Cash for Junk Cars in Lake Station and New Chicago

Just east of Gary, Lake Station and New Chicago are two towns that most people drive through on the interstate without noticing where one ends. Selling a junk car around Gary includes both of them, and the terms don’t change: free towing, and you’re paid at pickup.

Lake Station, briefly

Lake Station has a railroad name for a reason. In 1851 it was the western end of the Michigan Central Railroad, and the stop there gave the place its name. In 1908 the town was officially renamed East Gary, a move meant to attract executives from U.S. Steel. It switched back to Lake Station in 1977, and some longtime residents still say East Gary.

The city sits on the Calumet Shoreline, an old sand ridge left from the days when Lake Michigan reached farther south. The Deep River runs through it, and its parks include Riverview Park, Four Winds Park, Columbus Park and Miller Park.

For getting in and out, Lake Station is served by Interstates 65, 80, 90 and 94, US 6 and US 20, and State Road 51. That’s a lot of highway for one town, and it’s why a tow truck can usually reach you without much trouble.

New Chicago, as its own section

New Chicago is a small town of about two-thirds of a square mile in Hobart Township, platted in 1893. It shares a lot with Lake Station: the Lake County Public Library runs one branch for both towns, the Lake Station-New Chicago Branch on Central Avenue, and New Chicago students go to River Forest schools.

It’s too small a place to need its own page, but it isn’t an afterthought. If your car is in New Chicago, everything on this page applies to you.

Pickup notes

Sand and soft ground. Because the area sits on an old sand ridge, some yards and side lots are sandy. If the car has been sitting on grass or sand for a while, tell us, and mention if a tire has sunk in. It changes how the car gets winched onto the truck.

Which name to give us. Give us the street address and town the way your mail comes. Lake Station, New Chicago or an old East Gary label on a document: we’ll find it.

Near the interstates. If the car is close to the I-80/94 interchanges, pick a spot off the main road where the truck can pull over safely.

Cars that sat too long

Plenty of junk cars have been parked for months before anyone decides to sell. The battery’s dead, the tires are low and the plates expired somewhere along the way. None of that stops a sale. Our guide to selling a car with expired registration in Indiana covers what the BMV asks of you and what to do with the old plate.

Title missing too? We can still help. In Indiana a junk car sale runs on one of two papers: the title (lost it? the BMV issues a duplicate for $15) or a BMV certificate of authority, which costs $4 and is applied for with something showing the car is yours, like your current registration. If the car is under 15 model years old, state law requires one of the two. Let us know what you do have, such as a bill of sale, a registration or an insurance card, and on the call we’ll work out which route fits your car.

Neighbors

Hobart is directly south of here, along the same Deep River. For every town we cover, see our towns page.