The question, “How much can you get for a junk car?”, is a common one that a lot of people ask when they’re wondering whether or not to sell a scrap car. And they’re often surprised to find out the answer! As it turns out, you could be sitting on a junk car that’s worth hundreds or maybe even thousands of dollars when you go to sell it.
⚠️ If It's Broken, Don't Fix It - Get Paid Cash for Your Vehicle ⚠️
Before you get too excited, though, you should find out about all of the different factors that are going to play a role in answering the question, “How much can you get for a junk car?” The truth of the matter is that your junk car could be worth almost any amount of money based on the factors that we’re going to discuss here today.
Want to know what your junk car might be worth at the moment? These are the factors that you’ll need to keep in mind when trying to figure it out.
Where Is Your Junk Car Located?
Do you have your junk car parked out on the street in the middle of a busy city? Or do you have it sitting out behind your garage in the middle of nowhere in Nebraska? You might not think that this matters when it comes to answering the question, “How much can you get for a junk car?” But it most definitely does!
If your car is located in a busy city, there is a good chance that you have more than a few junk car buyers operating in your area. They’re each going to try and outdo the next one when you call on them and ask, “How much can you get for a junk car?” This should, in theory, lead to the price that someone will pay for your car going up.
At the same time, you’re likely going to find that the opposite will be true if your car is located somewhere out in rural America. Since your are probably only has one or maybe two junk car buyers operating in it, they aren’t going to have to fight too hard for your car. They’re going to give lower numbers when you ask them, “How much can you get for a junk car?”
How Old Is Your Junk Car?
When you’re pondering the question, “How much can you get for a junk car?”, you’ll want to consider more than just your location. You’ll also want to consider the car itself. And that is going to start with thinking about how old it is and how that could affect what you’ll be able to get for it.
If your car is very old and if it’s a car that isn’t even being produced anymore, it might limit what a junk car buyer can do with your car. It might not contain any of the parts that they’ll be looking for when they purchase your car from you. So you might not get much money for it.
But if, on the other hand, your car is relatively new and still around, junk car buyers will see your junk car as a much more attractive option. You won’t have to think too hard about trying to answer the question, “How much can you get for a junk car?”, because junk car buyers will be throwing different numbers at you.
This is why you might want to steer clear of waiting too long to sell a junk car. The longer that you wait to do it, the less valuable it might end up being.
What Is the Make and Model of Your Junk Car?
Outside of checking to see how old your car is when wondering, “How much can you get for a junk car?”, you should also think about what the make and model of your car is and how they can affect the cash you’ll be able to collect for it. There are some makes and models that are way more popular than others among junk car buyers.
It’s not a huge secret that cars made by Honda and Toyota are very popular in the U.S. Because of this, junk car buyers usually have their eyes peeled for junk cars made by these companies since they can bank on them bringing in a lot of valuable parts that they can sell later on.
You should take a look at one of the lists of the most popular cars, trucks, and SUVs in the country right now. If your car happens to fall on one of them, it could mean that you’re sitting on a potential goldmine. You should asking yourself, “How much can you get for a junk car?”, and go try to sell yours ASAP!
How Many Miles Have Been Put On Your Junk Car?
For a long time, people were lucky to be able to get 100,000 miles out of their cars. Cars and the parts in them just weren’t designed to last a whole lot longer than that. But these days, that has obviously changed quite a bit.
Nowadays, it’s not all that uncommon for cars to stay out on the road for 150,000 or even 200,000 miles before reaching the end of their lifespan. But even still, it almost goes without saying that a car with more miles on it is going to sell for a lower price than one with less miles on it.
“How many miles are on your car?” is typically one of the first questions that a junk car buyer is going to ask you. If it has well over 100,000 miles, the answer to the question, “How much can you get for a junk car?”, is going to go down. And in some cases, it might go way down.
Junk car buyers won’t be as interested in buying high-mileage cars because they might have a lot of parts in them that are on their way out. This will make them less valuable in the long run.
Does Your Junk Car Have Any Major Issues?
As we’ve alluded to a few times now, junk car buyers aren’t going to purchase your car and fix it up in most cases. Since your junk car is likely on its last legs, it won’t be worth doing that. But for junk car buyers, it is often worth them buying junk cars to pull parts from them. These parts can be very valuable.
That being said, the parts in a car aren’t going to be worth as much as they could and should be if your junk car has a lot of major issues. Major issues are things like:
- A blown head gasket
- A busted transmission
- A faulty exhaust system
You’re going to quickly discover that the answer to the question, “How much can you get for a junk car?”, is going to be, “Not much!”, if a junk car is filled with useless parts. While most junk car buyers won’t have any issue with buying a car that won’t start, they might balk about buying one with a major problem that’s going to limit what they can do with the car.
What Does the Exterior of Your Junk Car Look Like?
Just so that we’re clear here: The exterior of your junk car does not have to be in pristine condition in order for you to drum up interest in it among junk car buyers. We just talked about how junk car buyers usually aren’t going to try and buy your car and resell it, so they aren’t all that concerned about what the outside of it looks like.
But that doesn’t mean that you won’t get lower offers for your car if it looks all banged up. You’re usually going to find that the answer to the question, “How much can you get for a junk car?”, will be much lower than usual if your car has:
- Rust
- Dents
- Fading paint
- Scratches
- Hail damage
- And other imperfections!
The shoddy appearance of the outside of your car will make junk car buyers wonder whether or not you worked hard to maintain it. They might have reservations about what’s underneath your hood after seeing what the exterior of your car looks like.
Is Your Junk Car Missing Any Important Parts?
If you’ve had a junk car sitting outside your house for quite some time now, there is a chance that you yourself may have pulled a part of two from it. Maybe you took the battery of it because you knew that you weren’t going to use it, or maybe you removed the catalytic converter from it to sell it to a scrapyard.
Whatever the case, you’re going to want to reveal which parts are missing from a car when you’re asking, “How much can you get for a junk car?”, to a junk car buyer. They’re going to give you a lower price if they notice that you’re missing something like a battery, a catalytic converter, or other important parts.
For this reason, you should try not to remove any old parts from a junk car unless absolutely necessary. You could be burying the value of it by taking parts from it and not replacing them.
What Is the Current Price of Scrap Metal?
Once a junk car buyer is all finished pulling different parts from your junk car after purchasing it from you, they’re usually going to take the entire frame of the car and scrap it. While it’s worth less than many of the parts inside your car, it still has some value and could fetch a pretty penny in some cases.
It’s not going to be able to do this if the current price of scrap metal is on the lower side, though. You’re going to find that junk car buyers will give lower responses to the question, “How much can you get for a junk car?”, when the price of scrap metal is in the tank.
You might want to keep your eyes on the price of scrap metal when you first find yourself wondering, “How much can you get for a junk car?” If the price of it is very low, that might indicate that it’s not a great time to sell your junk car. You should wait for right time and then strike while the iron is hot.
Which Junk Car Buyers Operate in Your Area?
At the end of the day, answering the question, “How much can you get for a junk car?”, could very well come down to figuring out which specific junk car buyers are in operation in your area. There are going to be some junk car buyers that will make way higher offers than others for no apparent reason.
This is why you should always shop around for junk car buyers and see which one will provide you with the most money for your car. You might be surprised to see how much one junk car buyer will offer you for your car compared to others.
You won’t have to wonder, “How much can you get for a junk car?”, once you have a stack of offers in your hand. You’ll be able to choose the one that will allow you to put the most money into your pocket in the end.
So, How Much Can You Get for a Junk Car?
As you’ve learned here, there are so many factors that are going to go into deciding, “How much can you get for a junk car?” It would be impossible for us to sit here and provide you with a definitive dollar amount.
But at Cash Cars Buyer, we can make you an offer for your car pretty much on the spot once you tell us a little more about it. Just let us know the make and model of your car, the year your car was manufactured, and how many miles are on your car, and we’ll send you an offer right away! We’ll also arrange to come and pick your car up from your home or business for you if you decide to accept the offer that we make.
Ready to find out, “How much can you get for a junk car?”, once and for all? Contact us today to start the process of getting an offer for your scrap car.