The Process of Evaluating Junk Cars
When you’re selling a car, you likely have a few sources you rely on to determine what it’s worth, such as the Kelly Blue Book. But when selling a junk car for scrap, knowing its true worth can be a bit more difficult. How do you even begin to determine the value of something that’s literally been labeled as “junk”? What factors influence the value of a junk car, and how do scrap yards determine how much to offer you for your vehicle? Keep reading to learn more about the process used to evaluate junk cars’ value when selling to a Fort Myers, FL, car parts junkyard.
Year, Make, and Model
When getting a bid on your car, you’ll be asked its make, model, and year. You might think, “If the car isn’t being driven, why do these things matter?” This information is important to determine your car’s value because it impacts just how much its parts are worth. When we put a car on our lot, salvagers can pull the parts to use them for their vehicles’ repairs. However, some types of cars have more demand for their parts than others, and newer models will likely have more usable parts for repairing today’s vehicles.
If your car is a make or model that our customers frequently want to buy parts off of, your vehicle will be worth more on our lot so that we can pay you more for your junk car. However, if your car is extremely old, making many parts obsolete, or if it’s a make that simply doesn’t have a lot of demand for its parts, the car will be worth less. Also, certain makes of cars, such as European and luxury cars, include parts that are inherently more expensive to buy, so these types of vehicles will still fetch a higher price, even when selling to a salvage yard.
Condition
Again, the condition of your vehicle might seem irrelevant to selling for scrap since nobody will be trying to take this car out on the road. However, when it comes to selling for scrap, the car’s condition has less to do with reliability and more to do with how many of the parts and how much of the metal will be salvageable.
For example, let’s say that your car has many broken engine components so that it won’t run. Those broken components can’t be resold on the lot, so that drives down the car’s value. Or, perhaps your car’s frame has a great deal of rust. This impacts just how much of the metal can be sold to a metal recycling plant and will also drive down the amount of cash we can offer you for your car.
When getting a bid over the phone, we will ask you several questions regarding the car’s overall condition so we can provide you with an accurate quote. Please answer these questions as thoroughly and honestly as possible. If we arrive to pick up the car and it’s not in the condition we expected it to be, we may have to modify our quote and offer you less for your vehicle.
Weight
When it comes to selling for scrap, size matters. While the weight of your car doesn’t directly impact the value of the parts, it is directly related to the value of the scrap metal. After a car has been stripped of its usable parts, the remaining metal is sent to a recycling plant, where we are paid based on the weight of the usable metal. For this reason, we can offer more cash for larger vehicles like trucks, SUVs, and minivans. While we obviously can’t weigh your vehicle when giving you an offer over the phone, we do look at the average weight of your model of vehicle when determining the amount that we can offer you for your car.
Modifications
Modifying your vehicle can be expensive, and if any of the modifications remain on your car when you sell it for scrap, this will give you a higher price on your junk car. High-end stereo systems, rims, spoilers, and other aftermarket features can be extremely valuable to our salvage yard. We’ll typically increase the bid on your vehicle if any of these modifications are still included.
Of course, if you’ve opted to remove those parts from the vehicle before selling, you won’t receive an increased bid on the car for them. However, you may be able to resell those modification parts yourself online or through other forums, or you can put them on your next vehicle. Additionally, keep in mind that modifications that can’t be pulled for use in another vehicle (for example, a custom paint job) will not improve the vehicle’s value.
The Market
Finally, it’s important to be aware that the worth of your car can change based on the market. Supply and demand for certain car parts can rise and fall, and the value of scrap metal changes daily. So, if you receive a bid on your car, then take several days to decide whether to sell or not. Please note that the quote for your car may change if the market changes. We carefully monitor metal values and other important factors that may influence the value of your car so that we can give you the highest possible offer for your junk car at any given time.
If you have a junk car that you’re trying to sell, we invite you to contact U Pull & Save today. We can give you a free, no-obligation quote over the phone based on a series of questions regarding the factors we’ve outlined above. If you live in Fort Myers, FL, junkyards nearby can provide you with cash in hand for your car, even if it doesn’t run. Call now to get a quote on your car and see just how much it’s actually worth.
