Cicero junk car removal for two-flats, garages and curbs

Does Cicero treat a car with expired plates as inoperable?

It can. Cicero's nuisance code counts a car as inoperable if it can't be driven or if it lacks valid plates, a state registration sticker or a town sticker. Cash For Junk Cars Junk My Car Inc removes those cars free anywhere in Cicero, from a curb, garage or shared driveway, and pays you at pickup.

A running car can still be “inoperable” here

Most suburbs save the word inoperable for a car that won’t move. Cicero’s nuisance code goes further. Under Sec. 38-116(12), an inoperable motor vehicle includes one that can’t be driven, and also one without valid license plates, a current state registration sticker or a Cicero vehicle sticker. Letting one stay on private or public property is a nuisance, and Sec. 38-117(d) lets the town ticket an unlicensed or unstickered car in plain view simply by leaving the ticket on it.

So the sedan that starts fine but has sat for a year on lapsed plates can land in the same category as the one with a cracked block. If neither is going back on the road, free removal clears it before a ticket does.

The town sticker

Every resident’s vehicle needs a Cicero license (Sec. 106-37), and the code counts regularly storing or parking a car in town as residing there. The emblem is a clear sticker reading “Cicero” with the year, stuck to the lower right of the windshield (Sec. 106-42). If the car is headed for scrap anyway, selling it first is one way to skip the renewal.

Two-flats, three-flats and shared garages

Cicero’s homes are old and close together. As of 2011, the average home was more than 66 years old, and 41.1% of today’s housing units sit in buildings with two to four units. Only about half of occupied homes are lived in by their owners. In practice, the junker is often behind a two-flat, in a garage shared with the downstairs tenant, or at the curb out front.

Any of those works for us. If you rent, tell the building owner a tow truck is on the way; if you own, tell the tenants so nobody parks across the garage door. The driver needs a clear path, not keys.

Cicero street sweeping, permits and trailer limits

Cicero dropped its old winter parking section, which now reads “Reserved.” Street maintenance is the rule that catches dead cars. On signed days and hours, parking is banned on major and residential streets (Sec. 94-280), and a vehicle with three or more overdue citations in a year is towed at its next violation.

Around Morton High School and Morton College, permit zones need a sticker from 12:01 to 9:00 a.m. (Sec. 94-196). A trailer, or a car or motorcycle with one attached, can’t park on any street, alley or town lot from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., and it is towed without notice (Sec. 94-275.A).

Cicero Avenue, Ogden and Cermak

Cicero Avenue (IL-50) is the spine. Heading north, it crosses I-55 and the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal before it enters town, and it has an interchange with Ogden Avenue at 26th Street. Ogden runs northeast on the old Route 66 line. Cermak Road, once 22nd Street, is where Town Hall stands, and the Hawthorne Works tower still rises behind the shopping center near Cermak and Cicero Avenue. Our trucks come up from Orland Hills, so Cicero is a longer run than our south-suburb stops.

On our map, Berwyn borders the west side and Stickney the southwest, where Hawthorne Race Course straddles the line. Lyons and Forest View are a little farther out. The Cook County hub page and the list of areas we serve show the rest.

What we need from you

Title in hand? You sign it over at the curb. No title? Tell us what you have, whether that’s a bill of sale, a registration card or an insurance card, and we check on the call which papers Illinois accepts for a scrap sale of your car. Then send the details for a quote and expect a call back within 15 minutes.

Questions we hear in Cicero