On the Chicago address grid, Homewood sits at about 800 West and 18300 South, due south of the Loop. Ridge Road follows the old Calumet Shoreline, the sand ridge of an ancient Lake Michigan shore, and meets Dixie Highway at the historic downtown. Halsted Street, between 175th and 183rd, is the other commercial strip. Junk My Car Inc, buying junk cars from Oak Park down to Park Forest, picks up across all of it.
The stalled-car exemption
Homewood doesn’t ban overnight parking everywhere. Where signs are posted, parking on village streets is barred from 2 to 6 a.m. unless you have an exemption (Section 40-86). And the code names stalled vehicles as one of the reasons the police can grant a temporary exemption, for up to 5 days. The car has to stay within 300 feet of the registered address.
That makes Homewood unusually forgiving for the first few days after a breakdown. It doesn’t make the problem go away. Five days is a sensible deadline to have the car sold and collected. Request the offer now, and we can often come the same day.
A longer exemption from the village clerk exists, but it needs village stickers on every vehicle at the address and is limited to three per household a year.
When the notice says “garage”
Section 40-40 makes it a nuisance to store an inoperable vehicle, or part of one, on any premises. A car counts if parts are removed or it can’t move under its own power for seven days. Temporary repairs, cars in an enclosed building and antique-plated cars over 25 years old are exempt. After written notice, the owner must move it into a closed garage. If that doesn’t happen, the village can cite both the property owner and the vehicle owner and tow or impound the car.
Snow and alleys
Once 2 inches has fallen, no car may park on any public street until the whole street is plowed. Alleys must keep 15 feet of width clear and driveway entrances open, so the alley isn’t somewhere to leave a dead car either.
Getting here
Halsted Street (Route 1) runs through the village to the I-80 and I-294 interchange. Homewood station serves both the Metra Electric line and Amtrak, and the Canadian National Railway keeps its American headquarters in the village, with a large freight yard and major shops. Tell us the cross street, or the shopping centre if the car is in a lot.
If a storm is what finished the car off, our storm-damage guide covers the insurance side first.
Over the Homewood line
Flossmoor, which sends its students to the same high school, lies to the south and southwest, and we buy junk cars in Flossmoor too. Glenwood and Thornton border Homewood on the east; for the second, see Thornton junk car pickup. West of Homewood, Hazel Crest bans inoperable cars from driveways as well as streets; see junk car pickup in Hazel Crest. Further south is Park Forest. The areas page lists every town.