Stickney Junk Cars: Free Pickup Before the 5-Day Clock Runs Out

Five days, not seven

Most towns around Chicago let an unmoving car sit a week before calling it abandoned. Stickney is quicker. When a car on a village street or other public property stops moving, or plainly can’t run, the village posts a notice on it and sends one by certified or registered mail. Five consecutive days later it is deemed abandoned, and on the sixth day it can be towed, with an administrative penalty added to the towing and storage bill.

That’s a tight window if you are still deciding what to do with a dead car. Pulling it onto your own driveway buys time. Calling for a quote ends the countdown.

Whose driveway the car is on matters

Stickney’s code draws a line that catches families out. Storing an inoperable vehicle on private property is allowed on the owner’s own property, and not elsewhere. A car that belongs to a parent, a sibling or an estate, parked at your house, may not fit that exception. If that’s your situation, mention it when you call. We’ll ask whose name is on the title, because Illinois paperwork rules depend on it.

Stickney is mostly single-family homes (about eight in ten units), and every resident lives west of Ridgeland Avenue, so pickups here are usually from a driveway or the street out front. A few rules to keep in mind:

• Alleys are off limits for parking at any time, so don’t stage the car there.
• Overnight, from 2 to 6 a.m., only residents may park on village streets. A friend’s broken car left at your curb overnight needs permission from the police, capped at 3 nights in a row and 10 a month.
• Snow. Over 2 inches brings odd and even day restrictions; over 6 inches bars parking on Pershing Road from midnight to 5 a.m.
• For sale. Parking on the street to display a car for sale is barred, so the curbside sign goes too.

What the car is worth, and who else we serve

Every offer depends on the car itself: its weight, which parts still have value, whether it is complete, and how easy it is to reach. Our guide to what a junk car is worth explains those factors without the sales talk.

Towing is free, you’re paid at pickup, and same-day service is often possible. We also collect cars in neighboring Forest View and Lyons, and across the rest of our service area.