Thornton’s best-known landmark is a hole in the ground. The Thornton Quarry, one of the largest in the world, sits inside the village, and the Tri-State (I-80/I-294) runs straight through it after crossing Thorn Creek and passing under Chicago Road and State Street. Around the quarry is a small village of about 2,400 people, and Junk My Car Inc buys junk cars on every one of its streets.
Chapter 9-10: no junk cars in the open
Thornton has a whole chapter for this, the Abandoned, Wrecked, Dismantled or Inoperative Motor Vehicle Ordinance. Section 9-10-3 bars parking or storing a vehicle that is abandoned, wrecked, dismantled, inoperative, rusted or junked on public or private property, and on private property it is declared a public nuisance. The only exceptions are a car enclosed in a building and one kept at a properly zoned business set up for that work.
Section 9-10-2 explains what counts as a “junked” vehicle: one that has neither an unexpired plate nor a current village license tag and is also wrecked, dismantled, inoperative or abandoned. So a car with dead plates and a dead engine, parked beside the house, is the exact case the chapter was written for.
The street is no better. Section 9-2-7 makes abandoning a vehicle on the public way unlawful and presumes a car abandoned if it’s in disrepair and undrivable, or unmoved for more than 7 days in a row and looks deserted.
Two hours after the snow
Thornton’s snow rule is quick. Once 2 inches or more has fallen, Section 9-4-2.2 gives you 2 hours to get the car off the street, and it stays off until the village has finished snow removal. Clark Street has its own posted ban from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., on both sides between 167th Street (Armory Drive) and the Tollway.
Section 9-4-2 also rules out the parkway and the strip between the front of a house and the road, unless that strip is a driveway. Section 9-4-6 bars parking on a street to show a car for sale, so the curb isn’t a sales lot either.
Driveways almost everywhere
Thornton is a homeowner village. About 80% of occupied homes are owned, and 81% of all homes are detached houses (ACS 2020 to 2024). That makes the driveway the usual pickup spot. The tow is free and nothing comes off the offer to pay for it. You’re paid when the car is loaded, in cash, by Zelle, by Cash App or with another app.
Running or not, keys or not, car, van, SUV or pickup, we buy it. Send the details through our form and we’ll phone you back within 15 minutes; if you want to know what happens after that, our guide on how a scrap-car sale works walks through it.
Vincennes, 167th and the towns around you
Inside the village the code names 167th Street (Armory Drive), Vincennes Avenue, Indiana Avenue, Canal, Clark and Margaret Streets and 171st Street, and Pace Route 353 serves the village. Give us the nearest of those and the driver will find the house.
As junk car buyers in Thornton we also cover the neighbours. Glenwood lies to the south, and we buy junk cars in Glenwood under its own private-land rule. To the southwest is Homewood, to the northwest Harvey, and to the east Lansing. You can check the other towns on our areas page.