Sell Your Car for Cash to a Local Junk Yard

You have an old, dilapidated car that’s more headaches than it’s worth, or perhaps your car has been bashed up in an accident. bashed up in an accident. Whether cosmetic, mechanical, electrical or any other flaw, your car is no longer in your future plans.

You can’t sell your car privately – you’ve either tried with no success, or you know how challenging it would be. And the dealership laughed you out of the showroom when you tried to trade it in. There’s one more option to try, and that’s to sell your car to a junkyard.

What Is A Junkyard?

You’ve seen them at some point. There are stacks of rusty metal pieces all around the yard. Big front end loaders cruise end to end, hauling buckets full of scrap to different piles and eventually to the toothy shredder. And if you haven’t seen it in person, you’ve seen it on TV.

Salvage yards are the terminus for end-of-life metal things of all kinds. Hot water heaters, trailers, railway cars – if it’s made of metal, you’ll find it at the junkyard, and that includes cars of all kinds.

Junkyards sell salvaged metal to recyclers that melt it down, refine it, and use it to manufacture new metal things.

Junkyards That Buy Cars

One thing about junkyards is that they aren’t picky about the metal they buy. That’s true for cars too.

There are some scrap yards or junk yards that specialize in certain industries, whether rail or trucking or even selling salvage car parts for antiques or classic cars. But for the most part, junkyards aren’t in the business of discriminating against what they buy – it’s all about quantity.

What Types Of Cars Do Junkyards Buy?

You can visit almost any junkyard in the nation. Ask them if they’ll buy your car and the answer is almost definitely the same. “YES!”

But the real question is how much they’ll pay. Since it’s all about making money, they’re interested in paying as little as possible to make as much as they can when they sell it. Typically, that means scrap metal pricing.

Junkyards that resell good used parts from the junk they buy might pay a little higher for your vehicle. In these instances, high-end vehicles, newer cars, or cars that still run can command a higher price. We’re talking about your grandma’s ’88 Caddy with a minty interior, a 2012 Chevy truck that still runs after a major accident or a classic Mustang with all the pieces there.

But even if you don’t have a highly desirable car, you can still sell it to the junkyard. You’d fall into the same category as 99 percent of the cars sold to junkyards across the country.

How Junkyards Pay For Cars

Unless you’re selling a special vehicle like the ones mentioned already, the junkyard isn’t interested in the year, make, and model. Nor does the mileage or condition matter. They’re interested in how much steel and aluminum they can recover from your car.

When your car arrives at the junkyard, it’s weighed on an industrial-sized scale. The junkyard either cuts you a check or pays you in cash based on a flat rate per ton. For example, if scrap cars are selling at $120 per ton and an average vehicle is around 3,300 pounds, you’d get around $198 for your car.

It’s not much, especially compared to how much you paid for it! But it can be a way to recoup at least a little money back from a car you can’t sell any other way.

What You Need To Do To Sell Your Car To A Junkyard

If you’ve thought, “I think I’ll sell my car to a junkyard”, here are a few things to keep in mind:

• You need to haul it there. Check out local listings for junkyards. Usually, the closer, the better, because a tow truck will charge you for extra mileage.
• You’ll need to have the title. When a car changes hands, even to the junkyard, you’ll need proof that you own the car.
• The car might need to be prepared. Sometimes, the junkyard requires that you drain oils and fluids and remove the battery before it arrives. That’s time-consuming and might cost some cash.
• It takes the time you might not have. Most junkyards work typical business hours, like 8 to 5. If you work normal office hours, you might have to take time off to deal with your junk car.

Does that sound tedious? It can be. Luckily, using a junkyard isn’t your only option. You can always use JunkCarMasters.

Why Use JunkCarMasters?

At JunkCarMasters, we specialize in making the process easy, simple and entirely online.

Simply request an offer for your car in as-is condition. Within 90 seconds, you’ll have a quote for your car that’s guaranteed for seven days.

If you like the offer, accept it. You’ll be paid what you’ve been promised usually within 24 to 48 hours.

We’ll pick the car up from you. Simple as that. No extra charges and no hassle.