You shout and kick your car. It’s broken down for the fourth time this month. You’re about ready to sell it to a dealership and use the money you get to buy a car that’s actually going to get you from point A to point B.
Before you take your car to a dealership, consider giving it to a junk car place first. Depending on the quality of your vehicle, you might be able to get more for it.
There are a few things that you should consider before scrapping a vehicle. Check out this guide for a list of steps that you should follow.
Get Out of the Junk Mindset
Before you start looking around for the best place to scrap a vehicle, it’s important to get out of the junk mindset. It’s easy to think of a car that doesn’t work anymore as a useless paperweight. We’re here to tell you that no matter the condition of the vehicle, it’s worth something.
Someone can use it for scrap metal or spare parts. To this end, it’s crucial to market your car this way. If you tell the junk car dealer that your ride is a hunk of junk, they might be inclined to give you less for it.
This being said, you don’t want to ask for too much for your junk cars. There’s a good chance that you won’t be able to get a lot out of it. It all depends on how much metal can be broken down and reused.
Find the Right Dealer
As tempting as it is, you shouldn’t go with the junkshop that’s going to give you the most money. Not without doing a ton of research first. There are plenty of shady businesses out there that don’t follow the rules as they should.
Meet with the company first. Most of the time, they’ll have a copy of their license hanging up in their office. If they don’t have it hanging up, ask to see a copy.
Most companies will have no problem with this if they are law-abiding. If they hesitate to hand over the requested paperwork, you should run in the opposite direction as quickly as your legs will carry you.
Get Your Personal Items Out of the Car
Once you had the dealer the cash for your car, that’s it. There’s no going back. Your car is no longer yours and anything in the vehicle will either be removed or destroyed.
To this end, make sure that you remove all your personal items out of the car before you hand it over. Check every corner of the vehicle from the back seat to the dashboard. Poke the eject button on your CD player in case you have a disk in it.
Most importantly, look for any credit cards and official documents. If this paperwork is left in the wrong hands, identity theft could be on the horizon.
Take Your License Plate Off
You’re pretty much throwing your car in the garbage. You don’t need your license plate anymore, right? Wrong.
Depending on what state you live in, you’ll have to head to the DMV after you fork the vehicle over to cancel the title. That means you could get into some serious legal trouble if you don’t take the plate off.
Remove Valuable Parts
Your most profitable avenue is to follow the procedure to scrapping a vehicle. Unless there are parts on the car that are valuable if sold separately.
Some of these parts include the entertainment system, starter, and alternator. Go speak to an experienced mechanic. They’ll be able to take a look at the car, let you know if these parts are valuable to you, and take them off so you can sell them.
Strip the Car
Many dealers aren’t too picky. They take the car in whatever condition that it’s in. Other’s would much prefer you to have the car stripped to its basic metal frame before you give it to them.
This is another case where you would need to see a mechanic. They’ll strip the car of all its parts, so the only thing that’s left is the metal.
We will tell you that this job won’t come cheap. Keep in mind that you will be able to make back some of the money you spend by selling the parts that came out of the car.
Get All the Paperwork Out of the Way
So, now you might be wondering, “what do I need to scrap a vehicle”? The answer is the car title. Without it, you won’t be able to transfer the ownership of the car over to the junkyard.
If the junkyard doesn’t care if you don’t have the title, you should be wary of them. Most places don’t want to risk the liabilities that are involved with not having the title.
Missing Title? No Problem
There are some special circumstances where a title is unneeded. For example, some states have a law in place that says that you don’t need to have the title if the car is an older model. You’ll still have to have a copy of your ID, but you won’t need the title.
Some states will allow you to use an old car registration along with your ID. You’ll have to call your DMV to find out for sure if this is allowed.
If the office tells you that you do need the title, we have good news for you. It’s not that hard to get a copy.
What to Do When Scrapping a Vehicle
Instead of letting your old vehicle rust on your lawn, why not get a little money out of it? Scrapping a Vehicle is good or you could give it to a dealership, you’ll probably get more money out of it if you take it to a junkyard.
You’ll have to follow the steps provided before scrapping a car. If you don’t, you may have to deal with a ton of legal repercussions.
There’s a lot to look out for when you’re choosing a vehicle to replace your junked one. Check out our blog for all the latest on cars and parts.
