Who all scraps cars on a regular basis?

For years I have parted out and scrapped a couple trucks a year, kinda piddled with it... year and a half ago I worked at an auto salvage yard doing sales and random stuff, occasionally I drove rollback, bought cars over the phone, internet sales all kinds of stuff... anyway several times a day I would get calls from people wanting junk cars picked up and I would basically buy them over the phone, send out a rollback with a check and we kept him fairly busy picking up cars from individuals or auctions and such... I would buy all kinds of junk cars for half of scrap price, we'd throw them in the inventory and sell parts off of them and when we cycled inventory the remains would get scrapped... I never had a big trailer to haul on so I always had to borrow my neighbor's trailer.... Recently I made a good purchase on a junk truck I sold a lot of parts off of in a hurry and made mint on the scrap leftovers, and it motivated me to get into the business of buying and scrapping cars. I bought a gooseneck trailer and have been hard at it since. The competition is fierce around here but I've been able to stay really busy at it somehow with practically no advertising. Picked up one Thursday, hauled it off yesterday morning, then went back and picked up a second one, stripped a bunch of parts off of it that I sold, and hauled it off, then picked up another last night, planned on taking it in monday morning, but had to roll it off the trailer so I could go pickup another this afternoon. So now I have two to haul in Monday. And I practically have a waiting list! I have a van to get when they return this week from vacation, and two grain trucks I will have to sub the hauling out to a friend who has a bigger trailer, if the scrapyard will take them whole (they use to require full size vans be cut in half so they fit in the crusher). If I can stay busy with this year round, I will have created for myself a very nice living... so far I'm doing very well with it, on a good day I make what I used to make in a week..... so if I only get two a week, its very well worth my effort. And I grab up small stuff to store for when I get a slow time i will strip that stuff down, not near as much money but better than nothing.

My rig: custom built 1977/1992 Dodge 1 ton crew cab long bed diesel 4x4 and 24' gooseneck trailer with winch and toolbox loaded with chains, boomers, jacks, two batteries for winch, wrecker hooks, snatchblock for winch, ratchet straps, blocks of wood, etc. Keep a couple pairs of gloves handy as well.

With the snow, I've had some hard to get to vehicles, and from having previously ran rollback truck a little here and there, I know I would definitely rather have a rollback than a trailer, but between purchase cost and insurance (which is sky high on one of them), its out of the question right now. But I think the ultimate rig for getting junk cars in hard to get places would be a old military 2.5 ton "duece and a half" truck with a custom rollback bed. There's so many places I can't get truck and trailer to pickup the cars..... The two I bought on thursday/friday were both from the same guy and fortunately he had a tractor he was able to drag them up to his driveway, and the one I got today they pulled it to the road as well as their driveway was too slick for me to get into and the yard was soft. Hopefully once i get some better tires on my truck and warmer weather rolls around things won't be as tough. I have an out of work friend with a lifted Jeep I can always call to drag them out to the truck if need be, but that greatly increases operating costs.... my truck gets 16 mpg with the trailer, gross about 11k empty truck and trailer. Not bad!


Anyone else care to share their story of how you got started in hauling cars, what equipment you use, and how many cars a week you average?

Man i have been out of it for awhile.But i am getting back into it now.I buy cars from auctions and people.I need to get some advertising in so i can get going.I have a 1994 dodge ram 2500 with a repo sling in the bed that is what i use.When i first started i used a tow dolly.
Do you keep your catalytic converters?I sure hope you do.I buy them let me know if you have any to get rid of.

Also i just live in louisville ky

What auctions do you go to? I went to one in Austin, IN Thursday they have them every Thursday night, lot of used cars go through there but most aren't junkers, more like "buy here pay here" lot stock..... good for used car dealers but thats about it. Doubt I will bother to drive down 1 hr away every week just to sit through a couple hrs of used cars in hopes to find a junker...

I love my trailer, its just an old beat up gooseneck with a steel deck... What i love about it, is that with the steel deck, stripping the car on the trailer is easy, fluids on the deck are no big deal, dropping a car on its brakes or hubs is no big deal, no worries about hurting the deck as with wood..... and plenty of room to strip the car on the trailer... I remove cat. converters, aluminum wheels or good tires that I can use or sell, and brass radiators, batteries, and other easy grab items, and depending on which yard I take it to, the fuel tank has to come out. One yard requires title but no tank removal. Other yard is closer, but doesn't require a title but you have to drop tank, you can put the tank in the car they just want to know it isn't full of gas (they make a really sweet explosion when they crush a car with a full tank LOL) There's another yard that you don't have to drop tank, and don't need a title, but they don't pay as much....

My next big investment might just be a car dolly, I found a good deal on one, if its still there in few days or a week I may go get it. I've come across many cars that I can't get truck and trailer to especially in the snow, but my lifted Durango and a dolly would get right to them and pull them out..... And I already had to unload one off the trailer so I could go get another one yesterday because the yard was closed I couldn't haul in the one on the trailer, so if I had a dolly I could pickup more cars easier on weekends... Its a royal pain getting these cars drug out to the trailer through the snow, or trying to keep from getting the truck and trailer stuck. Or like Saturday night, I got the truck stuck trying to get out of a driveway with the trailer...

So the more I think about it the more I want a dolly. And it would be a good way to avoid having expensive wheel lift wrecker truck and the high rent insurance that goes with it. It would be an excellent addition to my collection of toys n tools.

As for catalytic converters, I take them to a place called Legend Smelting in Edinburgh, IN, bout 15 minutes from here. They pay highest around here and I'm not too interested in driving any further and I don't have enough room to store a lot of core items at once so I usually get two or three and I take them in, same with alum. wheels and any other non ferrous scrap. If I had more room it wouldn't be such a big deal to stockpile that stuff. If you have a route that comes up this direction we might work something out. They gave me a price sheet for cat. converters, but I don't know which ones are which since they are all slang names and nicknames for the different styles...

Quote me on these two catalytic converters if you can:
1999 Pontiac Sunfire 4 cylinder (one cat on car)
1994 Chrysler LHS 3.5 V6 (one cat on car)

Thanks,
Eric

I have scrappped over 100 vehicles last year and i was still in high school so most of it was done at night and on weekends Also I didn't haul any scrap vehicles during the winter of last year and also didn't haul any during july and august. I thought this was pretty good. I averaged about $250 or so profit on every vehicle. I take off the alum. rims, catalytic conerters, alum. drive shafts, batteries, copper?brass rads. Tires if they had good tread. Also I keep and then re seel or use alot of treasures that i find in vehicles. I have found tons of tools and lots of nice cd decks and speakers, a prestone jump starter, 4 brand new pistons for a boat motor, and tons of change and money. Always fold up the back seat of cars and look under it. I always find change under it. I have found alot of other things but I can't think of them at the moment. If u can take pics of the cat. converters and I can tell u how much I would get for them. What I have found is best for finding cars in the winter is I go around and look in peoples driveways, and drive down alleys and look for vehicles that are pilled with snow. Figure out who owns them and offer them cash for the vehicles. I have already got about 30 vehicles ( 15 in the last 10 days) by doing this. I made $4700 or so profit in the last 10 days and only looked and hauled vehicles 6 of the 10 days. I found a driveway that had 8 vehicles in it and I bought 4 of them and am going to get 2 more in a few weeks.
I started out using my dads friends trailer and when i made enough money (in about 3 weekends) I bought it from him. It's a 06 22' tilt bed trailer with a wood deck. It came with a 4700lb warn winch and i just put a 8500LB Superwinch on it. I pull the trailer with a 2000 chevy 2500 gasser with the 6.0L in it. I love the 6.0 it will pull anything. I have pulled 2 fullsize busses to the scrap yard with it and also a 16000lb. flatbed farm truck to the scrap yard.

Eric lets do this it is hard to price a converter buy the car because they can be different.Tell me the price list they gave you.How much is a Large gm worth? Bread loaf,Straight Body and Honeycomb.Tell me them prices and i can tell you what kind of price you are getting.

The tow dolly is good but remember one thing you cannot back a car with one.So dont put yourself where you have to back up or your screwed lol.

I'll have to find that price list now...... I know a large GM that I took there was $137... if I find that list I'll let u know what the rest are.

Thanks
Eric

Yeah i am trying to get some stuff going.Around here looking for someone to go into the business with me.

How much you get paid per ton up there?

Same here, wish we were in the same area, Im in Springfield,ohio.....Lol

Yeah louisville ky here quite aways from each other lol.I am and or was a repo man also.

yeah, i have been in towing and recovery for 20 years and happy to say, im done with that sh----ttttt

Me I'd like to get into towing/recovery and also core business..... $260/ton for cars is what we're getting.

I bought that car dolly today, I think it'll be a good investment. I paid half of what other used ones are going for, so the way I look at it, i can't lose really.... They don't have to be plated or registered, so the operating cost is nearly zilch (occasional tires or something) and I think i can rent it out here and there to help recover the investment. U-haul rents 'em for $45/day, I'm sure it would be a good deal for all parties if I rented it out for half that.
However I'm pretty sure the car being towed is supposed to be plated to current, but around here I would not be too concerned about that, they won't give me crap for that just dragging something around town.

focker, here is the current pricing at Legend Smelting in Edinburgh, IN. They have an extensive price list but this are the ones you asked about.
large gm: 139.00
bread loaf: 111.00
straight body: 113.00
Honeycomb: 74.00

Yeah your getting good prices.Them are all correct.
I get 270-275 a ton down here.I am wanting to start buying old scrap equipment and cutting it up for scrap.I think there is good money to be made doing it.Bigblue maybe someday if your done this way we could meet up or something.

Cool, thanks for confirming the prices for me. I thought it seemed pretty fair to me but I don't know much about it. It would be really easy for them to take advantage of a person like me. I wish I knew how to tell them all apart so i could know what I have and give better estimates on prices for cars I buy, and anticipate what my stuff is worth before I go to sell it. There was a guy in at Legend yesterday telling me he buys farm equipment, semis, school buses and RV's for scrap- all the big stuff that no one else can handle. Thought that was pretty cool. He has a semi and trailer he uses for those loads. I have a couple grain trucks I can buy cheap and I know are worth quite a bit for scrap- a buddy will haul them pretty reasonable for me, of the 3 yards around here only one will take them whole, and the fluids have to be drained. Will be a pretty good deal for me overall. Buying them for $500 each and paying $75-85 each for them to be hauled. I'm sure they are worth at least $1,000 in scrap each. Once the weather breaks we will be working on that.

And yea we should meet up sometime, if you get up this way let me know, or if i go down that way i'll look you up.

Yeah but if i was you i would take them home and cut them up.Then you get alot higher prices and have more to recycle and or scrap.I want to get into the equipment stuff.You need to look at the cat and what it came off of then you will learn them pretty good.There is still some i see i have no clue about i know all of the basic ones they are easy.I will right you up a vehicle list later to what cars have what.I always when trying to buy from a individial try to buy the car where i make money and then the converter i have for free.But if you have someone taking offers then you can up it alittle bit.

Their price list shows $8 per pound for loose honeycomb, I assume this is referring to the material inside of the converters, can't imagine they would be worth more dismantled than whole at that rate?

A list would be awesome!!!! Yea I don't assume a car has a catalytic converter when I price it, but there's some that I could make money on with a tighter profit margin where otherwise i'd miss on the deal not knowing what I can get out of it. I always google the vehicle's weight and figure out what I will get from it by weight, and find out if it has alum. wheels and what-not, and factor in the drive time and expense.... Some cars I come out real good, others I just make a little on... Like Saturday I bought a Toyota Paseo, 2100# car, steel wheels, the cat was already gone.... I got a battery and some good 14" tires off of it. I drove 15 miles to get the car, and made about $100 off the deal and kept the tires. I may sell them or if they are big enough I will keep them for my tow dolly. $100 isn't a lot, but there is more than one wrecker company around here that would not charge that much to haul it the same distance I did, and my rig is paid for and my insurance is nothing compared to a wrecker, so I am glad to have made some money on it rather than pass up on it and make nothing.

I thought of doing cars but I don't know if my truck could handle hauling cars much. Not a power vehicle by any means. Also, I don't know if the neighbors would complain if I have a torn up car and piles of parts laying around the yard. Also, not knowing much on cars to begin with, I would imagine that would slow me up a bit.

If I got a car to scrap, do you remove the interiors from cars like seats, dash, and carpet or just send them like that. Also, do tires have to be removed before scrapping. I suppose if I got comfortable enough with breaking down cars to minimize time involved per and dump fees if any, then I could look into getting something that could handle hauling them.

There are several ways to sell them, depending on what your yard will take. No, don't take out the interior, regardless of anything else. Some will take them like you'd drive them in. You could take out the battery, drain the fuel and/or fluids, take out the mercury switch (like in the trunk, hood and glove box), cut off the catalytic converter (sell battery and cat separately). There may be categories at yards called "cars" "complete cars" and "prepared cars" - each with a different price per ton. Check with them.

A lot of people also "stuff" cars - filling them with "junk". Anything to make it weigh more.

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.

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.

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.

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.... :(

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

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.

Quote:

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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.... :(

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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

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 :D $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.

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!

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

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.

Quote:

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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!

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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.