Selling a junk car in Park Ridge

What Section 14-3-13 allows

The rule covers "inoperable motor vehicles, machinery, implements or mechanical equipment" on private land. Beyond flat tires, expired registration and blocks, the definition takes in anything "incapable of moving under its own power" or lacking "any structural or mechanical component necessary to normal operation."

There are two ways to keep one legally:

• The garage exception. "No more than one inoperable motor vehicle may be stored upon a lot if said vehicle is kept within a structure enclosed on all four sides." A carport with open sides is not that.
• The shop exception. A legal repair business in the right zoning district may hold a car "for a period not exceeding 90 days while it is undergoing repairs." The zoning ordinance adds that wrecked or junked cars must be screened from the street and from homes nearby.

A dead car on a Park Ridge street

Section 14-3-16 calls a car abandoned once it has stayed "in any public way for a period of seven days or more" while inoperable. The person it was last registered to is presumed to have left it. An officer then posts a notice "directing that it be removed within seven days," warning of a tow and offering a hearing. If nobody answers and the car stays, the officer issues a citation and has it removed. If you ask for a hearing and lose, you get "24 hours following the hearing" to move it.

Snow adds a shorter clock on some streets. Section 13-14-3 sets "Tow Zones" where no car may stand "for a period of 24 hours after two inches (2″) of snow has fallen," during posted hours.

Plates, title and the Springfield notice

In Park Ridge, the Secretary of State handles titles, not Cook County. Here is what the seller does:

1. Fill in the assignment section on the title: signature, date, printed names, odometer. You will find no notary step in the state's seller guide.
2. Take the plates. Driving on a seller's plates is illegal, so they cannot ride along with the car.
3. Jot the buyer's name, address, the sale date and the price on a bill of sale.
4. Get the Notice of Sale into the mail to Springfield straight away; the stub sits at the bottom of the title, and VSD 703 is the stand-alone version.

That notice releases you, but the buyer still has to title the car within 20 days. A Park Ridge car with lapsed plates owes Illinois one $20 late fee, and only when you renew more than a month after they ran out. There is no stack of back fees in the statute. A junking certificate can be used to pass along a scrap car in place of a new title. Cook County is in the state emissions area.

Getting an offer

Selling a car in Park Ridge? Park Ridge sellers can call (877) 421-6008 or fill out the offer form. We collect from garages, side streets or repair shops; see stuck at a repair shop. Nearby: Niles, Des Plaines and Morton Grove. The Illinois page covers the statewide rules.