A Guide to Scrapping Your Car

The most common option for getting some money back from an old car is by scrapping; you can choose to sell the whole car to a scrap yard, but don’t expect to get much compared to stripping and scrapping the car yourself. Selling it whole involves less work and takes less time, but you are not going to get much. Try this website to check if a car is scrapped.

If you decide to recycle your car, then you need to know where to sell the various components and what can be sold. It is important to be careful not to damage some parts or hurt yourself in the process. This is why it is important to have the right tools and basic understanding of cars if you want to do it right.

1. Cause of death

You need to know the cause of the death of your car. You are going to need the services of a mechanic who is going to look at the vehicle and determine the cause of death. If the car has already been declared unrepairable or dead, then there is a good chance this has already been done.

If the death was the result of a given component, you will not be able to sell that component (you cannot sell a damaged part). You don’t have to worry too much about the damaged part because there are many other components you can still sell. This is what a scrap yard does.

2. Sell the power

You need to remove the power source of the car the same way you need to unplug the TV before fixing it. The process of locating and removing the battery is simple, and you can easily do it yourself. Selling the battery is also easy.

The only component that you can sell even if it is damaged is the car battery. There are car dealers ready to buy dead batteries because they usually recycle them. If the battery is not dead, you can sell it on eBay. A dead car battery is a common problem for many car owners, and they are always looking for a replacement on the internet.

Another source of power in your car is the fuel tank and can be dangerous and messy when you leave it in the car. If the car died with a full tank of diesel or petrol, then you will be feeling pain because you are wasting a lot of cash. Fuel is expensive.

This is why it is a good idea to drain the fuel tank. Keep in mind that selling the fuel can be difficult depending on your situation. You can choose to use the fuel on your other vehicle or you can sell it to a neighbor or friend if you don’t have another vehicle or if it doesn’t use the same type of fuel. While you are not going to make back all the money you used to buy that fuel, you are going to get something back.

3. Removing the basic parts

Once you have removed the fuel and battery, you can now start to strip it down and sell the parts. This is where scrap yards make a lot of money.

Selling tires is not going to be that hard, provided they aren’t worn down. You can get good money from the tire, especially when it is an unusual size or type of tire that is not easy to find. A good place to sell your tires is eBay. If the tires are worn down, you can sell them to a tire dealership to be recycled, although you are not going to get much cash. There are craft shops that buy used tires because they can use them for making various products. There are some who recycle car tires and use it to make wallets. Look around and see if there is someone willing to give you a good offer for your tires.

Selling the radio or stereo system is easy, and removing it from the vehicle is not that hard. Sound systems are the most used and this is why they break down more often compared to other components of the car. It is also the most stolen component, and there is a reason why this is the case. You can expect the sound system to sell pretty quickly because there is a demand. A decent sound system is going to be pretty easy to sell.

There are other additional parts that are going to be easy to remove. Items like seat covers, seats, steering wheel, gearstick, and windshield wipers are easy to sell online and not that hard to remove. If you’ve bought yourself Fourdot designer number plates, don’t forget to remove those too. You can easily reuse these with any other car you buy in the future.

If you want to sell something and you are not sure how to price it, then go online and check out similar items. If you want to get a higher price for the components, then consider an auction. However, you can have a guaranteed sale by having the ‘buy it now’ option. You can also sell them on platforms such as Gumtree and also Facebook groups for the specific type of car you have.

4. Stripping it all

Once you have removed everything that can be removed and sold, the next step is stripping the car down fully. You need to be careful when doing this because you don’t want to damage anything that is still in good condition. You can find buyers for parts like undamaged doors and panels. You can get good cash from selling a car door or boot because they are frequently damaged when the car is involved in an accident. Many people choose to replace the parts instead of repairing them. This is going to work best if the vehicle is in good condition and has not suffered from rust.

The wiring linking the components of your vehicle is often copper; there is a high demand for copper wiring because it is used in a number of industries and you can easily find someone ready to buy it. Strip the wires while being careful not to damage them. You can sell them online or a scrap metal dealer offering a good price. Metal is valuable, and the best place to get rid of the metal carcass is a scrapyard. They offer some great prices, but you should first try selling it online.

It is relatively easy to sell a working engine, but the costs of shipping can be high. You need to think about it when selling the engine. Local automotive classified papers and websites are some of the places to check out; maybe there is someone who is asking for the engine type you have, and this means he/she will be ready to come and collect it. This is going to solve the shipping problem, making the process much easier. People tend to include ‘collection only’, so don’t worry about putting off potential buyers. Most buyers usually drive to scrap yards to buy and bring the engine themselves, which is not going to be different from driving to you and taking it.