Selling a junk car with no keys

The key isn’t what makes the sale legal

Plenty of junk cars lose their keys long before they lose their value to a buyer. The spare went with an ex, the fob died in a drawer, the only key vanished during a move from Uptown to Rogers Park. If that’s you, here’s the short version: you can still sell it, and the free tow works the same way. If you’d rather skip the reading, send the car’s details and pick your title answer in the form.

What makes the sale legal in Illinois is ownership, and the law spells out how a buyer like us has to check it. Under 625 ILCS 5/5-401.3, a scrap processor buying from a private seller records “at least 2 sources of identification, one of which shall be a driver’s license or State Identification Card,” and gets documentary proof of ownership such as a Certificate of Title. A key isn’t on that list. It never has been.

What the missing key does change

It changes the pickup. A car without a key might:

• Have the steering locked. Most cars lock the wheel when the key comes out, often with the front wheels turned. The car can still be loaded, but we plan for it.
• Be stuck in park. Many automatics won’t shift to neutral without the key turned on. That means the car can’t roll onto the truck under its own weight.
• Be locked. If the doors are locked and nobody can get in, we can’t reach the shifter or the steering column, so the truck has to lift it as it sits.

None of those stop a sale. They’re why we ask on the call. If the car is parked somewhere tight, like a tandem spot in a Broadway high-rise garage or a narrow alley pad behind a Lakeview three-flat, the answers matter even more. Our guide to pickup from condo and apartment parking covers the building side of that.

Read the VIN without opening the car

We’ll ask for the vehicle identification number, and you can get it through the glass. Federal rule 49 CFR 565.13 requires the VIN on passenger cars, multipurpose vehicles and trucks of 4,536 kg (10,000 lb) gross weight or less to sit inside the passenger compartment, readable through the glazing by someone standing outside “adjacent to the left windshield pillar.” Stand at the driver’s side of the windshield and look down at the dash.

The same rule says every VIN has 17 characters, and the letters I, O and Q never appear, so a character that looks like an O is a zero. Check it against the title. If they don’t match, tell us before pickup.

Keys and title: four combinations

What you have	Can we buy it?	What to have ready
Title and keys	Yes	Title signed over at pickup, ID
Title, no keys	Yes	Title, ID, and where the car is parked
Keys, no title	Depends on your papers	Whatever ownership papers you have; Illinois rules decide
Neither	Depends on your papers	Same, plus the VIN read through the windshield

For the bottom two rows, see selling a car without the title. A duplicate title from the Secretary of State is often the cleaner route.

Don’t buy a key just to junk the car

A dealer key for a car built in the last 20 years usually has a chip or a fob, and cutting and programming one isn’t cheap. For a car going to scrap, that money comes straight out of your pocket and adds nothing to the sale. Spend it only if you’re selling privately to someone who wants to start the car before they pay. Our guide to what sets a junk car’s value explains what does move the offer, and the key is a small part of it.

One case worth a call to a locksmith instead: you’re not sure the car is junk. If it might run with a new key, find out first.

The next step

Tell us the year, make and model, and say “no keys” when we call. Get an offer here, or call (708) 858-5673 any day from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Pickups in Uptown, Lakeview and the rest of the North Side are towed free, and you’re paid when we collect the car. The full list of what we buy is on the what we buy page.