Sell a junk motorcycle for cash

A motorcycle ends up as a junk bike in a few familiar ways. It went down on the road and the repair estimate beat its value. It stopped starting one spring and got pushed to the back of the garage. Or it belonged to someone who doesn’t ride any more, and now it’s in the way of the car.

What a junk motorcycle is worth

A bike weighs a fraction of what a car does, so its scrap offer leans less on weight and more on what’s still on it. A complete motorcycle with its engine, wheels, exhaust and controls is a different offer from a frame with half the parts gone. Damage from a crash changes which parts could be reused, not whether we can buy it. The same idea is laid out for cars in our guide to how scrap value works, and it applies to bikes too.

Tell us on the call if anything major is missing or was sold off, such as the seat, the exhaust or a wheel. An accurate description is what keeps the number the same when the driver arrives.

What to have ready

In Illinois a motorcycle carries a certificate of title just as a car does, and the scrap rule doesn’t change for two wheels. A scrap buyer has to record two forms of ID from the seller, one of them a driver’s license or state ID card, and collect proof of ownership, usually the title. Our Illinois scrap paperwork guide lists the documents that count.

If the title went missing years ago, start with our page on selling without a title. If the keys are gone, that’s a loading question rather than a paperwork one, and our guide to scrapping a vehicle with no keys covers it.

Where bikes sit, and how we get them out

Most junk motorcycles live in garages, sheds and the back corner of a storage unit, often behind something else. A few things make the pickup quick:

• Clear a path. If the bike is wedged behind a car or a mower, move what you can before the driver arrives.
• Say whether it rolls. Flat tires, a locked steering head or a seized rear wheel all mean the bike has to be lifted or dragged onto the truck rather than pushed.
• Mention the kickstand situation. A bike lying on its side after a crash, or one with a broken stand, gets strapped differently.
• Apartment and condo storage. Let the building manager know a tow truck is coming, and tell us which door or ramp leads to the bike.

Riders in the Palos towns and along Harlem

We pick up junk motorcycles anywhere we buy cars, so the Worth, Chicago Ridge and Palos Hills pages apply here as well, with the route from our Crestwood lot and the local parking rules. A bike that has sat outside under a cover still counts as a stored vehicle under some village codes, and our inoperable car rules guide compares how long each town allows.

Got a car to clear out as well? Our scrap car removal page explains how one visit can take both.