Cash for your junk car in Markham

We’re based here, so Markham is the easiest pickup on our list. From Crawford Avenue, a car near 159th and Kedzie is about a mile away, one near 167th and Kedzie under two miles, and the Dixie Highway side of town around three. That doesn’t change the price of the tow (it’s free everywhere), but it does make same-day pickup more likely here than anywhere else we cover.

Getting around Markham

Markham is a small city of about 5.4 square miles in Bremen and Thornton townships, with roughly 11,700 residents at the 2020 Census. It sits between Oak Forest to the west, Harvey and Posen to the east and north, and Hazel Crest and Country Club Hills to the south. Three interstates pass through or along it: I-57, the Tri-State Tollway (I-294) and I-80.

The roads a tow truck uses most:

• 159th Street (US 6), the main east-west road, and the one most of our Markham pickups start on.
• Crawford Avenue (Pulaski Road), where we’re located, running north and south on the west side.
• Kedzie Avenue, the north-south spine through the middle of town, past the Cook County courthouse near 165th Street.
• 167th Street, the southern east-west route.
• Dixie Highway and Wood Street on the east side, where Markham meets Harvey.

Markham has no passenger rail station inside its limits. Pace buses run several routes through town.

Markham landmarks that help us find the car

• The Indian Boundary Prairies, about 500 acres of protected prairie inside the city, including the Gensburg-Markham Prairie, a National Natural Landmark. If the car is “past the prairie on 159th,” we’ll know roughly where.
• The Cook County courthouse near 165th and Kedzie, and the Canterbury Shopping Center at the southeast corner of 159th and Kedzie.
• Prairie-Hills Junior High and Robert Frost Middle School, both in town. The high schools that serve Markham families (Bremen, Hillcrest, Tinley Park and Thornwood) are in neighboring towns.
• Croissant Park, the subdivision built in the 1930s that turned Markham from a few hundred people into a real town.
• Lone Pine Park and Martin Luther King Park, run by the Markham Park District. The city’s lone pine symbol dates to seedlings planted along the old Indian Boundary Line in 1860.

Housing and where cars sit

Markham is overwhelmingly single-family homes. Census estimates put about 95% of housing units as detached houses and about three-quarters as owner-occupied. That means most junk cars here are in driveways, side yards or garages rather than apartment lots. A driveway pickup is the simplest kind we do: the truck pulls up, loads the car and leaves.

A few things to sort out before the truck comes:

• Clear a path. If the car is behind another vehicle or a gate, move what you can.
• Mention soft ground. A car parked on grass through a wet spring can sink. Tell us so the driver can plan.
• Leave it off the street. Markham’s parking schedule bans parking on all streets from 3 to 5 a.m., bans parking on the side of a street with fire hydrants, and bans parking on both sides of every street once 2 inches of snow have fallen. Vehicles parked against the snow rule can be towed by the city.

Markham’s rules on inoperable cars

Markham’s code is specific, and it’s often what prompts a sale. Under § 90.01, an inoperable vehicle (one with parts removed or disabled for 7 days or more) sitting on private property in public view is a public nuisance. After notice, the owner has to dispose of it. The code exempts vehicles kept inside a building, historic vehicles over 25 years old, and cars on the premises of a business engaged in wrecking or junking vehicles.

Two related rules: § 90.06 bars repairing a vehicle on the public right-of-way except to get it running after a breakdown, and then only for 24 hours, and § 90.16 prohibits abandoning a vehicle on a vacant lot or private property. If the city impounds a car, § 90.37 sets the release fee at $25 for residents and $50 for non-residents. The full Markham code is online.

There’s also a rule that helps on pickup day. Markham generally keeps semis, trailers and tow trucks off residential streets, driveways and vacant lots, but makes an exception of under two hours for pickups, deliveries and transporting disabled vehicles. A junk car pickup is exactly that.

If you’ve already received a notice, our guide to inoperable car notices in the south suburbs compares Markham’s rule with the neighboring towns and the state law behind them.

City sticker after the sale

Markham requires a city vehicle sticker (§ 37.04) for residents’ vehicles, valid January 1 through December 31. Once the junk car is sold, it won’t need next year’s. File the state’s Seller’s Report of Sale too. What happens after you sell covers both.

Towns that touch Markham

Most of our other pickups are in towns that touch Markham: Hazel Crest and Country Club Hills to the south, Oak Forest to the west, and Harvey and Posen to the east and north. For a car that won’t start, see cars that don’t run.