Selling a junk or flooded car in Gurnee

What Gurnee calls an inoperable car

Section 46-151 sets the test: a vehicle for which, "for a period of at least seven (7) consecutive days, the engine, wheels, or other parts have been altered, damaged, or otherwise so treated that the vehicle is incapable of being driven under its own motor power."

Three kinds of car fall outside that line:

• one "kept within a building when not in use"
• one "on the premises of a place of business engaged in the wrecking or junking of motor vehicles"
• one taken apart for a short time for "ordinary service" or repair

The same section's definition of a junkyard is broad. It covers any place used for "the storage, keeping or abandonment of" junk, stripped or dismantled vehicles. A back lot slowly filling with dead cars can start to look like one on paper.

The sections we read set out the definitions but not a notice period for owners. Illinois gives towns the option to label visible dead cars a nuisance and to have police tow one a week after the town's own notice, provided the town passes an ordinance saying so. Gurnee may have more rules elsewhere in its code, so check the date on any notice you get.

When water got in first

The photo above shows the Des Plaines River over its banks in Gurnee. Water damage alone does not make a car salvage in Illinois. The line is cost: a flooded car becomes salvage only when fixing it would run past half of what it was worth before the damage. Once it crosses that line, "flood" is printed on its salvage certificate and stays on every title after.

Illinois won't register a salvage car from Gurnee. When a Gurnee car sells on a Salvage Title, the buyer gets a "Disclosure of Rebuilt Vehicle" form at closing. Our flood damage and salvage title guides walk through both cases.

If the car is impounded

Under Section 78-44 it stays impounded until "the administrative penalty as set forth herein is paid to the village and all applicable towing and storage fees are paid to the towing agent," or until a bond for the penalty is posted with the police department along with those fees. The third way out is that the car "is deemed abandoned," and then it is disposed of the way state law handles abandoned vehicles.

Selling under Illinois title rules

Nobody in Gurnee visits a county title office. The state's Secretary of State owns that job and takes applications by mail or at its offices.

1. On the title, find the Assignment of Title area, then sign and date it. The state's instructions for sellers never mention a notary.
2. Check that each seller and each buyer has printed and signed a name, and that the odometer line is complete.
3. Give the buyer a dated receipt with the amount paid, and write their name and address down for yourself.
4. Unscrew your plates. They are yours to keep, and no buyer may drive on them.
5. Mail the Notice of Sale (or VSD 703) to the Secretary of State "immediately." Sending it takes the car off your hands legally. A Gurnee buyer isn't the owner until they apply for a title.

Retitling falls to the buyer within 20 days, at $165.

Getting an offer

Call (877) 421-6008 or send the form. Gurnee driveways, body shops and store lots all work for pickup. Waukegan is about 3.4 miles away, Grayslake 5.3, North Chicago 5.4 and Libertyville 6.1. More on state rules at Illinois.