How Much is My Junk Car Worth?

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Options for Dumping Your Clunker

  • Craigslist – Listing a car on Craigslist is simple. Dealing with the knuckleheads that respond to your listing can be frustrating. The idiot to good person ratio is ridiculously high.
  • Street Sale – There’s no cost involved here. Just drive your clunker to a place where there’s a good amount of traffic and stuff a couple of signs in the window. If someone steals the car, you may lose a few bucks, but hey, at least you didn’t have to pay someone to haul it away.
  • Trade it in on a New Car (or another used car) – You will always take a financial beating when you trade in a beat up old car at the dealer. But it’s one of the easiest options of all. The dealer can profit handsomely on the transaction.
  • WeBuyAnyCar, etc – There’s a slew of services that will give you a price and come to your place to pick your car up with flatbed and hand over a check. It can be convenient, but they need to make a (healthy) profit, so expect to get less.
  • Your Local Garage – Do you know a friendly mechanic? Someone that might be willing to make a few fixes to old paint in order to make it more marketable and throw it out on the lot? The Buddy System is a great thing.
  • Scrap It – Taking a car to the scrapyard can work out well in some cases, but you’d do best to consult with someone that’s been through the process. Which brings us to …
  • Part It Out – Most cars are worth more when disassembled and sold as individual parts. Take a look on eBay to see which parts are most in demand for your vehicle. Place a handful of ads to test the waters. Once you’ve cherry-picked the best parts, you can send the remaining carcass off to the junk yard.

Check the approximate value of your vehicle before you make any moves, starting with the Kelly Blue Book trade-in values. Make a list of things that you know need to be fixed. Don’t count on your potential buyers overlooking these faults. They will subtract the cost of repairs from their offer.

A vehicle that’s running is worth more than one that is not. At the bottom end, you’ll save a few bucks (on towing costs) by being able to drive the vehicle to the location where it leaves your hands. Avoid any extra costs and stay safe. Don’t drive a vehicle that is not road worthy.

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8 thoughts on “How Much is My Junk Car Worth?”

  3. @T – There are two pickup truck video reviews in the pipeline right now – 2015 GMC Canyon and Toyota Tacoma – with more stuff on the way. I’m slated to highway test the Ram 1500 EcoDiesel this month and need to get an F-150 onto the schedule.

  4. You can call the scrapyard and have a good idea what your junk car is worth before you go to a lot of work. Scrap price varies, but right now it runs around $10 per hundred pounds. That is junkyard speak. A 3000 pound car would bring $300 at $10 per hundred. AKA 10 cents per pound. Some states require a title in the seller’s name some states require the wheels and tires removed and some require the fuel tanks removed. Call the scrapyard before your trek there.

  6. Its depends on condition of your car. I want to suggest you before sell your car wash it and clean it properly that will increase your car cost.

  7. My family has had a Toyota Corolla for over 35 years! I think it has finally reached its end, so it is my job to figure out what to do with it. I think that we will probably take it to a dismantling company or maybe just a junk yard. Thanks for the ideas!

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