Top dollar for junk cars, Chicago to the south suburbs
Tell us the car, hear a figure by phone, and get paid when it's loaded. The tow costs you nothing.
What does Top Dollar Junk Cars do?
Top Dollar Junk Cars is a junk car buyer listed on South Cicero Avenue in Alsip. We buy junk, wrecked and non-running cars, trucks, vans and SUVs across Chicago, its suburbs and Northwest Indiana as far as Gary. The tow is free, you're paid as the car is loaded, and the phone is answered from 6am to 9pm daily.
What we take
- Cars of any make and any year
- Pickups and work trucks
- Minivans and cargo vans
- SUVs and crossovers
In any state
- Won't start, or won't move
- Wrecked, or written off by the insurer
- Flood or fire damage
- Stripped or missing parts
- No keys
- Parked for years in a garage or yard
Got two or three dead cars at the same address? One visit can take them all. Cars waiting at a repair shop, or in an apartment or HOA lot, are fine as well; you arrange access with the shop or the management, and we bring the truck. More about who we are and where we're listed.
How the figure gets worked out
You won't find a price list here, and that's on purpose. A junk car's figure depends on the car itself and on scrap metal prices, which move from week to week. What we can show you is what the quote call asks, so you have the answers ready.
| Item on the call | Why it counts | Where it's printed |
|---|---|---|
| Year, make and model | Sets the car's weight, and which of its parts are worth pulling | Registration card, title, or the sticker in the driver's door jamb |
| Does it start and drive? | A car that runs can be worth more than its metal | Nowhere: just tell us, ideally after trying it that morning |
| What's missing | No catalytic converter, wheels or battery means a lower figure | Nowhere: a quick look around and underneath |
| Title or other papers | Decides how the sale can go through in your state | Title, registration card or insurance card |
| Where it's parked | Tells the driver how to reach and load it | Your address, plus street, alley, garage, lot or shop |
Each of those items gets its own section in our guide to what a junk car is worth. And if you want to test our figure against other buyers first, the guide on how junk car offers move shows how to compare quotes like for like.
From the call to the curb
Read us the details
Call or use the form: year, make, model, title status and where the car sits.
Take down the number
We ring back with a figure. Ask whatever you like about it there and then.
Name the day
Pick a time that suits you. Same-day pickup is often possible.
Paid on loading
The driver loads the car and pays you before leaving: cash, or Zelle and Cash App if you'd rather.
The tow is free, so nothing comes off your figure to pay for it. The longer version, with papers and plates, is in how our free pickup works.
Price my car or call (773) 337-7836
Towns we buy in
Our yard is on Cicero Avenue in Alsip, and our trucks collect across Chicago, the suburbs of Cook, DuPage and Will counties, and Northwest Indiana from Hammond to Gary. Our town pages cover the roads we take there and the local parking rules that matter for a car that won't start. Alsip itself is where to start if you're close to the yard.
- Around the yard: the villages a few minutes up or down the avenue from us.
- South suburbs: Harvey out to Sauk Village.
- Southwest suburbs: Bridgeview across to Tinley Park.
- West suburbs and DuPage: west of the city out to Naperville.
- Will County and the city: Joliet, Bolingbrook and the Near West Side.
- Northwest Indiana: over the state line as far as Gary.
Each town page, with a line on what makes a pickup there different, is listed in our directory of pickup towns, along with the point where pickups stop.
Papers, state by state
Lost the title, or never had it put in your name? The answer turns on which state the car is in.
Selling without the title covers both states in full, with what to do first.
- Illinois
- Tell us which papers you hold: title, registration or an insurance card. Illinois rules decide which of them work for a scrap sale, and we confirm that on the call.
- Indiana
- Every sale to a recycler needs the title or a BMV certificate of authority, whatever the car's age. We can't take a car under 15 model years old with neither.
On the flatbed
A few of the cars photographed on and beside the truck. Number plates are blurred where one was readable. Want to hear from people who've sold to us? Read our Google reviews.
Questions people ask before they sell
Do you charge for towing?
No. The tow is free, and nothing is taken off the figure we give you to cover it. The truck comes to the car wherever it sits: the street, a driveway, a repair shop, or an apartment lot you've cleared with the management.
How do you pay?
At pickup, as the car goes onto the truck. Take it in cash, or by Zelle or Cash App if you'd rather; another digital payment works too. Say which on the call so the driver arrives ready for it.
Can you take more than one car?
Yes. One visit can collect several cars from the same address. Give us the year, make and model of each one on the call and we'll price every car separately.
What if I don't have the title?
That depends on the state. In Illinois, tell us which papers you hold and we confirm on the call whether they work for a scrap sale. In Indiana, the sale needs the title or a BMV certificate of authority. Our no-title page sets out both routes.
Do you buy cars without keys?
Yes, a car with no keys still sells. Mention it when you call so the driver knows before arriving.
What hours do you answer?
From 6am to 9pm, every day of the week. Ring (773) 337-7836 in those hours, or send the form and we'll call you back.
Guides for sellers
Value
- Junk car value, worked out from the callThe quote call, item by item, and how each answer moves the figure.
- Do junkyards negotiate?When an offer can move, and how to line up two quotes.
Papers and prep
- Selling without the titleIllinois and Indiana, side by side.
- Selling a car to a junkyard, step by stepPlates, keys and belongings: the jobs before the truck arrives.
Selling
- Junk it or sell it privately?Listing a dead car yourself against junking it this week.
- Where to sell a junk carScrap yards, parts yards and private buyers each price a car their own way.