What we need to know before the truck comes
Most removals go wrong in the first phone call, not at the curb. If we know where the car is and what shape it’s in, the pickup is short. If we don’t, someone ends up waiting. So when we call you back about the form you sent from the home page, expect questions like these:
- Where exactly is it? Street address is a start. On the North Side we also want to know which side of the street, whether it’s on the alley side of the building, and whether it’s in a garage, a carport or a lot.
- Can it roll? Flat tires, locked brakes, a missing wheel or a car up on blocks all change how it gets loaded.
- Who has the keys and the title? Keys help but aren’t required. The title, or whatever papers you have, decides how the sale is written up.
- Is there anything blocking it? Snow piled against it, a fence, another car parked tight behind it in a tandem space.
Streets, alleys and garages
A curbside pickup on a side street is the simple case. North Side pickups are often less simple, and that’s fine; it’s most of what we do from Western Avenue.
Alleys. Plenty of junk cars sit on a parking slab behind a two-flat or inside a detached garage off the alley. Tell us which alley it’s off (the nearest cross streets work) and whether the garage door opens all the way. A door that only opens halfway is worth mentioning before we arrive, not after.
Permit-zone streets. If the car is parked on a residential permit block and isn’t registered in that zone, it needs a guest pass during restricted hours. A dead car can sit there collecting tickets. Booking the tow quickly is usually the cheapest move.
Condo and apartment garages. These pickups need permission from whoever controls the building or the lot. Clear it with the property manager or the association, then tell us the garage level, the entrance and any posted height limit. Our guide to junk car pickup from condo and apartment parking walks through what to ask.
Repair shops. If the car died at a shop and you don’t want to pay to fix it, we can pick it up there once you’ve told the shop it’s leaving.
If the car is about to be towed by the city
A car that hasn’t moved for more than seven days, can’t be driven, or sits on the public way without current registration can be reported as abandoned and towed by the city, and unclaimed cars are sold for scrap. If yours is heading that way, selling it first means you’re the one who gets paid. Our explainer on abandoned cars on the North Side covers the city’s criteria and how Evanston and Skokie handle it.
On pickup day
Have the keys (if you have them) and the paperwork in hand, and take your plates off: in Illinois they belong to you, not the car. We load the car, you sign it over, and you’re paid in cash on the spot. Same-day pickup is often possible; we work 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., every day.
Removal is the same whether the car is merely old or properly dead. If it won’t start at all, see selling a car that won’t start; if it’s been in a crash, selling an accident-damaged car has the details. We pick up across the area, from our own West Ridge blocks to Rogers Park and Edgewater by the lake.
It isn’t only cars. A dead motorcycle in a gangway, a camper or motorhome in a side yard, or a box truck or semi on a business lot gets the same free removal; for the bigger ones we arrange a tow that fits the size.