Berwyn is known for block after block of brick bungalows, and more than a quarter of its homes are in two- to four-unit buildings. Where the car sits in that kind of housing decides how a Berwyn pickup goes, and so does a short list of city rules that people only learn about when a car stops running. If you’d like the general picture first, start with our Chicago junk car buying service; this page is the Berwyn detail.
The alley rule, and why we ask you to be home
Plenty of Berwyn cars die in a rear garage or on the concrete apron in front of it. Getting them out means using the alley, and Section 480.04 of the city code is blunt about it: no unattended vehicle may be parked on any part of an alley.
That has two practical effects. You can’t push the car out into the alley the night before and leave it for us. And we’d like someone there when the driver arrives, to open the garage and keep the lane clear while the car goes onto the flatbed.
The 3 to 6 a.m. tag rule
From 3 to 6 a.m., street parking in Berwyn is reserved for vehicles showing a Berwyn on-street license, a visitor pass or a temporary visitor pass (Section 484.08). Owners who keep the car off the street overnight pay a lower rate for the license, and a car on that lower rate gets fined if it’s found on the street in those hours.
A non-running car that’s taking up the garage is the classic trap: you need the space, you can’t park it outside overnight, and it isn’t going anywhere on its own. Selling it clears the problem in one visit.
Abandoned or inoperable: how Berwyn defines it
Chapter 468 treats a car as abandoned if it’s too run-down to drive, or if it hasn’t moved for seven days and looks deserted. Leaving one on a street, or on property in public view that isn’t the owner’s, is not allowed, and towing follows a certified-mail notice with a short window to ask for a hearing. If a car on your street has a notice on it and it’s yours, call before the deadline. Our quote form asks for four details about the car and three about you.
North or south of the tracks
The Metra BNSF line runs east to west through Berwyn, with stations at Harlem Avenue, Oak Park Avenue and Ridgeland Avenue. When you call, telling us which side of the tracks you’re on helps the driver choose the crossing. The main routes in are Harlem (Route 43), Cermak Road, Ogden Avenue and Roosevelt Road.
Snow matters here too. After 6 inches, cars come off the snow routes, a list that includes Cermak, Harlem, Ogden, Oak Park Avenue and Ridgeland, until they’re cleared curb to curb. Roosevelt Road comes clear at just 2 inches.
The towns next door
Across the western border, Lyons has its own rules and its own page for junk car pickups in Lyons, and the same goes for Cicero along Berwyn’s east side.
North of Roosevelt you’re in Oak Park, and past Forest Park to the northwest is Maywood. If you’re still deciding whether to sell, scrap or keep the car, our guide to getting rid of a junk car lays out each route, and the full pickup map shows every town we cover.