Junk Car Pickup in the Town of Cicero

In Cicero, expired plates count

Here’s the part of Cicero’s code that surprises people. The town’s nuisance chapter doesn’t only cover cars that won’t start. It also counts a vehicle as inoperable when it lacks valid license plates, a current state registration sticker, or a Cicero vehicle sticker, and it applies on private property as well as the street. An officer can leave the ticket right on the windshield.

So a car that runs fine but has sat in the yard since its registration lapsed is already in the same category as a wreck. That is often the moment owners call us: the repair, the plates, the sticker and the insurance add up, and selling it for scrap is simpler.

The town also has a separate rule for the public way: a car too damaged to drive, or one that hasn’t moved in seven days, can be treated as abandoned and impounded.

Two-flats, side streets and street sweeping

Cicero is a dense town of older buildings. Census estimates put roughly four in ten homes in two- to four-unit buildings, and by 2011 the average home was already more than 66 years old. A junk car here is often on a shared parking pad behind a two-flat, in a garage off the alley, or at the curb out front.

Street parking carries its own risks for a car that can’t move:

• Sweeping days. Signed street-maintenance hours apply on major and residential streets. A vehicle that builds up three or more overdue citations in a year gets towed on the next one.
• Trailers. Sec. 94-275.A bans parking a trailer, or a car with a trailer attached, on any street or alley from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. If a friend dragged your car home on a dolly, don’t leave it hitched overnight.
• Permit zones near Morton High School and Morton College need a sticker in the early-morning hours.

What to have ready, and where else we go

Have the title if you can find it, plus your ID. If the title is gone, tell us what you do have (registration, a bill of sale, insurance card). Illinois law governs which papers a scrap sale can accept, and we confirm your case on the phone first. Weighing scrap against a private sale or a donation? Our comparison of junking, selling or donating a car lays out the trade-offs.

We tow at no charge, pay at pickup, and can often come the same day. Next door, we also buy cars in Berwyn, Stickney and across the city line in Chicago. Our list of service towns has the rest.