Who all scraps cars on a regular basis?

**Focker** · 02-01-2011, 10:07 PM

Yeah you dont get crap for them if they are loose.So dont get the idea in your head you will lose money lol.Yeah the way i look at it sometimes i might make $30 on a car or $200 on a car.The way i look at it is it 30 more than i had.

**Bigblue12v** · 02-01-2011, 10:49 PM

Yea I know guys that won't do it unless they are makin several hundred each..... I figure if I make at minimum what a tow bill is worth then i should be happy, but on many I have made out like a bandit on crack!

What did you mean about cutting them up?

Oh and as for a mess and piles of parts, etc.... :
I go load the car on the trailer, back up to my garage, strip off what i need or want, battery, brass radiators, anything else that's easy or worthwhile (core items, alternators, starters, radiators, battery, a/c condensor, radiator, battery cables, etc) then if it has converter or alum wheels or nice tires I jack it up on the trailer and snag those items. Depending on what yard I take it to I might have to remove the gas tank as well. As mentioned always raid the interior, might find money, nice speakers or who knows what. I found some DVD movies in their cases in one recently. I have a plastic 55 gallon drum I put small scrap metal in around the garage, I always empty this into a trunk and usually have at least one junk tire to throw in the car (the yards here allow 4-5 tires per car)....
Takes me anywhere from 10 minutes to an hr to strip a car and it never leaves the trailer. No mess no fuss. The parts I take off don't take much room in my garage.

**tjlock** · 02-01-2011, 11:29 PM

Not worried about the making bank on a car. Any money is good money in my book. And for cutting them up, if the yard doesn't accept full cars, then have to break them down. But I did happen to see an ad for a scrap yard in a town that is 15 miles from here. I will have to stop in and check them out, ask questions, and get prices and procedures from them.

**Bigblue12v** · 02-02-2011, 06:02 PM

Landed another job, three 70's-80's Chevy 1/2 ton 4x4 trucks all at one location, and he also has a collection of non ferrous and ferrous metal. Wooohooo! Wish the weather would clear up, I have money to make and work to do, and I can't get my truck out there anytime soon....

**Focker** · 02-02-2011, 06:19 PM

LOL blue you nee a atv or side by side to pull that stuff out.

**Bigblue12v** · 02-02-2011, 06:33 PM

Its a guy I know, he has tractor w/bucket, and side by side and ATV's all on location... and a lifted Jeep. He doesn't wanna mess with it when its this cold, and their road is treacherous in any sort of slick stuff, with the ice storm we got yesterday I'm not even considering attempting it.

**teenscrapper** · 02-21-2011, 05:49 PM

Originally Posted by Bigblue12v

Landed another job, three 70's-80's Chevy 1/2 ton 4x4 trucks all at one location, and he also has a collection of non ferrous and ferrous metal. Wooohooo! Wish the weather would clear up, I have money to make and work to do, and I can't get my truck out there anytime soon....

Dude that sucks get the hell out their call a buddy or sumthing with a truck offer some cash if u have too theirs probly 1000 or more sitting their man like if I new were u lived I come help u out but I probly live no were near u

**Bigblue12v** · 02-22-2011, 04:03 PM

Its all hauled in now buddy.... got it a week ago. The tractor wouldn't have gotten around any better than my truck, the stuff was all on a soft slope, ground was mushy... Yea I made bank on that job

$1000? hahahahahahahahahaa.... I did buy the stuff from him but my PROFIT was a lot more than $1,000! There was a lot more there than I realized at first, and I sold a lot of it as core and sold some parts to guys also. Took two gooseneck trailer loads (steel) and two 12' trailer loads (one was full of automotive cores, engines, transmissions etc, the other was one ton of scrap steel) to get it all.

**dapper scrapper** · 02-22-2011, 04:42 PM

Bigblue- When you talk about cores do you mean starter, alt, pumps? Do you have a buyer for core stuff other than elect motor price for starter/alt? Just curious if I'm missing the boat not looking for an auto parts store who buys stuff for reman if that is what you're doing.
Also- do you pull wiring and harnesses/looms? I figure I average 20# of Mixed Low Grade Ins. Copper per car (currently @ $1.26/lb at yard I go to) with plugs, looms, and clips attached.
Thanks for the post and congrats on the big haul!

**ScrappinScott** · 02-22-2011, 11:33 PM

i been scrappin for a few days down im new but been out looking and doing pretty good made 140 in 3 days not to include 60 that i gave to someone else who helped me with one thing so i scrapped 200 worth of material in all, last night i got a bathtub and a oven and a heater stripped all the brass and wire i got 21 dollars for just the ferrous, then got 20 dollars for some alluminum i had i think he ripped me off cause ive taken alluminum the one other time got alot more got 84 140 pounds this time he didnt give me receat and said here you go twenty dollars , it was a big frame and a bunch of support pieces and it had a huge sheet of allumnum the size of frame with was maybe 6' by 5', i think maybe he charged me for dirty alluminum but i tool all the bolts out and everything other time i made sure to say number 1 alluminum its all clean this time i figured 3 days back to same yard hed know and since when i left after droppin the ferrous off i said hey im coming right back with more alluminum and he said ok i figured it be all gravy but i guess this goes to show for all i heard about junkyards trying to get over on people, its ashame this one is 5 blocks from my house in a more populated suburb of philadelphia, i heard theres one about 5 miles away from here to though in a few towns over and they pay good im thinking about trying them tommorrow, i got a full sized frigze and my pops is a hvac tech so he gonna defreon it and tag it before i pull apart everything, what am i looking at with something like this? i also got a trashcan full of random pieces of alluminum brass copper and wire, i plan to cash that end of week but for my first week ive already profitted 140 and am only halfway through week

**IdahoScrapper** · 02-23-2011, 01:11 AM

For the fridge I'd pull the compressor, copper lines, cord/wires, and inside the freezer there should be a false back with a radiator looking thing behind it. If there is an icemaker/water dispenser there may be brass fittings somewhere.

Also the bars in the door are sometimes aluminum.

**Bigblue12v** · 02-23-2011, 10:22 AM

Originally Posted by dapper scrapper

Bigblue- When you talk about cores do you mean starter, alt, pumps? Do you have a buyer for core stuff other than elect motor price for starter/alt? Just curious if I'm missing the boat not looking for an auto parts store who buys stuff for reman if that is what you're doing.
Also- do you pull wiring and harnesses/looms? I figure I average 20# of Mixed Low Grade Ins. Copper per car (currently @ $1.26/lb at yard I go to) with plugs, looms, and clips attached.
Thanks for the post and congrats on the big haul!

Core items (some not worth the trouble of removing, but here's the list of what all is bought as cores):
Batteries
Starters
Alternators
Steering Pumps
A/c Compressors
Brake rotors (don't have core value everywhere but here they sometimes do, usually core buyers buy them as scrap but pay premium for them)
Radiators (usually sold as non ferrous, no core value)
Lead (wheel weights, only worth saving if you are already removing them from aluminum wheels, but I buy them in larger quantities from tire and auto shops, sold as non ferrous but core buyers been paying better than scrap yard)
Transmissions do have core value usually but not really worth the trouble to pull them (for me anyway, as the yards take cars whole)
Engines have core value 9 times out of 10. Worse case scenario, they pay higher for scrap engines than car scrap price.

Then you also have catalytic converters.

The core buying industry is HUGE in my area. Edinburgh, IN maybe one of the largest core buying communities in the midwest.

I usually don't get too involved in pulling wiring harnesses at this point, they are a pain to pull and so much plastic wire loom and wrap and plugs and ties and buried in the car so much that its not worth the hassle and time. I do grab battery cables and starter cables. I don't pull engines and transmissions at this point, maybe in the future I will on occasion if the core value makes it worth the weight loss in scrap.

If you don't have a core buyer in your area, find out where there is one at, save up large loads and take them, or else the next best is to sell them as electric motors I suppose.