What do you pay for cars?

So I've only done a few cars, mostly because I can't buy them at a price that makes sense in my world. My math says that if I buy a 3300 pound car that I can sell for 200/ton, I will I will get $330 for it if i sell it whole. I have the time and expense of taking items off the car to maximize profits and I have towing expenses. Battery 9 bucks, starter and alternator 6 bucks each, cat varies, small amount of wiring at 90 cents per pound.

People are hanging up on me when I look up the curb weight and offer $150-200 for a car. What am I doing wrong, or is it just that you only get a small percentage of folks actually willing to sell a car for scrap price?



Thanks guys!

Seems to me Corycouch pays a minimum of $200 but I can't remember where he is exactly, I want to say south east somewhere. Here's a link from Kris Kringle (Howdy Sir) that has some good info about cars. Scroll down to find his post #10.
http://www.scrapmetalforum.com/lets-...html#post31417

Whatever the going rate at the yard is for 1 ton of car weight. At the moment, that happens to be $150 for a complete (ish) car. I hold them for awhile, sell a few parts, and with some, manage to get some demo erby use out of, before it gets scrapped.

Bear in mind, I am 60 miles from the nearest yard. When I do haul, I haul 2-4 at a time, depending on size. Average folks don't have the means to haul one in those 60 miles, and are satisfied with my rates, though I have been laughed at and turned down, but never hung up on.

I found a very good use for cars that my buddy does. He sets up "Smash athons" at local collages.

He will buy cars for 200-500 each bring 3-5 to a local college and set them up in a open place in a parking lot.

From here he will bring hammers, mini sledges, big sledge hammers and other fun items. Then the college kids will make a donation to x charity for a set amount of time with their tool of choice to smash like crazy.

He then counts the money. He uses the first bit to make back the investment and any proceeds then go to the designated charity.

He also gets to scrap the cars!

He said he will usually make 500-2500 per. He once raised 13000

Originally Posted by BurlyGuys

So I've only done a few cars, mostly because I can't buy them at a price that makes sense in my world. My math says that if I buy a 3300 pound car that I can sell for 200/ton, I will I will get $330 for it if i sell it whole. I have the time and expense of taking items off the car to maximize profits and I have towing expenses. Battery 9 bucks, starter and alternator 6 bucks each, cat varies, small amount of wiring at 90 cents per pound.

People are hanging up on me when I look up the curb weight and offer $150-200 for a car. What am I doing wrong, or is it just that you only get a small percentage of folks actually willing to sell a car for scrap price?

Thanks guys!

I'd say your on target burly, I wouldn't ever give more than $300 for a salvage car. Don't feel bad it just boils down to one thing, don't give me than it's worth. I run into this almost every time I'm trying to buy a car, they want you to pay them gate price and haul it off, I simply remind them gas is almost $4 a gallon, and ask them why I should pay gate price and then have the expense of getting to the yard. Don't have sense does it ? Kinda seems to me their expecting me to work for free.

Taterjuice is right Burly guys you're really doing nothing wrong people think their cars are worth gold I think. They do me the same way but you will find that if you advertise on Craigslist and someone contacts you from there then those are usually the ones who want the most money(due to competition), so whenever someone calls you always ask them "Where did you see my ad?" this gives you a lil more power because If they didn't find you on Craigslist because most junk yards pay very little and they know this. Also let me say this 250-300 is the magic number for buying cars. If you can find a way to pay those prices for cars then you'll find that people all of a sudden are more eager to sell. I can almost always pay 250 for a car and still make a profit.(notice I said almost) Also if you don't have a website then get one because 90% of people who wants to sell a junk car and visits your site will inquiry through a submission form on a website, I've bought many cars this way and I track all my visitors and I don't get many visitors but the few that come usually send me a submission form for a car.

Another tactic you might try is this - When they say that's not enough or laugh at you, offer to haul the car to the yard and give them every dollar the yard pays for it. They pay you upfront so much a mile for hauling it - say $2 a mile. If they argue about others paying more than they'd get, explain that that's for selling the battery, cat etc separate and they could do the same by THEM removing those items and THEM taking the parts to the scrap yard or paying you extra "handling fee". Of course they'd get less for the car since the rate for "incomplete car" is less. But your charge is the same for a complete or incomplete car. Once you talk about them working, the tune changes.