Question for guys who scrap alot of cars!!

IDK if this question has been asked but i looked for it for a few days and havent found it so here it goes .. do you guys think it would be more profitable and sensible to take a car in whole or take it apart seperate the metals and sell any parts that are still good to a junk yard or just scrap the car ? i have a plymouth voyager and if i scrapped it whole id get 515 but ive also done some math and if i take it apart itd bring me close to 900 another problem is how im gonna get the parts around i have 2 more cars but theyre not cars i would even think about putting scrap in .. so what do you guys think ?

i dont know your prices where your at, but here a grand voyager will only bring 440 to 470 or so, thats stripped down tho, 900 seems a big stretch to me, and when you go to cut that cat off all those chrysler mini vans are the hardest ones you cant hardly get to the front at all

sorry i didnt really answer your question, me id take off the alum wheels, radiator, battery, and the cat(lay some cardboard down and lay all this for your other cars) and take the rest across the scales

I agree with what corycouch said. Pull the cat/battery/rims/alternator and whatever other quick parts of valuable scrap you can get, and haul in the rest. Selling the other parts that are "good" is a pain in the butt and not worth the time/hassle in my opinion. By the way cory, I found the easiest way to cut the cats off of those Voyagers etc. with a sawzall is to cut out the front of the crossmember (takes 3 quick cuts if I remember correctly) and that will give you room to get straight in with the sawzall and cut it easy. Use a 9" blade btw. Oh, and you have to cut that little steel power steering line and bend it back out of the way.

thanks :) ill have to get some 9inch blades that makes sense tho, ive done two of em

What are you getting paid per ton.But the van should bring $515-$550 pretty easy.
Also on the cat take a long sawzall blade and cut it from the driver side at the side once you cut half way through it take and stick a pipe in it and bend it and break it loose.

But yeah trying to sale parts and all of that is not really worth it unless you have the time to mess with it.

our prices for auto bodies have fell to 10.25 i was getting 12 two weeks ago

The only thing I cut is trucks. There is more steel than tin. Im talking big old heavy fords. etc. Then you get the prepared 14c a lb. Some cases I pay the yard to run them in. I have a large farm Im scrapping. Probaly be there for months. We are talking 100 acres filled with old cars, equipment, even a rv winnebgao lol.

In the case with these vehicles it was easier to have the yard to pick up the dodge van. It was sunk half a foot and took some work to get it out. Almost broke in half getting it winched out. Didnt have a big enough trailer and didnt feel comfortable running it with a tow bar or tow dolly. My luck would break in half going down the road. it was a old 70's van. No trans, but slant 6 engine was there. No seats. bailed whatever tin I could find as well as tires on rims, off rims. Got 12c lb paid 472. After the yard took a 150 out for winch and towing, cam to 322. Not bad for really nothing to do. Weighed in at 3940. Probaly be much heavier if it had seats and a trans, plus it wasnt dusting all over the place lol.

And all the goodies like rads and what not already gone. Only thing left was a starter, blower motor, and some wiring. I didnt take the time to keep them. It's all about time is money and whats it worth to you. Where there is a will there is a way...

yeah i do have the time cause i have other cars i can use to get around and i have wanted to take a car apart before i just gotta see what the salvage yards are paying for certain things because from what you guys are saying i should just take it whole and yes whole itd bring 515 at the yard

Something else that a lot of scrappers miss is the easy wiring. I have a big set of bolt cutters, and spend a couple minutes on every car just clipping the easy wires from the harness. Over time it adds up, and it's something quick and easy to do when I have nothing else going on.

Agree with the above. Our volume is such I can cut and pull parts that will lay around for months and never sell, or I can get paid for another vehicle. I go for the quick parts and run volume. I do know car bodies for us is going down next month. I was advised friday that I need to move what I want at current pricing... Gonna be a busy first of the week getting everything out.

Yeah i cut battery cobles out but no other wire really.seems to me like there not worth it.

I have been on the process side of scrap. It would be better to seperate the car than sell whole. Remove your wire, motor block etc...sell sep then take the yard the hulk. Most of the yards with shredders are in to buying by volume,they do not realize the loss until the non ferrous plant isnt recovering metals.

Robert

RowlandScrap

It is definately more profitable to seperate. But time and business has to be concidered as well. if we seperated everything that came in the door we would cover our lots in a week and be backed up forever.

I'd grab the easy to get goodies and haul the rest in, to totally strip it down itd take several hours if you had a facility with air impact, torch and sawzall. Not to mention something load all the pieces up with and trailer to haul it, I've never stripped a car completely down and unless you had a pretty hooked up shop to do it think you'd have a bunch of hours into it for 200 bucks or so.