Damage we buy
A wreck doesn’t have to be dramatic to be a junk car. Often it’s a 15-year-old sedan with a crushed front end where the bumper, headlights, radiator and hood together cost more than the whole car is worth. We buy those, and we buy the bad ones too:
- Front, rear and side impact damage
- Deployed airbags
- Bent frames and broken suspension
- Cars that were hit while parked and never repaired
- Cars the insurer declared a total loss, when you hold the papers
The insurance question comes first
If a claim is open, sort it out before you sell. Two common cases:
The insurer paid you and took the car. Then the car isn’t yours to sell. The insurer handles it.
You kept the car after a total loss. In Illinois, a car declared a total loss generally gets branded paperwork, and the rules on what you can do with it are in the state vehicle code. Our guide to what to do with a totaled car in Illinois walks through it with links to the law. Tell us what papers you have and we’ll confirm on the call whether we can buy it.
Getting it moved
Wrecked cars often sit somewhere awkward: a tow yard, a body shop’s back lot, a relative’s driveway or the street in front of your house with a wheel turned in. We tow it free from wherever it is, as long as you can arrange access (how towing works). If the car is at a shop, the shop has to agree to release it.
We pick up wrecks all over our area, including West Elsdon, Clearing and Bridgeview. If the crash also left the car unable to start, see cars that don’t run; if it burned, see fire and flood damage.
What sets the price
For a wrecked car the number comes from what’s left: the weight, whether the engine and transmission are intact, whether the catalytic converter is still on it and how much is missing. Our guide on why offers for the same car differ breaks this down. We don’t publish prices because two cars of the same model can be worth very different amounts once one of them has been in a crash.
Get your offer and tell us what happened to the car.
Questions people ask
My car is at a body shop. Can you pick it up there?
Yes. Tell the shop the car is being sold and ask them to release it to our driver. If the shop has storage or teardown charges on the car, settle those with them first, because the shop decides when the car can leave.
The insurance company totaled my car. Can I still sell it to you?
Often, yes, but it depends on who holds the papers now. If the insurer paid the claim, it may already own the car. If you kept the car, Illinois has salvage title rules. Our totaled-car guide explains the steps; we confirm your situation on the call.
Does airbag deployment change the offer?
It can, along with frame damage, missing parts and whether the car rolls. Describe the damage plainly and send a photo if you can, so the number we give you is the number you're paid.