We buy trucks in Kenosha

One rail-yard row is attached to this city. It runs under Union Pacific, its coordinate lies 1.73 miles from the centroid, inside the place, and it is called Farm Yard. A flour mill also sits on the node list here, and its coordinate reverse-geocodes to this county.

What moves through the yard could not be established from anything we read, so we are not going to characterise it. And the name is no help either, which is the part to say out loud.

Two of the rows in this batch are named for what they do rather than where they are — this one, and Shops Yard at North Fond du Lac. Neither name identifies a location, so neither can be checked against a place, and no attachment claim is made from either.

It gets worse for the second of them: Shops also stands alone as a whole node name in Illinois and in Tennessee, so the same word is a complete name in three states and a modifier here. That is the general shape of the problem across this file. A name is a string somebody typed, a coordinate is a measurement, and a filing is an administrative decision, and it is a mistake to let any one of them vouch for the other two.

What can be said is measured: one row, one carrier, 1.73 miles from the middle of town, and a mill in the same county.

Whatever runs to it and away from it runs under one set of state limits, and those limits are written trade by trade. Wis. Stat. § 348.15(3)(a) caps the gross weight imposed by any one wheel, or by the wheels supporting one end of an axle, at 11,000 lb. Subsection (3)(b) caps any one axle at 20,000 lb, or 23,000 lb for an implement of husbandry or an agricultural commercial motor vehicle, and lets two consecutive sets of tandem axles impose 34,000 lb each where the first and last axles are 36 feet or more apart.

Then it starts naming names. Subsection (3)(bg) allows a milk carrier 21,000 lb on a single axle and 37,000 lb on two axles eight feet or less apart. Subsection (3)(br) allows the same for forest products and scrap metal, at 21,500 lb on a single axle. Both are capped at 80,000 lb gross.

Rock, sand, gravel and crushed stone appear nowhere in any of it. A pulpwood truck is allowed 21,500 lb on an axle in this state and a stone truck 20,000 — so this trade is the baseline the other two are relieved against.

Wis. Stat. § 348.15(3). Information, not legal advice.

None of that reaches the paperwork, which is the short part. That is the rule, and everything after it is a fix rather than a category. A lost title has a counter replacement. Where none exists there is a bonded route. Neither one stops a sale.

One thing this state does not have is a step you might be bracing for. It runs a vehicle emission inspection and maintenance programme in seven south-eastern counties, and that programme cannot reach a truck of this kind at either end. A diesel vehicle of model year 2006 or earlier is exempt by its year. A vehicle of model year 2007 or later with a gross vehicle weight rating above 14,000 lb is exempt by its weight. There is no gap between the two limbs, so there is no emissions step standing between a working truck and a sale anywhere in this state.

Wisconsin Legislative Council issue brief on vehicle emission testing, with the title rules from the Wisconsin DMV. Information, not legal advice.

None of that changes what we are interested in. Day cabs and road tractors off the Union Pacific yard 1.73 miles out and the freight work around it. Box trucks and straight trucks out of the distribution work. Tankers and flatbeds. Work trucks and pickups off crews. Whatever you drive, the offer does not change. We buy all of them.

We come to you and drive it away, we come to you and tow it, or we buy it remotely and arrange the tow with nobody visiting at all. All of those are ordinary in a place this size, and bringing it to us is an option too if that suits your week.

• Does it have to run?No. It does have to be complete — if the engine, transmission, doors, rear ends, drive shafts, wheels or anything under the hood have been removed, we can’t buy it. Rust is not a disqualifier.
• How am I paid?Cash or electronic payment. That is the whole list.
• Is there an emissions test to pass first?No. The programme covers seven south-eastern counties and cannot reach a truck like this in any of them — exempt by year if it is 2006 or older diesel, exempt by weight above 14,000 lb GVWR if it is newer.
• Do you come out past the city?Yes, well past it and out across Kenosha County. Distance has never stopped a sale, and where it is far we buy remotely and arrange the tow instead.
• Do I have to bring it to you?No. We come to you and drive it away, we come to you and tow it, or we buy it remotely and arrange the tow with nobody visiting at all.
• What about the title?We need one unless the truck is old enough that it never had one. A lost title has a counter replacement; where none exists there is a bonded route.

None of those is really the reason for the call. Retiring. A medical that went the wrong way. A contract that ended and never got replaced. A day cab standing on a lot in Kenosha County within sight of the Union Pacific yard 1.73 miles from the middle of town, insured every month and not turning a wheel.

Most of those aren’t happy reasons, and we don’t treat them like they are. Somebody wants a straight answer and the truck gone by the end of the week. That’s what we’re here for.