Pekin junk cars: seven days a month

What counts in Pekin

Section 6-5-1 sweeps in any vehicle, trailers included, "which is without currently valid license plates or is in either substantially wrecked, discarded, dismantled, inoperative or abandoned condition." Lapsed plates alone can put a car under the rule.

The one-month cap reaches public property and open private land "not enclosed by garage or carport and in view of the general public." A legal business that needs the car there is left out. A junked car that makes a spot unsafe, or gets in the way of traffic, gets no time at all.

Two notices, two clocks

• 48 hours. Under Subdivision IV, an owner who does nothing "within 48 hours of the service of notice" can have the car towed and disposed of by the city.
• Five days. Under Section 6-5-1, "The Chief of Police or the Director of Building Inspections" can order junk off a lot, and "Said notice shall allow said person five days to remove said property."

Then the bill attaches to the ground the car sat on. Pekin can recover its costs from the real estate owner through a lien "superior to all prior existing liens and encumbrances, except taxes." Fifteen days after the lien notice is filed, an unpaid balance can turn into a lawsuit for a personal judgment.

Streets and other people's land

Under Section 5-10-7-4, the Chief of Police can have a car towed after 10 hours or more on a street in an urban district, or after seven days on private property that belongs to someone else. Section 5-10-7-7 then splits by age. If a car seven years old or newer goes unclaimed "for a period of 30 days after notice," it is sold at auction. An older one is kept "for a minimum of ten days" so police can try to trace the owner. If the abandoned car on your lot belongs to somebody else, read car abandoned on your property.

Selling from Pekin: title and plates

Neither Tazewell nor Peoria County issues titles. In Illinois that is the Secretary of State's job. Mailed title work goes to Springfield, 53.7 miles from Pekin as the crow flies, and the state also runs walk-in facilities. Your end is brief. Put the buyer's name in the Assignment of Title, then sign, date and hand it over. No notary shows up on the state's list of seller steps. The plates belong to you, so they stay behind with you. Fill in the title's tear-off Notice of Sale, or a VSD 703, and post it to the Secretary of State without waiting, which releases you from the car. With the title lost, get a $50 duplicate before anything else. More on that at junk car with no title.

Nearby

East Peoria is 8.4 miles away, Peoria 12.6, Normal 33.3 and Bloomington 35.0. More on state law: Illinois.

Getting an offer

Call (877) 421-6008 or send the form. The offer form covers the details. Our truck can reach a carport, a back lot, or a Pekin repair bay where the car has sat too long.