Selling a junk or abandoned car in Maywood

The sticker on the windshield

Before the village tows an abandoned or inoperable car, Section 99.03 calls for notice. It is either "personally delivered to the owner" or mailed "by certified or registered mail, return receipt requested" to whatever address the state's latest registration records show. A "notice of intent to tow sticker" also goes on the car. The Maywood notice lists "the earliest date upon which the tow may take place" plus the police department's phone number and address.

The wait is short. "In no case will the Village be required to delay towing more than 5 days after personal delivery of the notice or 7 days after the date of the mailing," if no one asks for a hearing in that window. Ask for a hearing in writing before the date on the sticker if you dispute the tow.

A car with no plate, VIN or other identification can be towed without notice.

Which cars skip the notice

Section 99.02 splits cars into two groups. "Hazardous or unlawful vehicles" may be towed "immediately and without notice." Abandoned and inoperable cars get the notice and the pre-tow hearing. Section 92.29 declares all three types public nuisances. Towed cars wait at sites the police or Village Manager picks, until someone claims them or state law permits disposal.

Illinois statutes decide the ending. Seven model years or younger, and unclaimed for a month after notice? It goes up at public auction. Anything older sits 10 days or more while police hunt for the owner, after which junking or salvage is allowed.

Why the registered owner matters

Section 72.36 bars parking "any inoperable or abandoned vehicle" on public ground of any kind: streets, highways, alleys, rights-of-way. It then adds: "The person in whose name an abandoned vehicle or inoperable vehicle is or was last registered is the person presumed to have abandoned or otherwise parked the vehicle." The code we read lists one way to rebut that: a theft report filed by the owner.

That presumption is the best argument for filing the state's Notice of Sale. Form VSD 703, or the strip along the title's lower edge, is supposed to reach Springfield "immediately." Once filed, the state treats you as released from responsibility for the car, even though ownership itself moves only by title. Keep a copy. Our after you sell page has the rest.

Plates and title

Your registration plates go home with you; the buyer may not drive on them. On a Maywood sale, fill in your signature and the date in the title's Assignment of Title part. Then the Maywood seller writes a short bill of sale showing the date and price. Maywood sellers won't find a notary on the Illinois seller checklist. For a missing title, the registered owner applies for a duplicate with VSD 190 and pays $50.

Around Maywood

Straight-line distances: Melrose Park 1.9 miles, Oak Park 2.8, Elmwood Park 3.3, Berwyn 3.7. State law in one place: the Illinois page.

Getting an offer

Have a car in Maywood to sell? Call (877) 421-6008 or start the form. Got a tow sticker on the glass? Mention the date on it. Pickup works at the curb, in a driveway, or in a garage bay.