Rockford inoperable cars: the seven-day count

How Section 17-5 works

The code defines a motor vehicle broadly: any automobile, bus, truck, motorcycle, motor scooter, go-cart, or homemade or custom vehicle "capable of being driven under its own motor power." When an officer finds an inoperable one, the officer will "affix a notice to the inoperable motor vehicle" saying it is a nuisance and "must be removed within seven days of the notice."

If it is still there after seven days, the officer records it "by a date and time stamped photograph" and has it taken to an authorized facility. Then the code charges "the owner of the inoperable motor vehicle, and the owner of the property where the inoperable motor vehicle was stored." So the landowner can face a charge for a car that is not his.

Our guide on a notice to remove a car explains what you can do once a notice is on the windshield.

The 30-day blight rule

Section 19-5 adds a slower but wider rule. A car that is "inoperable or deteriorated or in need of repair" and sits "for 30 days or more" on private property, outside an enclosure that hides it from the side, is a nuisance if it endangers people, "including children," or contributes to blight. Fines follow section 1-9. "Each day the nuisance is permitted or maintained shall constitute a separate offense," and every car is a separate offense as well.

The same section also lists places used "for the storing or leaving of worn out, wrecked or abandoned automobiles." Our copy cuts off before it says what follows, so read the full section at the link in our sources.

Snow parking

• Arterial streets. Section 16-135 bars parking on any arterial, through or preferential street "after two inches of snow has fallen" until the plows have pushed it aside. Police can order the car removed.
• Residential streets. During a declared snow emergency, Section 16-136 allows parking only on the side matching the date: even-numbered addresses on even days, odd on odd, "between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. on the following day." The director of public works can declare an emergency before two inches pile up.

A car that will not start cannot cross the street on cue.

After an impound

To release an impounded car, Section 16-42 requires paying "all towing, storage and redemption fees set by contract," every fine against the car, and a city administrative processing fee. Weigh that total against what the car is worth before you redeem it. See towed or impounded.

Title work in Winnebago and Ogle

Neither county runs a title desk. In Rockford, this goes through the Illinois Secretary of State, either at a facility or by mailing its Vehicle Records Processing Division in Springfield. Your share as a Rockford seller:

1. Have the title. You cannot assign one you do not hold.
2. Complete the Assignment of Title. Enter the odometer reading, and have each seller sign and also print a name, with the buyer doing the same. The Secretary of State's guidance for sellers does not include a notary.
3. Keep a note of the Rockford buyer's name and home address. A bill of sale should record the date and the amount paid.

Whoever buys your Rockford car gets 20 days to title it, and pays a $165 fee. A missing title means applying first for a $50 duplicate on form VSD 190. See junk car with no title.

Rockford's code adds that a device stays a vehicle until it fits the state's junk-vehicle definition "or a junking certificate is issued for it." State law allows that certificate to be assigned to any person. A person holding a junk vehicle turns in its title inside 15 days, except when the title shows no lienholder.

Plates and the Notice of Sale

The plates are yours, so remove them before the car leaves. Next, a Rockford seller tears the Notice of Sale from the title's lower edge, or uses a VSD 703 if the stub is gone, and mails it to Springfield's Record Inquiry Division. The form gives no day count, only "immediately." Once filed, you're no longer liable for the Rockford car, but ownership moves when the buyer applies for a title.

Emissions will not slow a Rockford sale. Illinois only tests emissions in the Chicago area and the Metro-East by St. Louis, so Rockford cars don't need a test. Winnebago and Ogle counties are left out.

Next door

Loves Park is 6.4 miles away, Machesney Park 7.7, Belvidere 9.0, DeKalb 28.0 and Freeport 29.3. Statewide rules: Illinois.

Getting an offer

Call (877) 421-6008 or send the offer form for your Rockford car. Our trucks reach side streets off the arterials, east-side driveways, and Rockford shops that cannot fix it.