{"id":8372,"date":"2021-03-01T19:51:49","date_gmt":"2021-03-02T00:51:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/?p=8372"},"modified":"2021-03-01T19:52:04","modified_gmt":"2021-03-02T00:52:04","slug":"how-much-is-a-junk-car-worth-the-complete-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/how-much-is-a-junk-car-worth-the-complete-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"How Much Is a Junk Car Worth? The Complete Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Covid pandemic throws a lot of people’s financial lives into turmoil. That might explain why so many people look for side hustles<\/a> these days. They’re looking for ways they can make up some of what they lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, most of them probably don’t look at their old car and see it as a potential source of profit. That’s too bad because junk cars can help pad your bottom line if you handle them the right way. Still, you might wonder how much is a junk car worth?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep reading and we’ll help you understand the potential value of junk cars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

How Much Is a Junk Car Wroth?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Like many things in life, the question of how much are junk cars worth doesn’t have one answer. The term junk car is too general to offer one final answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A wide range of factors plays a role in how much you can realistically make when a person decides to sell my junk car<\/a>. We’ll explore some of those factors below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some cars will command a high price, but that’s the exception. As a general rule, a junk car will typically get somewhere between $200 and $500 if you sell it to a junk car company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now that you know the general rule, let’s look at the factors that can drive the price up or down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Location<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You might not think so, but your location can affect the price you get when junking a car. Let’s say that you live in a rural area with only one nearby junk car business. The price that that company offers is, for all intents and purposes, the price<\/em> for that junk vehicle in your area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That company is the only game in town, so you can’t do any better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you live in a suburban or urban area with several junk car companies, you can use their initial offers as a negotiating chip to get a better price. While this won’t make a $300 offer into a $1000 offer, you can probably negotiate up to a $400 offer or a little higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Odd as it may seem, certain cars prove more popular in certain parts of the country. If your old car happens to be one of the popular models in your area, you can expect higher junk car prices for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scrap Metal Prices<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The main way junk companies make money from junk cars is by selling the metal from the vehicles. This primarily means steel, aluminum, and copper. While these metals command average prices across the nation, you can see regional differences in scrap metal prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If your area enjoys higher than average steel prices, it can drive up the price for junk cars a little. Unfortunately, if your area suffers from below-average prices for scrap metal, it’ll drive down the prices. You may decide it’s worth waiting until scrap metal prices go up before junking your old car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also bear in mind that not all cars carry the same amount of metal. Those fuel economy benefits you enjoyed with your subcompact sedan means it lighter and less valuable than a full-size sedan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Make, Model, Year<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The make and model of your vehicle can also affect the price. Popular models of cars create a big market of people looking for less expensive used parts for those cars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If your old is one of those makes and models, it means the company can strip parts and sell them piecemeal. The more parts they think they can strip and sell, the more they’ll typically pay for the car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The year can also influence the value of your old car. If your car is from a year with a smaller production run, it can actually drive up the price of used parts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Condition<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It can seem odd, but the condition of your junk car is also a factor in the price. If the body and interior of a vehicle remain in okay condition, it pushes the price up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The total mileage on the car also matters. A vehicle with 180,000 miles on it isn’t especially valuable for junk car companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Odds are pretty good that they can’t salvage any parts to sell off piecemeal. There is simply too much wear and tear on all the parts. They can’t offer any kind of guarantee on them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A car with 75,000 miles on the other hand is a much better candidate for getting useable parts. While they may not get every part they might want, they go in knowing that they can probably some parts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does the Car Still Run?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This is another factor that may catch potential sellers off guard. It’s a junk car, right? Why would anyone care if it still runs?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It makes sense if you think it through. If the engine won’t turn over, the junk car company can only assume that the engine and everything attached to it is a total loss. If the engine does turn over, however, they can assume that the engine and many of the parts attached to it are still viable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That means more potential parts they can sell to increase the value of the car for their business. That means they can offer you more money for it when you sell the car to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Selling Your Junk Car<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The question of how much is a junk car worth doesn’t really give you a satisfying answer because it’s a price range, not a number. The better question is how much is my junk car worth?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The answer to that question depends on a lot of factors, like location, make and model, and condition. If the car starts can even change the price. The best way you can answer that question is with estimates from local junk car companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After that, you can negotiate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking for more auto tips? Check the Auto section over on our blog.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Covid pandemic throws a lot of people’s financial lives into turmoil. That might explain why so many people look for side hustles these days. They’re looking for ways they can make up some of what they lost. Yet, most of them probably don’t look at their old car and see it as a potential […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8372"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8372"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8372\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8374,"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8372\/revisions\/8374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}