Got an old car you're planning on getting rid of and want the highest price you can get for your junker? As one who spent years buying wrecks and junk cars for various Greensboro area salvage operations I know how it all works. Here's how to get the highest possible price for your junk car or truck.
For starters, forget those Internet and 1-800- national car buyers. All they can do is buy your car and sell it to a local junk yard or automotive recycler-- the same junk yard you can sell to yourself for the same price they can get. There's no way a broker in New York City, Chicago, Illinois or Los Angeles, California can afford to pay you more than a salvage dealer in your own home town. No one is shipping 20 years old cars across the country as the freight cost for a car is higher than the value of a junk car. Don't believe me? Then pick up the phone and start calling trucking companies and towing companies and ask them about the cost of shipping your car.
You'll need to begin by knowing there are a couple of different ways dealers price junk. Dealers who are primarily in the scrap metal business will weigh your car and price it by the pound or hundred weight. Prices are higher in areas that are closer to steel mills as a steel mill is the ultimate destination of your junk car. Here in North Carolina there are very few steel mills so prices will never be as high as in states like Ohio and Pennsylvania where steel mills are common still.
Dealers who are in the business of selling used parts will most often base their price on the value of the parts they think they can sell in the next 6 months to a year. Why 6 months to a year? Because cars take up a lot of space and if that space can be better filled with a car that will sell more parts, faster, then the space will soon be filled by something that generates faster returns.
A common mistake made by sellers of junk cars is to assume the guys who are buying junk cars are idiots. They're not. The junk business is lucrative but easy it isn't. Idiots don't last long. The final price you get for your junk car may well depend on your attitude towards the junk man.
Newer cars are worth more to parts dealers but to scrap metal dealers a newer car is just newer scrap metal. And new scrap metal is no more valuable than old scrap metal.
Some of your friends are telling you to pull a bunch of parts off your car and sell them separately to get the most money. If you're selling to a scrap metal dealer who buys cars by the pound that's true but if you're selling your junk cars to a parts yard then removing parts is going to reduce your price.
If your car is really nice or might be considered collectable or a classic then selling it to any sort of recycler is the last resort. To get the most for a car you need to sell it to someone who really wants your car. To car guys your car may be a diamond in the rough but junk dealers buy cars every day and to them your car is just another car. Believe it or not, most car guys don't do well in the junk business because they buy with their hearts instead or their heads. That said, if you don't have a valid title with your name on the front then all you've got is rolling scrap metal and the most you can expect to get is scrap metal prices. Most North Carolina salvage dealers can legally buy cars older than 10 years old without a title but titles are a lot harder to get than they used to be and most car dealers won't go through the hassle of getting a title when a quick trip to the crusher produces a faster return on their investment.
Here's a tip: You are not smart enough to beat the system. Many years in the junk business taught me the players always lose.
Get on the telephone and call the junkyards listed here at GreensboroJunkyards.com. Be prepared to give them the make, model and year of the car you're selling as well as your name and address and the address where your car is located. These are all things state law requires them to ask. And when you go to the junkyard to collect your money they are required by North Carolina law to make a copy of your current driver's license, current US. Military ID or NCDMV issued ID card. Credit cards, employee IDs and prison IDs are not acceptable.
If your car happens to be at a garage, dealership or body shop then ask the owner or manager if there are any towing, storage or repair bills owed against your car. If yes then find out yourself and either pay them or make sure the buyer knows about them in advance. If the buyer sends a tow truck to get your car and finds out after his driver gets there, that there is a bill against the car, then odds are good the deal is off. And remember: storage goes up with each passing day.
If you're selling to a scrap metal dealer and have the tools and know how, then you can make more by selling the catalytic converter(s), radiator, AC condenser, evaporator, electrical wiring, battery and heater core separately. If you've never removed these kinds of parts before you should probably leave them alone.
If you're selling your car to a parts dealer then it's best you leave the car intact as those are among the parts the parts yard is most likely to sell. If you remove the best parts then he'll not be very interested in your car.
Buyers who buy cars by the pound might be able to give you an estimate of what your junk car will bring but can't know for sure until they weigh the car. So that there's no hard feelings, most will estimate your car lower that what they'll actually pay you when you get there. There is no book out there that tell us how much cars weigh as each and every option available for the model you're selling changes the overall weight. Nor is there anything on your car that tells you what it weighs. GVWR means gross vehicle weight rating-- the maximum amount your car can weigh when fully loaded with people, luggage and any trailer you might be towing. Depending on the type of car or truck, the actual weight of your car could be hundreds to thousands of pounds less than the GWVR.
Finally, if you think it's a good idea to try and cheat the junk man... Well, someday you'll probably need to buy parts from him. And junk men never forget.
