Selling a junk or unregistered car in Evanston

What Section 5-1-3 counts

The definition is wide. It covers a vehicle "which cannot be lawfully driven or used upon the public streets," for reasons that include being "unlicensed, unregistered, wrecked, abandoned, in a state of disrepair, or incapable of being moved under its own power." It names autos, buses, trucks, vans, motorcycles, trailers and boats.

The same section bans any vehicle "in a state of major disassembly, disrepair or in the process of being stripped or dismantled." Pulling parts off a dead car in an Evanston yard breaks the rule even while the work goes on.

Two things that make it worse

• Repeat violations. If the city finds another violation within 365 days of an earlier notice about things like inoperable cars, it may post the violation notice on the house or the lot itself.
• Selling the house. An owner who has received a compliance order or a notice of violation may not "sell, transfer, mortgage, lease or otherwise dispose of" the dwelling until it has been complied with. A junk car can hold up a home sale.

On the street

The curb is no escape. Under Section 10-6-1, a car on the public way that "has been left on the public way without valid State registration plates or a valid temporary State registration placard for two (2) or more days" counts as abandoned. The same section calls a car missing wheels, a motor, a transmission or a battery "derelict." Towed cars go to storage the Chief of Police picks.

Winter adds a clock. After two inches of snow within 24 hours, a snow route parking ban starts at 11 p.m. and runs to 6 a.m. A towed car pays the $60 fine, plus $25 if paid after ten days, plus towing and daily storage. In a declared snow emergency, other streets switch to odd and even sides by date, and a car that has to be towed and moved pays $155, plus $55 if paid late.

The Notice of Sale from Evanston

Titles for Evanston cars come from the Illinois Secretary of State, not Cook County, by mail or at a state office. Evanston sellers most often skip the Notice of Sale, the stub you tear from the bottom of the title. No stub on your Evanston title? File the "Seller's Report of Sale" (VSD 703) in its place. It says to send it "immediately," naming no number of days, addressed to "Secretary of State, Vehicle Services Department, Record Inquiry Division, 501 S. Second St., Room 629, Springfield, IL 62756."

Filing it cuts off your responsibility for the car, yet ownership moves only with the signed title. Before the car rolls away, unscrew the plates; they remain yours, and Illinois bars the buyer from using them on the road. After you sell covers the next steps.

Nearby

Skokie is 2.5 miles from Evanston as the crow flies, Wilmette 2.8, Morton Grove 4.9, and Niles 6.1. State rules are on the Illinois page.

Getting an offer

Evanston owners can phone (877) 421-6008 or fill in our form to sell. Mention any Evanston violation notice taped to the house or the windshield. Our truck can pull up at a driveway, an alley garage, or a condo building's lot near Fountain Square.