Cash for Junk Cars in Illinois | Free Towing Statewide
1-800-We-Junk-Cars buys junk, damaged, and non-running vehicles throughout Illinois. We serve Chicagoland, Rockford, Peoria, Springfield, Champaign-Urbana, the Quad Cities, and every county in between. Free towing, same-day or next-day pickup in most areas, and cash when we take the car. We buy all makes and models regardless of condition, mileage, or age.
How It Works in Illinois
Get Your Quote
Call us at 1-800-935-8652 or use our online form. Tell us the year, make, model, and general condition. We’ll give you a firm quote within minutes that’s good anywhere in Illinois, from Chicago suburbs to rural downstate.
Schedule Free Pickup
Pick a time that works for you. Same-day pickup is available in metro areas like Chicago, Rockford, and Peoria. Next-day service covers the rest of the state. Our tow truck comes to your driveway, parking lot, or wherever the car sits. No charge.
Get Paid Cash
Our driver checks that the car matches your description, handles the paperwork, and pays you cash on the spot. Takes about fifteen minutes. We take care of the title transfer and give you a receipt for your records.
What Is Your Illinois Junk Car Worth?
Illinois junk car values run from $150 for complete scrap vehicles to $1,500 or more for newer models with salvageable parts. Your offer depends on vehicle weight, current scrap metal prices, condition of high-value components like catalytic converters and transmissions, and whether the car runs. Illinois sits in the rust belt, so body corrosion is common and can cut into structural value. On the other hand, strong demand for used parts in the Chicago metro area often pushes offers higher for popular domestic brands. Trucks and SUVs typically bring more money because they weigh more and parts move fast.
Scrap steel prices set the floor for any junk vehicle. When steel markets climb, so do offers across Illinois. The current national average sits around $200-250 per ton for shredded scrap steel, though Chicago-area processors sometimes pay a bit more because of industrial demand. Check the live scrap price tracker below to see current rates and understand your car’s minimum value before parts are factored in.
Illinois Junk Car Laws and Title Requirements
Last reviewed 2026-10-05 against Illinois state sources. Fees and forms change; the official links below are authoritative.
| Who issues titles | Secretary of State Vehicle Services Department. No county office. One form, VSD 190, covers most title transactions, including duplicates and junking certificates. source |
|---|---|
| Duplicate title form and fee | VSD 190, $50. None issued within 15 days of an original title or 30 days of a prior duplicate. source |
| Can you sell without a title? | No age or value exception. 625 ILCS 5/5-401.3 bars a scrap processor from acquiring a vehicle without documentary proof of ownership. source |
| Notary required? | No. Secretary of State FAQ: “Is the Illinois title required to be notarized? No.” All named owners must sign the assignment. source |
| Odometer disclosure required | Model year 2011 and newer. Model year 2010 and older is exempt until Jan. 1, 2031, then a rolling 20-year rule. source |
| Who keeps the license plates | You do. Plates belong to the owner, not the vehicle, and move to your next car for a $25 transfer fee. source |
| Deadline to report the sale | No statutory deadline. Mail VSD 703, Seller’s Report of Sale, to Record Inquiry, 501 S. Second St., as soon as you sell. source |
| Junking certificate deadline and fee | 15 days to surrender the title and apply under 625 ILCS 5/3-117.1. Fee is $0 and the VIN is never titled again. source |
| Abandoned / inoperable vehicle statute | 625 ILCS 5/4-201: seven days on private property in public view. 4-214 adds a mandatory $200 fine plus tow and storage costs. source |
| Catalytic converter sale limits | Only a licensed parts recycler or scrap processor may sell a detached converter; no cash purchase of one worth $100 or more. source |
Who Issues an Illinois Title
Vehicle Services, a department of the Illinois Secretary of State, issues every title in the state. No county office touches the paperwork, and one form does nearly all of it: the Application for Vehicle Transaction(s), VSD 190. Posted fees: $165 original title, $50 duplicate or corrected, $20 salvage certificate, $0 junking certificate. The Secretary of State quotes three to four weeks once it has the application, and law requires the title be mailed, so no facility hands one over the counter. Expedited service adds $30 and ships FedEx the same day if filed before noon.
The 15-Day Junking Certificate Clock
Once a car is scrap, a 15-day clock starts under 625 ILCS 5/3-117.1. Whoever holds the vehicle turns in its title, salvage certificate or certificate of purchase with an application for a junking certificate. The certificate is free and final: no title is ever issued for that VIN again. You need not hand over the paper title if no lienholder is named on it. A junking manifest moves the car to a scrap processor meanwhile. Knowingly failing to surrender is a Class A misdemeanor, then a Class 4 felony.
Illinois Has No Low-Value Exception
No model year or dollar figure lets you scrap a car on a bill of sale. 625 ILCS 5/5-401.3 bars a scrap processor from acquiring a vehicle, junk vehicle or vehicle cowl without documentary proof of ownership: a title, salvage certificate, junking certificate, junking manifest, uniform invoice or certificate of purchase. As a private seller you also show two IDs, one a driver’s license or State ID. Two affidavits stand in for a title and neither is open to you: VSD 929 is for insurers licensed under the Illinois Insurance Code that paid a total-loss claim, VSD 930 for licensed salvage dealers holding a car at an insurer’s request. Both run on Section 3-117.3 and still require a paper VSD 190.
Signing Over, Odometer, and the Plates
625 ILCS 5/3-112 asks only for your assignment and warranty of title in the space on the certificate; the Secretary of State’s vehicle FAQ answers the notary question with a flat no. Your buyer then has 20 days to apply for a new title. Odometer duty is narrow: 625 ILCS 5/3-112.1 exempts a model year 2010 or older vehicle until January 1, 2031, when a rolling 20-year test replaces the fixed year, and exempts anything above 16,000 pounds GVWR. Use VSD 333 if the title lacks an odometer block. Pull the plates; in Illinois they belong to the owner, not the car.
Abandoned Vehicles and Who Pays the Tow
625 ILCS 5/4-201 makes abandonment unlawful anywhere in public view except on your own property, and clears removal from private land after seven days. Roadside clocks in Section 4-203 are shorter: two hours on a tollway, interstate or expressway, ten hours on an urban-district highway, 24 hours outside one, none at all for a traffic hazard. Section 4-214 adds a mandatory $200 fine plus towing, storage and collection costs, presumes the last registered owner liable, and caps storage exposure at 30 days. The presumption drops if you gave the tower the buyer’s name and address, reason enough to mail VSD 703, the Seller’s Report of Sale, the day the car goes.
What Your City Can Do, and Chicago’s Exception
65 ILCS 5/11-40-3 lets a municipality declare inoperable vehicles a nuisance by ordinance and remove one seven days after notice; inoperable means at least seven days unable to move under its own power. Cars kept inside a building, operable historic vehicles over 25 years old, and vehicles on the premises of a wrecking or junking business are carved out. Chicago, the state’s only municipality above 1,000,000 people, alone may use 65 ILCS 5/11-40-3.1 to tow a hazardous dilapidated vehicle immediately. Local thresholds vary sharply, as the Rockford and Peoria pages show.
Official Illinois sources
- Illinois Secretary of State — Apply for Registration and Title
- Illinois Secretary of State — Duplicate Titles
- Illinois Secretary of State — Vehicle Services Fees
- Illinois Secretary of State — Title and Registration Publications and Forms
- 625 ILCS 5/3-117.1 — When junking certificates or salvage certificates must be obtained
- 625 ILCS 5/5-401.3 — Scrap processors required to keep records
Cities We Buy Junk Cars in Illinois
We dispatch into all 102 Illinois counties. That means Chicagoland across Cook, DuPage, Lake, Will, Kane and McHenry; the Rock River valley around Rockford and Winnebago County; the Illinois River valley through Peoria and Tazewell County; the Quad Cities on the Mississippi; the I-55 run between Bloomington-Normal and the capital, and the I-72 line west from Springfield to Quincy; the I-57 and I-74 side covering Champaign-Urbana and Danville; Metro East in Madison and St. Clair counties opposite St. Louis; and the far south through Marion, Mt. Vernon and Cairo. Chicago, Springfield, Aurora, Naperville, Joliet and Champaign are served areas booked over the phone rather than cities with their own page here.
Because the Secretary of State runs titling statewide instead of through counties, expedited title counters sit across the map, from Rockford Central and Woodstock down through Peoria, Quincy, Granite City, Mt. Vernon and Anna. A downstate seller with a lost title need not wait on Springfield’s mail. On timing: outside Chicago, a municipality that has adopted a 65 ILCS 5/11-40-3 nuisance ordinance must notice you and wait seven days before hauling an inoperable car off. That is not a universal grace period. Under 625 ILCS 5/4-203(d) a car creating a traffic hazard goes immediately, and under 4-203(f) the owner of private property can have an unauthorized vehicle towed the same day. Chicago, the only Illinois municipality over 1,000,000 inhabitants, can additionally remove a hazardous dilapidated vehicle on the spot under 65 ILCS 5/11-40-3.1.
Don’t see your city? We serve all of Illinois. Call 1-800-935-8652 to confirm pickup at your location.
Frequently Asked Questions — Selling a Junk Car in Illinois
Who applies for the junking certificate, me or the recycler?
Whoever has the junk vehicle, which in practice is the licensed buyer. Section 3-117.1 puts a 15-day deadline on surrendering the title and applying, and the junking certificate itself is free. A licensed scrap processor or automotive parts recycler files a Junk Vehicle Notification instead, also within 15 days, and does not apply for a junking certificate at all. Not sure whether you hold an Illinois title, a salvage certificate or a certificate of purchase? Call 1-800-935-8652.
Does my Illinois title have to be notarized?
No. The Secretary of State's vehicle FAQ answers that question directly: the Illinois title is not required to be notarized. What it does require is the assignment on the back completed with the printed name and signature of every owner shown on the face of the title, the date of sale, and the odometer certification where it applies. If two names appear, both people sign.
My car is a 2008. Do I still fill in the odometer?
No. Section 3-112.1 exempts any vehicle of model year 2010 or older until January 1, 2031, when a rolling 20-year test takes over. Vehicles above 16,000 pounds GVWR, vehicles that are not self-propelled, motorcycles and antique vehicles are also exempt. If the Secretary of State asks for a separate statement, that form is VSD 333. Every title Illinois has issued since January 1990 carries the odometer certification block, so the space is on the paper whether or not the law makes you fill it.
What does it cost me if the city tows the car first?
A mandatory $200 fine, on top of the tow itself. Section 4-214 piles towing, storage, processing and collection costs onto that fine, presumes the last registered owner owes all of it, and stops storage liability at 30 days. Outside Chicago a municipality must give you seven days' notice first under 65 ILCS 5/11-40-3. Chicago, being over a million people, can skip the notice entirely.
Can I cut the catalytic converter off and sell it on its own?
No. Illinois closed that in 2022. Under 815 ILCS 325/4.1 it is a violation to sell or attempt to sell a catalytic converter that is not attached to a vehicle unless you are a licensed automotive parts recycler or scrap processor, and Section 4.4 limits the purchase to a licensed recyclable metal dealer at its fixed business address, with no cash paid for a converter worth $100 or more. The dealer must also record the VIN of the car it came off.
My insurer totaled an older car. Can I keep it and scrap it myself?
Yes, if it is nine model years old or more and the insurer agrees. Section 3-117.1 makes the insurance company the owner once it pays a total-loss claim and requires it to obtain a salvage certificate, but it carves out hail-only damage and any vehicle nine model years of age or older, which the registered owner may retain by agreement. Then the junking route is yours.
Chicagoland is the busiest corridor we run in Illinois, but downstate gets the same terms, from Rockford and the Quad Cities through Peoria and Springfield down to Metro East across from St. Louis. I-55, I-57 and I-80 keep most addresses within a day’s dispatch, and winter salt makes Illinois cars age fast enough that letting one sit is the expensive option.