Junk car guides
What's in these guides?
Plain answers for people selling a junk car in Chicagoland or Northwest Indiana, written from the statutes, IRS publications and repair-cost sources each guide cites. They fall into three groups: how selling works, the papers Illinois and Indiana ask for, and whether your car is worth keeping.
Selling a junk car
How the sale works, who's buying, and the tricks to watch for.
- How to junk a car in Chicago
Junking a car in Chicago, in order: the papers to find, plates, where the truck can load it, and how you get paid.
- 8 junkyard scams and how to spot them
Scale tricks, a surprise “missing converter” deduction, pressure to skip the title: eight tricks at the yard or the curb and how to stop them.
- 9 mistakes people make selling a junk car
Fixing it first, guessing the details, leaving plates on: nine mistakes that cost junk car sellers money or time.
- First time selling a junk car? Start here
First time selling a junk car? Straight answers on papers, pickup, payment, your plates and insurance, and where the car goes after the tow.
- Scrap car for cash, whatever shape it's in
Scrap, wrecked, stripped or not running: towed free and paid for at pickup by cash, Zelle or Cash App. What the car's condition changes.
- Which junk cars buyers want most
Parts demand by model, a complete car, the catalytic converter still on: what makes buyers want one junk car more than another.
- Who buys junk cars, and what each one needs from you
Junkyards, scrap yards, private buyers, online offers and local pickup buyers: what each needs from you (title, keys, tow) and when you get paid.
- Your car is at a Chicago auto pound: reclaim it or let it go?
Towed to a Chicago auto pound? The City's tow and storage fees, the 21-day hold, what you still owe if you walk away, and when to let an old car go.
Titles and paperwork
What Illinois and Indiana ask for, and what to do when a paper is missing.
- What paperwork you need to junk a car
Title, registration, bill of sale, plates: the rule Indiana sets for a junk car sale, and how the papers for an Illinois sale get confirmed.
- Can you still sell your car to the government?
The federal Cash for Clunkers program ended in 2009. What Chicago-area drivers can do with an old car today instead.
- Can you write off a junk car?
Selling a personal car for scrap isn't deductible; donating one can be. The IRS rules on $500, gross proceeds and Form 1098-C.
- How to sell a junk car with no title or no keys
No keys is a towing detail. No title depends on your state: Indiana's title-or-certificate rule, and how Illinois papers get confirmed.
- Selling a junk car with an out-of-state title
Car titled in another state but parked in Chicagoland? Which papers to look for, who confirms them, and how pickup works.
Should you junk it?
When a car has reached its end, and when a repair still makes sense.
- What makes a car junk?
What “junk” and “salvage” mean for a car, and a short checklist to tell which one yours is. Signs and repair math have their own guides.
- 5 signs it's time to junk your car
Repeat repairs, rust through the frame, warning lights you have stopped reading: five signs your car has reached its end.
- After a car fire: claim, repair or sell what's left
After a car fire: getting the Chicago Fire Department report, what comprehensive coverage pays, judging the repair, and selling what's left.
- Dead hybrid battery: replace it or junk the car?
A failed hybrid or EV battery: check the warranty first, make sure it's the pack, weigh the quote against the car, and know when to sell it as it is.
- Is it worth scrapping your car?
Compare the repair quote, the car's value and what it costs to keep it parked. When scrapping wins and when it doesn't.
- Rats chewed your car's wiring: fix it, claim it or junk it?
Rodents chewed your car's wiring? When comprehensive coverage pays, what to have ready for the claim, and when an older car isn't worth fixing.
- The dangers of driving a junk car
Brakes, rust, exhaust leaks and no-start strandings: the real risks of keeping a worn-out car on Chicago roads.
- The most expensive car repairs
Engine, transmission, head gasket, catalytic converter: the costliest repairs, with dated, cited cost ranges, and the point where junking wins.
- Water damaged car: what rain and flooding do
Flooded viaduct or a leak that won't quit? How water damages a car, what insurance looks at, and when to sell it.
- What to do when your old car won't start
Battery, starter, fuel or engine: what a no-start usually means, what's worth fixing, and how to sell one that won't run.
- Winter car maintenance for an older car
Battery, coolant, tires and salt: keeping an older car alive through a Chicago winter, and when it is time to let it go.