Junk Cars Bought for Cash in Englewood

Kennedy-King College is the easiest landmark in Englewood to give a tow driver. The campus sits on the old Englewood Shopping Center site at 63rd and Halsted and opened in 2007, as part of a revitalization plan the city announced in 1999 (Wikipedia). Tell us how many blocks your car is from that corner and in which direction, and we’ll find it.

About 3 miles along 63rd Street

From our base, the truck drives south on Western Avenue to 63rd Street and then east for a little over 2 miles, straight through West Englewood and into Englewood. The total comes to roughly 3 miles to the middle of the neighborhood. 63rd Street is a long, direct road with no expressway needed, which keeps this a straightforward pickup.

63rd is also a two-inch snow route across Englewood, along with Garfield Boulevard, 59th Street, Marquette Road, 71st Street, Halsted Street and Racine Avenue, according to the city’s snow route data. A car stuck on one of those can be ticketed or moved by the city once two inches of snow falls.

Where Englewood’s edges fall

Englewood runs from Garfield Boulevard on the north to 75th Street on the south. Racine Avenue is the western edge, and the eastern edge bends along the Metra railroad tracks. Hamilton Park is one of the neighborhoods inside. West of Racine is West Englewood, which many Chicagoans treat as part of Englewood even though it’s a separate community area. North across Garfield Boulevard is New City.

The neighborhood’s railroad history explains its name. Several lines crossed here in 1852, at a spot called Junction Grove, and the name Englewood came later, suggested in 1868 by a wool merchant who knew Englewood, New Jersey.

Trains, the Dan Ryan and Halsted Street

Halsted Street is Englewood’s main north-south road. The Red Line stops at Garfield and at 63rd, the Green Line stops at Halsted, and the Dan Ryan Expressway, I-90 and I-94, runs through the neighborhood. A station name works fine as a reference point when you call: “three blocks west of the 63rd Street Red Line” is enough for us to work with.

The rail junction itself changed in 2014, when a project finished lifting Metra over the Norfolk Southern line on an overpass to end long delays at the old crossing. A newer landmark is Englewood STEM High School, which opened in September 2019 to serve the surrounding area.

One date to keep in mind: the Englewood Back to School Parade runs every year on the third Saturday in August, a tradition started in 1961. If you want a pickup that day, mention it so we can plan around closed streets.

Houses left empty, cars left behind

Englewood had more than 97,000 people at its 1960 peak, and the population has dropped steeply since then. Wikipedia notes a high rate of foreclosed properties as a result. When a house empties out, a car can get left behind: in a garage, on a parking pad, or at the curb with a dead battery and expired plates.

That car becomes a problem quickly. The city’s abandoned vehicle rules apply to a car on the street that hasn’t moved in more than seven consecutive days and looks deserted, and to one left without state registration for two or more days. Neighbors report those through 311. If you’re the family member dealing with the house, selling the car to us first means someone gets paid for it instead of it going to an auto pound. Our guide on selling a car after the owner dies covers the paperwork, and the cars without a title page explains what to tell us when the title is missing. Bring whatever papers exist, such as a bill of sale, registration or an insurance card, and we’ll confirm on the call which ones Illinois accepts for a scrap sale.

60621, with a few blocks of 60620

On the city’s ZIP code map, almost all of Englewood is 60621. Laying it over 2020 census blocks, only about 1 percent of residents fall in 60620, in a few blocks down near 75th Street. Either way, the street address is what we route by.

Scrap value and the trade-in question

Some cars are past saving and only worth their metal. Our scrap car page explains how we price those. If you’re weighing a dealer trade-in or a private sale against junking it, our guide on junking, selling privately or trading in lays out the trade-offs plainly.