Potential to buy over a dozen scrap cars

Theres this guy that owns property close by, maybe 10-15miles away. used to be a repair shop. He has probably over a dozen old scrap cars sitting on his lot. I say scrap because they have been there for the 2 and a half years iv been working at our shop, havent moved and have grass growing through them. Most if not all are late 80s early 90s.

Now this guy is an older fellow and is tough to negotiate with. He doesnt want to part with anything. The old owner of our shop approched him a few years ago and offered to buy them for scrap. He offered over 300 per car. The guy declined. That was over 4 years ago, I wouldnt want to pay more than 200 per car now. maybe 250 tops. Next to zero parts resale on them cause they are so old.



Has anyone had any experience or luck buying stuff from people like this? I will be approaching him in the spring. Any tips or tactics to negotiate with this type? Any advice is appreciated

I keep it simple. Mechanic shops and wrecker yards I do a flat rate, 300 a car as long as its complete and I make deductions at $25 a part missing(wheel, door, battery). You have to make the deductions or you will get hosed. Missing a motor I only give a 100. Usually the cars are complete and the spare parts are usually in the trunk. 300 may sound high but most them little cars have some nice cats and plus I get to snag the occasional expedition for 300. It all comes out in the wash

Should add this place has been closed down for years. Guy lives above the shop. Cars are just rotting away...

Have done very few late 80s early 90s cars, if any at all. No idea if thw cats are worth all that much being that old.

90's mostly here, I'd guess a gm would still be a gm though, it seems like I got some of those small beads on some late 80s cavaliers but I may be remembering something different. I also imagine if any foreigns are there they would pay well

This guy seems like he is a hoarder, I mean declining 300$/car, sounds like it would be a tough score, and tough to make any decent profit.
Line something up with this guy, have a conversation with him, see what his intentions are.

You never know if you don't try.

Makes me think of a cousin of mine, he lives within our village boundaries, has ALOT of scrap. Cars, trucks, hay wagons, tractors, pavers, old steam rollers...LOTS. The roller has an 8 inch tree growing between the roller and the cab! Won't be an easy move at all. The place is a real eyesore.
The municipality tried a number of years ago to have him clean up or to put up a fence. He went with the fence. He was using old rusty tin when a local resident pulled up and said:
You call that a fence? Insulted, he said to hell with it. Supremely stubborn man he is, fought in court cost thousands to him and the municipality, nothing came about. Now it seems they are just plain afraid of him, he does not care how much it will cost to keep his stuff. Classic hoarder. Stuff to him is more important than money.

Ask him what he wants total. Don't ask per car...theres a difference! Most people are weak at math. U know n ur head what 300/car is. If he requests lower than that # great. If he asks waaay higher, chuckle n remind him that none run, lost keys, blown heagaskets from dry rot. If his number is close,.counter with lower than ur max #. Dont b pushy..he wont respond to that bc he doesnt NEED the money. Be a "good ole boy" type. Dont drag on, if he just yanking ya chain..stop negotiating n either say ur goodbyes or just shoot the breeze if u have nothing better to do. Remember....ask his TOTAL AMOUNT he wants...NOT PER CAR. i use this tactic often. It has high success rate. Oh yea, go with cash n bill of sales ready to seal the deal right then!

Originally Posted by Focker

Well first of all i think you are wasting your time because you done stated that you are going to offer a low amount of money for them.You need too make a decent offer.Yeah them 250 cars are nice but would u rather get 1 for 250 and make 150 or 3 or 4 for 300-350 and make 300.

I offer high that way i get the car.Thats what is wrong with half of the scrap guys today that never get any cars or not many because they are trying to get rich off of 1 car.I make money in quantity not per car.

Let me tell you how i would do it.I would go ask him if he wanted to sell the cars if he said yeah i would say i want to buy them all how much for all of them.Say you figure $325 that would be 3900.If he came back with a number lower than that the ok jump on it.If it is higher then tell him what you will give for them all which would be $3900 and go from there.

I have 2 questions.
1.What are you getting per ton and
2.do you have the $3900 to buy them all?

Focker I know your a quantity guy, but im just small time, one guy and I work car to car. I Dont do this full time. I get what your saying, but I just cant justify making only 100 on each car.

Lets just say on average each car is 3500lbs for numbers sake. At 190/ton id make 332.50 on just weight, assuming the full 3500lbs went across the scale. And lets figure in these old cars, the cats may be 30-50 each. Im guessing on that so correct me if im wrong. So thats $380 per car on the high side. Plus battery (assuming it has it still) and quick misc parts (wiring, aluminum, etc) so lets add 25 bucks for all that. $405 per car. Then I factor in my fuel probably about 10 bucks per car. So id end up with 395. Id have made 70 bucks for all that time and effot. Just not worth paying that much for them in my eyes. As always YMMV.

I dont mind waiting and getting one or two cars a month, thats fine by me cause I do this part time. I have the space to store these cars as well to work at them as I have time. And Not looking to get rich, just want to make more of a decent profit for my efforts. All the time and effort, Factor in my travel and load time, time to rip it apart and time to take it up to the yard. Plus iv got a small trailer. Cant do two at a time like you can. Thats JMO.

Yes I do have enough to buy them all outright. And im at 190 per ton.

When I was buying cars, that's what I said - "I'd rather get part of something than all of nothing".

If I was gettin 240/ton id have no problems offering 300-350. Also, im slow lol I take about 3 hrs to rip apart a car. Then again I take out alot of stuff from the cars I get. You and Mick are both right though, something is better than nothing. Im going to use the "what do you want for everything" tactic. See how that goes. Wont be able to touch anything for a few months though. They are buried under 3ft of snow lol

Originally Posted by JohnC4X4

my Bad
I forgot Jord was in Canada

My 2 car trailer with no sides scales almost 6K (pounds) , Sorry I don't speak metric But using online conversion >> Looks to be 907 KG >> EH! < I do speak a little Canadian

Like you said with all that extra stuff / sides >> Betting has to be 10K (pounds) for the trailer alone

Hahaha, I dont even use Kg. Everythings in km/h, and meters, but weight is lbs.

That trailer is pretty bad@ss. Could stack a bunch of cars in there. Although im sure fully loaded it may be a bit heavy for my 2500!