The checklist
Most of this takes ten minutes. Doing it before the truck comes is what keeps pickup day short.
- Find your papers. The title, or whatever you agreed on the call if the title is missing, plus your driver’s license or state ID.
- Empty the car. Check the glove box and console, the door pockets, under both front seats, and the whole trunk.
- Take the toll transponder off the windshield. An I-PASS left in a junk car can keep billing tolls to your account if it ends up passing a gantry.
- Remove the garage opener and parking permits. Visor clips and windshield stickers are easy to miss.
- Take off the license plates. They’re yours, not the car’s.
- Wipe your data. Unpair your phone from the car’s Bluetooth and clear any saved addresses in the navigation system.
- Note the odometer reading if the title asks for it.
- Check access. Clear a path to the car and tell the building manager or shop if it isn’t at your house.
- After the pickup: file the Seller’s Report of Sale and cancel the insurance.
Plates: they stay with you
In Illinois, license plates belong to the owner, not the vehicle. The Secretary of State’s page on transferring plates explains that plates can be moved to another vehicle you own; they don’t go to whoever buys the car. Take them off with a screwdriver before the truck arrives and keep them.
If you’re not putting them on another vehicle, the Secretary of State has a process for plates you no longer need. Selling an active Illinois plate to someone else isn’t allowed.
Filing the Illinois Seller’s Report of Sale
When you sell or release interest in a vehicle titled or registered in Illinois, the Secretary of State asks the seller to complete a Seller’s Report of Sale (VSD 703) and send it in. It records that the car left your hands and when. Keep a copy, along with a note of the date we picked up the car.
Belongings: where things hide
Junk cars collect a lot. The places people forget most:
- the spare-tire well under the trunk floor,
- the pocket behind the front seats,
- the sunglasses holder in the headliner,
- under the floor mats,
- the CD player or SD card slot in older cars.
Once you sign the car over and it leaves, anything inside goes with it.
The village sticker and other local fees
Several villages around Riverdale require an annual vehicle license on residents’ cars. If the car is being junked, don’t renew it.
| Village | Sticker detail from the village code |
|---|---|
| Riverdale | $45 for a passenger car, due before July 1 |
| South Holland | $40 for a passenger car, expires June 30 |
| Dixmoor | $30 annual passenger-vehicle fee |
| Merrionette Park | $15 for a passenger car, expires June 30 |
| Phoenix, Dolton, Blue Island | A village or city license is required; check the village for the fee |
Papers if the title is missing
If you can’t find the title, gather whatever you do have: registration, insurance card, bill of sale, lien release. Illinois rules decide which papers can replace a title on a scrap sale, so we look at them with you on the call before anyone drives out. Our no-title page explains how.
If the car won’t move
If the car is in a garage and won’t roll, don’t fight it. Our guide to moving a car that won’t roll explains the shift-lock release, the steering lock and stuck brakes, and when to leave the car exactly where it is.
Then it’s pickup day
With the checklist done, the visit is quick: the driver checks the car, you sign, you’re paid by cash, Zelle or Cash App, and the car leaves on a free tow. Read what happens when a junk car is picked up for the visit in order.