Finally got another car! - Page 2

Originally Posted by sledge42

Awesome discussion gents. So how about this: I have a guy I messaged.. he has a vehicle.. I had no idea- it doesn't have a title- but as he informed me- it doesn't! Ok so this limits him now..

Those are my favourite.. Happend to me a few times. My Ad says must have ownership. Get a price set, arrange a time and all. Last second he goes oh ya. No papers... Wow. Thanks buddy. Cancel it all. Have a nice day. Not worth the risk.

Originally Posted by taterjuice

For sure sir scrap, never be afraid to walk away from a losing battle. And most of these "500$" for your junker ads are crap! Yeah they'll give you 500 for a 2008 or later car that's it !

I wish. Had a guy call me with a 2000 blazer. I offered him 250. Says "bigdog's offered me 400, can you beat it?" HAHAHAHAH no i wouldn't dare pay that much! drives me bonkers.

Didn't actually say that. Im very polite when i tell people.

Originally Posted by Sirscrapalot

We're not talking 5 minutes to yank out an car AC ( I could be wrong but from what you(tater) cory, sledge, JG, all you awesome car guys I'm forgetting..) have said before...it can take hours to remove some parts.

You forgot me! What am i chopped liver?!

Ohhhh wait you said awesome car guys...

LOL all joking aside, you hit the nail on the head sir scrap. (so has everyone else) They have no idea what it takes to part out a car. Here's what i go through parting out cars.

First you need the tools to do the job. Those aren't cheap! Second is the time. Very few alternators or compressors do only take 5 or 10 mins. Very few... Most are buried under a mountain of crap. And some parts require a hoist. Ok now we have to push the car into the shop. Cause lets face it. Most don't run. More time and effort. Third would be storage of parts and time to list ads. Iv got a whole room dedicate to parts storage. That's valuable realestate especially in a repair shop. And listing ads takes lot more time than most people think. Gotta take pics and upload them, and do this multiple times for each ad. Time adds up!

I don't know about you guys but i don't work for free. Every car takes me about 3hrs to strip. I do gas, cats, rads, wires (attach them to the hitch of the ram and FLOOR IT) drums/rotors, calipers, rims and tires and the alt, ac, ps pump if they are easy. Same with any alum. If its easy i grab it. I factor all that into my prices. And most people just don't understand/don't know.

Jord:
Chopped Livva... He He.
I'm not sure what the correct route to take with these folks.. Do you be an A-hole and say "Yeah.. go ahead.. strip it and part it out.. see how that works out for ya?" I don't see that as an option of landing a car personally.. but we all WANT to say that. On a car- complete -it probably takes me about 6-8 hours to gut it clean. I spend about 2 hours of that 6-8 though getting every sliver of wire I can get.. some folks don't do that. I also want to tell these folks that I know guys who own body shops- some of them are still stubborn enough to hold onto parts- so long they rot into the ground. They have lost time and $ because what once was worth say $65 dollars is now worth .10 cents a lb.. and they STILL don't want to part with it.

I think this is a lesson in human psychology.. maybe I need to start googling into that.. Maybe then you can convince people that what they have vs what they want.. we get everyone to a happy medium.

You'll always get people who are desperate for $, I picked up a van on the cheap because they guy had to have $ TODAY.. to buy.... cell phones. Go figure.. but whatever tickle you pickle I suppose!

Originally Posted by Focker

Originally Posted by jord0690

I wish. Had a guy call me with a 2000 blazer. I offered him 250. Says "bigdog's offered me 400, can you beat it?" HAHAHAHAH no i wouldn't dare pay that much! drives me bonkers.

Didn't actually say that. Im very polite when i tell people.

What are you getting a ton and it should have been worth $400 i would have paid that for it

You make next to nothing at my
400 in my opinion... To each their own but i wouldn't dare pay that. Had steel rims and bald tires. Cats on those aren't worth alot. Plus my time and fuel. Like i said i don't work for free. And besides now that you're paying 400, the next guy will pay 410. So on and so on. Driving prices way up till there's nothing left. That's already what's happened. People used to pay other people to remove cars...now everyone's paying more than scrap value. And its only goin up.

The name of the game is to make the most while spending the least. That's what any business strives to do.

Im gettin 190 per ton. But i also remove alot so the weight would be less. 3 hours isn't bad. I always make my hourly wage back. And i never have luck selling parts. Ive been sitting on a set of almost brand new tires for over a year now. Can't even give them away for 200 bucks for the set.

There may be some profit to some people but there's not enough profit to keep me interested. I don't scrap cars to make 100 bucks. Not with the work that's involved. Like someone before said "next"

Im not trying to be nasty here. Im just saying that paying hundreds for scrap cars doesn't net much profit. Not enough for me anyways.

Originally Posted by Focker

Originally Posted by jord0690

You make next to nothing at my
400 in my opinion... To each their own but i wouldn't dare pay that. Had steel rims and bald tires. Cats on those aren't worth alot. Plus my time and fuel. Like i said i don't work for free. And besides now that you're paying 400, the next guy will pay 410. So on and so on. Driving prices way up till there's nothing left. That's already what's happened. People used to pay other people to remove cars...now everyone's paying more than scrap value. And its only goin up.

The name of the game is to make the most while spending the least. That's what any business strives to do.

Im gettin 190 per ton. But i also remove alot so the weight would be less. 3 hours isn't bad. I always make my hourly wage back. And i never have luck selling parts. Ive been sitting on a set of almost brand new tires for over a year now. Can't even give them away for 200 bucks for the set.

There may be some profit to some people but there's not enough profit to keep me interested. I don't scrap cars to make 100 bucks. Not with the work that's involved. Like someone before said "next"

Im not trying to be nasty here. Im just saying that paying hundreds for scrap cars doesn't net much profit. Not enough for me anyways.

Well your moto is different than mine.If you remove what i said can be done in less then 1 hour or faster.You make a quick 100 but do 10 a week that' s 1k profit.If you are picky and dont want to pay nothing for cars and get 2 a week and make not much then have at it.
I have done this for 5 years plus and i am very successful at it.i dont try to get rich off of 1 car i make a min of 100 per but do 10+ per week.

I guess the difference is i do it for extra cash. Its not a business for me yet. Plus even if i wanted to pay more, there's not enough calls coming in. I get one or two calls a week. But hey i got another car tomorrow for free, so the good deals are out there. Its very rare that i get two cars back to back. Especially for dirt cheap. And i also don't have the time to do 10 cars a week. I work a 9-5 and all the work needs to be done after 5 or on weekends. So i gotta make enough off each one to make it worth it.

there is no right or wrong answer on what to do when scrapping a car other than the rules of your yard.

1st I scrap 99% of the time on the trailer

ive been in both situations, when im getting one or two cars a week which has been a while I will scrap the fire out of it getting every little piece, I will also do this at the end of the day after dustin has went home to have one ready to haul off in the morning
if ive got a backlog of 5 or 6 cars to go get I do one of two things
1.if I have the cash to buy all 6 cars I will run and pick them up bring them home and drop them off
2. if I don't have the cash I will run through them as fast as possible just getting the gas, converter, battery and aluminum wheels, ive got all the tools on the truck to do this on the side of the road or a vacant lot, ive even done it in the driveway of the person I bought the car from, anyway then ill haul the body in and have the cash for the next car, at the end of the day I have a truck bed full of wheels batteries and converters


as far as making a deal,
never get excited,
I buy mine blind meaning I don't drive anywhere unless its a driver and ive just started doing this(taking a few morefinancial gambles) I make my quote over the phone based solely on weight.
If you want some lines for learning to buy try selling to a salvage yard, they know them all but with the right cars you can still double or triple your money. I will typically say that model is too old for any of the parts to be any good to me, the key is to be nice to them while you are beating up the car you havnt seen yet.
its all about communication, remember they called you so the ball is in your court all you have to do is convince them your the best guy (or gal) to sell it to

Originally Posted by Focker

2.I am never out of money to buy cars you cant run like that.
gas do you use the gas or sale it?Also what do you drain it into and how do you drain it?
I dont do gas right now but i want to start.

I think Cory enlightened us about that. Drop the tank, cut the wires to the pump, most of the time the pump is in the tank. Connect that to a 12 volt battery charger and pump into a gas can.
Usually if a car's gas gauge is pointing empty there still is 10-20$ of gas minimum. Used his trick more than once. Its fun when you can go pick up a car, then pump the gas out using this method, and acquire enough gas for the trip picking up the car and going to the yard. And sometimes back again.
You are missing out if you don't take the gas.
http://www.scrapmetalforum.com/vehic...efi-style.html

Originally Posted by Focker

1.Seems like you dont have many competitors to do that.
2.I am never out of money to buy cars you cant run like that.
gas do you use the gas or sale it?Also what do you drain it into and how do you drain it?
I dont do gas right now but i want to start.
I havent done nothing for a few months since i broke both wrist.i get my cast off wednesday.Once i get rolling again i am going, to get a shop to get the stuff away from my house.
I have a 2 car trailer so i am ready to roll very soon.I will post some pics of my trailer soon.
Getting my dot magnets made for my truck and getting some business shirts made so i am about ready to roll.

1st I never say never, but ive not ever lost a car just because of cash flow, ive got over 20 cars in the yard, stacks of radiators and a stack of converters, moneys money whether it be in my bag or stacked up in my yard, I buy a lot of cars paid cash for 15 at a time before, ive also had to run like crazy during the course of a day seeingmy bag go from less than a 100 to over a 1000 and back to less than a 100, my personal experience is Im surprised at the end of the week on a week like this as that's when I forget how many converters ive cut off and how many aluminum wheels are by the tire machine

2nd as far as the gas I don't do the pump method but a lot of guys on here do, I modified a oil drain kit with a hose and run it to my gas jugs, I poke a hole in plastic tanks with a wood boring bit, on metal tanks I use a concrete punch. my dad lives down the road and hasn't bought gas for his fourwheeler or his lawnmower inover a year, the rest of the gas goes to steve or dustin. when we buy the big passenger vans in bulk they are always full and we sell the surplus to a local car dealer

we got shirts couple months back and you would be surprised the looks we get looking all "official" and we get asked for a lot more business cards because of them, ive got the magnets also and they help but the shirts seem to have been the better investment

last but not least I would love to have a two car trailer, I almost bought one once and didn't pull the trigger, ive got a lot of wrecker yard contracts and always buying multiple cars at once.

Originally Posted by Sirscrapalot

Haha Jord!

Yes your in the "forgot group". The ones I named are just much louder then you are my friend. I kid I kid. I value all you car guys as a resource. I'm going to claim lack of beverages for not remembering everyone. Plus they give me a lot more teasing then you other guys. LOL. Specially that Fudge fella, err Sledge..Darn it Brojer!

Brojer made me do it!

Sirscrapalot - Enjoys the car experts on this forum, named an unnamed.

Well then i guess its time for me to speak up. Or send you a 6 pack... Cause Im cheap. Whichever helps the most. Lol

But yeah Iv Been more active on the forum lately. Now that I got rid of my crackberry and back on an android phone i can access the forum on this thing anytime.

Originally Posted by Focker

Originally Posted by jord0690

I guess the difference is i do it for extra cash. Its not a business for me yet. Plus even if i wanted to pay more, there's not enough calls coming in. I get one or two calls a week. But hey i got another car tomorrow for free, so the good deals are out there. Its very rare that i get two cars back to back. Especially for dirt cheap. And i also don't have the time to do 10 cars a week. I work a 9-5 and all the work needs to be done after 5 or on weekends. So i gotta make enough off each one to make it worth it.

Oh well you do it for extra money and arent that busy so that is good for you.I do it for a living and thats all i do.Yeah i dont even buy off of craigslist there are way to many people on there trying.I buy and auctions so i have to pay more to get them in the first place.But if i can make 100 then i am happy and move on lol

Yeah i wanna do it full time eventually. I use kijiji and there's already everyone and their uncle scrapping cars. I just try to keep my ad up top. Looking to get into more than just cars though. Im getting tired of working as a mechanic apprentice lol