Daily driver

Daily drivers around here are 4 x 4 pickups and their value has not been affected by scrap prices. Trailer prices have not been affected either to the best of my knowledge. Agricultural commodity prices are also low so everyone here is sitting on metal, used equipment, and most corn or soy beans are in bins. Older cars will serve as wind breaks until the price improves. This has been a common strategy since the 1920's here and it is not about to change in this generation. When prices improve, some individuals might be willing to part with their wind breaks, but usually you have to wait for a farmer to retire before they are willing to part with their valued steel.

Patriot's situation pretty much mirrors ours.

If anything, car prices are rising here. People can't afford newer, so they go for what they can afford- older vehicles. There are a fair amount of square body Chevrolets serving small businesses here. 5 years ago, there were hardly any.

That's not a good sign....

I'm here in the north east & used cars are better in price . But there is some thing to consider We have snow and salt roads , so during high scrap prices Nasty rusty cars with questionable life are scrap price at the very least . A rusty mini van from hunger was $700 , now a clean Mini van is $850 .
But if what you say takes form in the north east That may become so .
I have found my area has always been a hard place to live , it's like on it's own lower level path . other parts of the country are boom and bust . We have comities prices but , fellow's when the winter come - 10 below 16 below and long ,
winters cause the north east to be isolated in some ways.
But there are gas wells around fracking here, our economy is apart a big picture

Still the expanse of driving needed to recycle (country roads north east ) causes a fast reality there is no faking it
to much driving
less cars being scrapped ,
good trailers are to be found .

We're behind the economic swings- we get them, but usually a year later. Vehicles never rust out here, so that's part of the problem. This is a 1986 Dodge that I bought this spring:



The photo isn't the best, but that is what an average 29 year old truck looks like out here. We're in an isolated area, so everything is expensive, but for some reason, cars are extremely pricey here.

We lived in Illinois back in the early 1990s. We bought new a 1992 Ford F250 that we brought out here in 1997. It's nothing like that, but it was rusted a bit.

I owned a 1997 Ford E350 that spent most of it's life in Pennsylvania. The rust became so terminal that I pulled it off the road for safety reasons. We really are lucky to not have rust. But, that drives up the prices on older vehicles. For anything older than about a 1990 truck, the prices won't fall any farther. You don't see a running and driving truck for less than $1000 out here ($1500 for a 4x4).

I've toyed with the idea of doing that on the side. I'm a car guy, so my mind isn't the best sometimes. That box van was owned by people who didn't care. Sadly, they put a sheetmetal patch underneath the crossmembers of the box. I was too dumb to remove it and see the damage. It fell off one day, and I noticed this:



I stopped driving it immediately after that. I've never seen anything like it out here.

I'm not one to usually sell vehicles. I keep them until they're done for.

That one was dragged away with a chain (I parked it for 6 months, and it refused to start. There was no way that I was getting under that thing to fight with seized, rusted bolts). The buyer cut the body off, and mounted it to a gooseneck trailer to make a construction office. He fixed the chassis up and put a flatbed on it to move hay bales (not on the road). I see the buyer once or twice a year- he's always fixing something on that truck.

That truck was far and away the worst vehicle I've ever owned. It stranded me twice, and only went to 3 collection events. It broke down so often that I had to use my 1987 Chevrolet every time. I was always saying, "You know, the box van would have been great for this if it was working!"

My 1986 Dodge gives me much less personality, and hasn't taken me to the cleaners like that van did. I wasn't sad at all to see that thing leave.

Lesson learned, though.

matador: "I have to make mistakes. Otherwise, I'd never learn anything"

Out here, that Dodge is just "another old truck". It wa owned by the county, so it only has 100k miles, but that's the only close to being special. I picked it up at auction without a bed for $450. There were other trucks that went cheaper, but I didn't want another Ford

Out here, most farms have trucks like that- some run even older. Back east, I'm sure that truck would be rare, but out here dent-side Fords and square-body Chevrolets are pretty common.

I don't think I'll go for another carbureted vehicle- they really don't like below 0 temperatures. But, anything older than 1990-1992 isn't much more money. That leaves me some options.

Originally Posted by HipoGear

I lived in PA for about 20 years before coming back to NY. I would much rather buy a truck there than here. In fact I think when I do decide to get a truck it will be from PA or even further south. The daily salting of snowy roads is brutal.

That's why selling a vehicle on ebay can be a great thing. People here are dying for rust free vehicles. It sucks when The body and fuel lines wear out before any engines or transmissions do.

Check out this magazine, they have publications all across the Midwest. There is a couple of places that advertise southern trucks. They carry ad's from individuals and dealers both. Auto & RV Publications - Buy and sell used vehicles and more

Oh, I love the "I'll get that much for scrap" stories.

Useless anecdote: I have a deal with the scrap yard where they call me when farm equipment comes in. I can buy it from them for 1.5x what they paid. We were looking for a gravity wagon for the farm (One of these):



I found a wagon with a for sale sign, and talked with the seller. He wouldn't take less than $500, or it went for scrap. There's only two yards out here, so I took the gamble. About a month later, I got a call for a wagon that came in. It was the same one. I pulled it home that day for about $70. I offered the seller $250.

Oh, some people....

I live in NJ where cars rust after 12+ years thanks to road salt. The only exceptions are when the owner took precautions to make sure it doesn't happen, or if the vehicle was never driven in the winter. Where I live rust free pickups are highly sought after and they usually end up selling for way more than what they should actually be worth. Theres a guy in my state on eBay who sells OJ style Broncos, he gets them from the West Coast and sells them at a very inflated price.'

My 87 celebrity had very little rust when I first bought it 5 years ago, but now the doors are starting to go. Was owned by an old lady and was mostly stored in a car park. my 2WD 97 Ranger also has very little rust because it was again, owned by some old guy who never drove it in the winter. It sat around a lot though.

I had a 1985 Dodge Ram with no rust or rot except for surface rust underneath because it was sprayed with oil every year for the last 20 years. Only rot was on part on the roof where it met the windshield, because who would think to soak that part with oil. In 2014 the fuel sending piece at the top of the tank failed, and 2 weeks later the engine head cracked so I sold it to someone for $1000 in that condition with both things wrong with it. Probably could have got more for it but I wanted it out of my face. It was on craigslist for an hour before some guy bought it - he had a diesel one that was literally rotted away, so he pretty much took everything from that truck and put it into mine.

I'm jealous of people who live in Washington & Oregon. Type in years from the 80s and you'll see hundreds of cars for sale. So much surviving metal out there LOL.