What is my junk car actually worth?
Four questions about the car, and you get a range with every line of the arithmetic shown: what the shell is worth as scrap, what the parts still on it add, and what the paperwork takes off. Then the yards near you that buy cars, so you can ring them yourself.
We do not buy cars. We are not a buyer, a broker or an agent, we make no offers and we take no part in what you agree. We publish what a car is worth and who buys them, and the buyer sets its own price. We also never ask for your name, email or phone number, so there is nothing for us to pass on to anybody.
Three things worth knowing first
The scrap price is a floor, not a price
Steel scrap is a published commodity, so the weight of the car sets a minimum that any yard will pay. What you get above that depends entirely on which parts are still worth pulling. A stripped shell and a complete car of the same weight are two very different cheques.
A yard pays well under the index, and that is normal
They have to tow it, drain the fluids, pull the parts, store the carcass and sell the shell on. That work is the gap between the published scrap price and the number you are offered. Anyone quoting you the full index price is not being straight with you.
Ring more than one
Two yards in the same city routinely differ by a hundred dollars or more on the same car, because one has a buyer for the engine and the other does not. Ask whether towing is included and whether the figure changes once they have seen it, because a price quoted on the phone sometimes does.
Buyers by state
four states so farWe list yards that buy cars in California, Texas, Florida and Arizona. More states as we cover them properly, rather than sooner and worse.
Keeping the car instead?
If it is worth more repaired than scrapped, the parts are the deciding factor. Decode the VIN to get the exact engine and trim, then price the part before you decide.