Selling a junk car in East Chicago

Who the 72-hour rule reaches

The duty falls on any "person in charge or control of any property within the city, whether as owner, tenant, occupant, lessee, or otherwise." Renters are not exempt because the lot belongs to someone else.

The plate part catches people out. A car counts if it lacks "a valid state registration and license plate issued to the vehicle" and to the person tied to the lot. A car that starts every time, but wears an expired plate or a plate from another car, is inside the rule.

The code names three ways out of the clock: the car is in an enclosed building, it sits at a lawful business that needs it to operate, or it is in a lawful storage place. A tarp in the driveway is none of those.

The street is not a holding spot

Moving the car to the curb does not help. Section 93.096(B) bans leaving "any partially dismantled, nonoperating, wrecked, or junked vehicle on any street or highway within the city," with no hours attached. Section 117.027(B) adds that no junk may "remain on the parkways, sidewalks, streets, or public ways."

Some East Chicago blocks also carry posted limits from Schedule I, among them stretches where nobody may park between 2 and 6 in the morning. Read the signs on your block before leaving anything overnight.

If the car died at a service station, Section 115.012 bars the station from letting cars be stripped or junked on the lot unless the work is inside an enclosed building.

When police tow it

Officers may haul a car from a street, alley or other public place to a storage site under Section 70.085. When registration records name an owner, the code wants written notice that "shall state the fact of the removal and the reasons therefor and the place to which the vehicle has been removed." If the owner cannot be identified and three days pass with the car still unreturned, the officer must "send or cause to be sent" a further notice. Our towed or impounded guide covers the next steps.

Title and plates for an East Chicago seller

Lake County does not issue titles; the Indiana BMV does. One BMV branch is at 1244 North Main St. in Crown Point, about 16 miles south of central East Chicago in a straight line. The number it lists is 888-692-6841.

Most sellers never need it. Your part ends on the back of the title: each owner's printed name and signature, the mileage reading, the sale date and price, and who bought it. The BMV puts no notary in that list. After that the paperwork belongs to the buyer, who has a 45-day window to file.

Unscrew the plate first. Indiana lets you keep it for another car of yours rather than mailing it in. A missing title can be replaced, or skipped entirely for scrap with a $4 Certificate of Authority on State Form 55018; junk car with no title explains which fits.

Lake County is one of two Indiana counties in the vehicle emissions testing program. The other is Porter.

Nearby

Hammond is 3.0 miles away and Gary 6.8. Highland and Munster sit to the south at 7.0 and 7.5 miles. State rules are on the Indiana page.

Getting an offer

Have an East Chicago car to sell? Call (877) 421-6008 or start the offer form. A tow truck collects it from wherever it stalled: a side yard, a block with an overnight ban, or the service station that couldn't fix it.