When your car has reached its limit under your care, but it isn’t ready to retire to the wrecking yard, it can still see some extra mileage as a junk car for second-hand buyers who need a cheap ride.
After working with a reputable salvage dealer to breathe more life into your junk car, the next step is selling it for a bang for the buck price at a junkyard without getting the lowest end of the sticker!
Negotiating at a Junk Yard: Understanding Your Ride’s Value
Is Your Car Still Running?
When it comes to understanding your junk car’s value, the first step is to answer a simple question: does it still run? If your worn-out ride can still be repaired without breaking the buyer’s bank, then it’s good to set a selling price that is higher than you would expect in a vehicle that is practically scrapped metal and at the end of its life.
Explore Your Junk Car’s Valuable Assets
One way to improve the price point is to explore how your junk car still holds enough value to be resold, which improves your chances of getting low-balled. There are various ways to uncover your junk car’s assets, from its auction value, parts, recyclables, or even its desirability as a pure scrapped metal.
The Potential Profit of Valuable Parts and Recyclables
A car that can no longer take on the road doesn’t have to be junked completely—its inner components can still be useful to dealers since they can reuse them to improve on second-hand vehicles. While you don’t need to gain the technical skill of taking your junk car apart, it helps to understand the different components that can still cost more than their overall scrap value.
Here are some parts that may be useful for the dealer:
- Undamaged parts
- Rare metals
- Airbag components
- Auto parts like copper
- Alternators, radiators, and starter motors
- Tires with undamaged treads
- Electronic components such as high-end sound systems, GPS devices, and more
- New batteries
- Air conditioning compressors
Even if your car is completely totaled, its scrap metal framing can still be worth bargaining for, so don’t hesitate to shed light on your junk car’s potential value.
The Bottom Line: The Key to Selling a Junk Car
Not all junk cars deserve to be scrapped in a junkyard, especially if you understand how its inner components can still provide value to dealers in more ways than one. Before you negotiate with a dealer, the guide above should help you assess your old car’s worth so you can sell at a price that meets both parties’ expectations.
How Can We Help You?
There’s no denying that selling a car can be a complicated process since there’s so much to consider. But here at LA Junk Car Buyers, we can help streamline your car sale. We buy thousands of cars and provide legitimate offers every single day.
Are you looking for a reputable junkyard that buys cars? You’ve come to the right place.
Get an offer and sell your car to us.