Selling an old clunker to a junkyard is an excellent way to make some quick cash, especially if you've got a hulk taking up space on your property. Of course, your car doesn't simply vanish into the ether after the tow truck arrives. Junk car buyers make cash offers because they know they can potentially turn on a profit on your old vehicle, but how does the process work?
The path ahead of your old vehicle will depend on numerous factors, each of which can influence how many steps sit between it and its ultimate fate as a cube of scrap metal. Keep reading to learn about three factors that can impact how a junk buyer treats your car once it arrives on their lot.
1. Is the Vehicle Relatively New or Intact?
Many pick-and-pull yards buy junk vehicles to build up their lot inventory. While these vehicles might not be worth much intact, they're worth plenty to people who may need to maintain similar cars. If the yard believes your car is new enough (and has enough valuable parts) to keep around, your junker may spend many years acting as a donor vehicle to bargain hunting backyard mechanics.
Scrapyards that aren't open to the public may have different methods of approaching this same problem. Some may inventory the car and leave it in their yard, pulling parts when someone needs them. Others will strip it of anything valuable and then send it off for scrapping, squeezing the last value out of its bare metal.
2. Does the Vehicle Still Have Valuable Components?
Cars contain a surprising amount of valuable materials, including gold, copper, platinum, and palladium. Some yards may pull components, such as the catalytic converters, to obtain the scrap value from these parts. Depending on current spot prices, the precious metals may even be worth more than the component itself.
Since copper is also valuable, some junk car buyers may pull the wiring harness, circuit boards, or other electrical and electronic components for similar reasons. If they don't believe these parts will sell soon, they may have more value as scrap than functional components.
3. Is the Vehicle Stripped Down, Rusted Out, or Otherwise Unsalvageable?
Vehicles with little remaining value usually only have one fate left to them: scrapping. The final stage of recycling any old vehicle involves crushing the body and shredding the remains. Crushing helps keep the car compact and storable until it can make its way to the shredder, where the metal will be sorted and sold to ultimately find its way into new vehicles and other products.
For more information about selling junk cars for cash, contact a local junking service.
Share18 October 2021
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