Junk car pickup from a repair shop

When the repair estimate is more than the car is worth to you, Junk Car Pickup Chicagoland Easy can make an offer on it where it sits and pick it up from the shop's lot. Towing is free and you're paid at pickup, so you never pay to tow a dead car home first.

Get your pickup offer

No commitment: we call with an offer and you decide. How we use your details: privacy policy.

Pickup terms

Towing: Free. Nothing comes off the offer for it.
Payment: Curbside, as it's loaded: Zelle, Cash App or another app, or cash.
Hours: 6 a.m. till 9 p.m., Sunday through Saturday, Central Time.
Timing: Same-day pickup is often possible.
Your offer: No expiry date. Book the tow when you're ready.
No title: We can still help. Your papers get checked against Illinois rules on the call.

What do you do with a car at the repair shop that you don't want to fix?

Ask the shop what you owe for diagnosis or storage and settle it, then get a junk car offer. Junk Car Pickup Chicagoland Easy can collect the car from the shop once the shop agrees to release it. Towing is free, and you're paid at pickup, so the car never has to come home first.

The call usually goes like this. The shop has had the car for a few days, the estimate comes back, and it’s more than the car is worth to you. Now it’s taking up a bay, and every day it sits there you wonder about storage fees. This page is about getting it out of that spot and paid for, using the same junk car pickup we run across the suburbs.

Talk to the shop before you talk to us

The shop has the car, so the shop’s cooperation is what makes a smooth pickup. Before you ask for an offer, get these answers from them:

What do I owe right now? Diagnosis, teardown or storage charges are between you and the shop, and they usually need to be settled before the shop will let the car go.
Will you release the car to a tow truck? Ask what they need from you (a call, a signature, a pickup window) before a tow truck turns up.
What hours can the car be picked up? A pickup at a shop has to fit its open hours, not yours.
Did you remove any parts? If the engine is partly apart, ask whether the parts are back on, in the trunk, or staying at the shop.
Where are the keys? Make sure they’ll be with the car, not locked in the office.

Get the estimate on paper while you’re there. It’s useful for your own records, and it tells you exactly what’s wrong with the car when we ask.

What to send us

Fill in the form with the car’s year, make and model and your title status, then put the shop’s address in the pickup address field. When we call, tell us the shop’s name, its hours and what’s wrong with the car according to the estimate. That’s enough for an offer.

If your title is at home, bring it to the shop on pickup day (or the papers we confirmed on the call, if there’s no title), or plan to meet the tow truck there.

Before the car leaves the shop

Empty the car. Go through it while you’re at the shop. Glove box, trunk, under the seats, the garage opener, the I-PASS transponder.
Take the plates. Illinois plates stay with you, not the car.
Let the shop know the time. A shop that’s expecting the tow hands over keys in two minutes. A surprised one can take a while.

If the registration ran out while the car was waiting on a repair decision, that’s common and it doesn’t stop a sale; see selling a car with expired registration in Illinois.

The tow and the money

Once you accept the offer, we set a time that works for you and the shop. Same-day pickup is often possible. At the shop you sign over the title or hand over the papers we confirmed on the call, the car is loaded, and you’re paid at pickup. Towing is free, and nothing comes out of your offer for it.

We collect from shops all over the suburbs we serve, and from shops in Chicago itself.

Quick answers

Do I have to tow the car home before you'll buy it?

No. Give the shop's address as the pickup address in the form and tell us the car is at a shop. We'll sort out the pickup time with you, and you'll let the shop know it's coming.

The shop took parts off to diagnose it. Does that matter?

Tell us what's missing or sitting in the trunk. The offer is for the car as it is, so an accurate description keeps the number from changing at pickup.

My registration expired while the car sat at the shop. Can I still sell it?

Yes. You don't renew registration to sell a car for junk. The Illinois expired registration guide covers the plates and the paperwork.