Two street rules and one exception
Palos Hills keeps its streets clear at night. No car may park on any public street from 2 to 6 a.m., every day of the year, and none may park on a street at all while 2 inches or more of snow sits on the ground. A car that quit running at the curb has very little time.
The code does carve out a local exception for street shoulders: a car may stay on a shoulder during those hours as long as it sits at least 5 feet back from the pavement edge. Residents can also request an overnight exception from police dispatch or online, but only three times a year, for up to three nights each, and never once snow begins.
Ditches, culverts and where the truck can stand
Roadside ditches and culverts carry stormwater here, and the code bars filling or blocking one to make a driveway unless a pipe keeps water flowing. That matters for a pickup, because a tow truck needs firm ground to work from. If the car sits on a soft shoulder, beside a ditch or on grass, tell us when you call so we can plan the approach. The towing is free either way.
A generous clock, with strings attached
On paper Palos Hills is patient. Its abandoned-vehicle chapter calls a car inoperable only after six months or more of being unable to run on its own. But the same chapter bars leaving any partly dismantled, wrecked or junked vehicle on a street, treats inoperable and abandoned vehicles as a nuisance wherever they are, and requires the owner to dispose of one on written notice.
If police end up towing it, the car goes to a private yard that wants proof of ownership and valid insurance before releasing it. That’s a lot of paperwork for a car you were planning to scrap.
Papers, payment and the next step
You’re paid at pickup. The documents that get a car out of a tow yard are the same ones that make a junk sale simple, so start with your title and ID. If the title is lost, tell us what you have; Illinois rules settle which documents a scrap sale can rest on, and we’ll walk through them by phone. Our step-by-step guide on how to junk a car in the Chicago area covers plates, insurance and reporting the sale.
North of the city, we also buy cars in Hickory Hills; to the south and southeast, Palos Park and Palos Heights. Our complete town list covers more.
Selling a car in Palos Hills: common questions
Can a dead car sit on the shoulder of a Palos Hills street overnight?
Only if it's far enough off the road. § 10.08.045 allows shoulder parking during the 2 to 6 a.m. ban and snow periods when no part of the vehicle is within 5 feet of the pavement edge. Any closer and it breaks the ordinance.
Palos Hills police towed my junk car. What now?
Police tows go to a private yard, and the yard releases a car only with proof of ownership and valid insurance. Gather those papers first, then compare what release will cost against what the car is worth to you before deciding whether to get it back.