release. The towing service holds a lien on the car for those charges.

Unpaid tickets and impound

Parking tickets can also bring the tow truck. Under Section 33-186, once five violations have reached final liability and stay unpaid for 30 days, the city sends a notice. The owner then has 21 days to pay, appear in person with evidence, or ask for a hearing. After that, the car can be impounded from a street or city property, and getting it out means paying the towing, storage and ticket balance in full. See tickets or registration hold if this is where you are.

Where a dead car cannot wait

Two zoning sections show how the city treats broken cars on business property. A gas station in the CN District may not store inoperable vehicles "on-site for more than two (2) weeks," and no more than three visibly inoperable cars can sit outside a fully fenced area at once. At a vehicle storage lot, "Crushing, dismantling and disassembly of vehicles is prohibited." A car left at a shop is not in limbo forever.

The Illinois title and plates

Titles don't come from Champaign County. In Champaign, you request them from the Illinois Secretary of State by writing to Springfield or visiting one of its facilities. We have not checked a specific one in Champaign.

Your part as the seller:

• Take your plates. They remain your property, and driving on them would be illegal for the buyer.
• Complete the Assignment of Title. It needs your signature and the date, plus the printed and signed names of everyone selling and everyone buying, and a certified odometer reading. A notary appears nowhere in the agency's list of seller steps.
• Record the buyer's name and address, then give them a bill of sale with the sale date and price.
• Champaign sellers send the Secretary of State's Record Inquiry Division either form VSD 703 or the stub from the title. The form says "immediately". Sending it stops you being liable for the car, though it doesn't transfer the title.

The buyer then has 20 days to title the car, at $165 plus the applicable tax form.

Scrap-bound cars and lost titles

For a car that is finished, Illinois offers a junking certificate. Whoever holds the junk vehicle applies for one inside 15 days, turning in the title unless no lienholder is listed, and the car is never titled again. Any person can take a junking certificate by assignment; salvage certificates are restricted to licensed buyers in the trade.

If the title is lost, stolen or mutilated, form VSD 190 with Duplicate Title checked replaces it for $50; see junk car with no title. Champaign County is not one of the Illinois emissions-test counties, so no test is involved.

Urbana and the rest of east-central Illinois

Urbana is 4.1 miles away and has its own code, with a different clock. Going by straight-line distance, Danville is 35.1 miles off, Decatur 39.2, Bloomington 44.4 and Normal 47.1. For statewide rules, see Illinois.

Getting an offer

Champaign sellers can ring (877) 421-6008 or fill in our quick form. We can collect from the curb, a driveway, or the shop where the car gave out. If it has already been towed, towed or impounded explains getting it released first.