Advertising/Finding Cars Discussion

I would like this thread to be a discussion of how you all advertise, what works and what doesn't, and whatever other means you use to get work recycling autos.

I have used the following methods:

Advertise on here (Gets a few calls a month usually)
Advertise in Classifieds in local newspapers (worked well at one time)
Locate cheap cars on Craigslist (worked well at one time as well)

The junk car market dried up here, the scrapyards, junk car buyers and auto salvage yards (junkyards) all got into a bidding war and the junkyards won, paying higher than scrap prices for cars, now some of the junkyards are even into the scrap and core business. Its gotten stupid crazy around here in the last 6 months. I had to turn to a full time job for income working for "the man". It sucks. I've been trying to find some other means of finding cars others are missing somehow. Not much luck. Found a couple here and there just stopping and asking about ones I see sitting but rarely can you locate the owner or are they willing to sell for reasonable price.

I imagine if I moved or was willing to work at least 50-75 miles away I might find some work, but that is a lousy option in my opinion and moving is out of the question due to family health conditions.

So what are things like where you're at? How do you find work in this line of business and what is working for you? If you can it'd be great to post an approximate price range of the average junk car as well (what is usually paid for them, not what you get out of them). In the good days I could buy cars for $100-400 and make a good couple hundred off each one without even pulling the motor and trans, then prices went up a little and we had to start pulling the drivetrain to maximize profit (after labor this resulted in another $75-100 a car, allowing us to pay a little more for them sometimes or just make a little more money).
Now the junkyards advertise they will pay $550 for ANY junk car. One or two of the junkers are right up there with them, but get special pricing from the scrapyard or so I'm told (logical to me, I hear they are all drug buddies and want to stomp out the competition).

I have advertised in farther out areas but I can't pay competitively to get much if any business that far away, since my travel cost is so much higher.

I'm not asking for a bailout, just want some productive discussion so maybe I can get fresh perspective or think of a new game plan that might work. I don't have a lot of property to park a car and part it out, even if I did, the zoning board would have me locked up they are extremely picky around here.



Thanks

I don't have any good other ideas other than what you posted.

I've posted on CL, and other online sites to buy cars.

Traded a non working log splitter for a scrap truck.

In hindsight I wonder if I should have found a motor for the splitter and rented it out, but not really wanting the hassle of insurance for something that might not get rented all that much.

Picked up an '89 Dodge Dynasty from a lady who saw my ad. Asked what she needed out of it. She said if she could get $100 she would be happy. Sold.

Got another call to buy an '93 Astro. She wanted 300. I offered 200. Sold.

Another called asking if I wanted to buy a motor home. Happened to live less than a mile from me. Took a look at it, settled at $200, then sold some parts for 165 and sold rest for 400. Kept the dead battery and cat of course.

Bought a motor home off CL for 140. Now county is all over me for dismantling vehicles, so there it sits until I can figure out how to tear it down.

So for me it's a combination of ads I post, ads I see on Cl and call on, FB Page and flyers with tear offs I post around town.

I never think to ask where people see my ad so I can focus on what works and what doesn't. So far I haven't used paid media.

that sucks BigBlue, my local junkyards advertise on the internet and radio too but luckily they're a bunch lowballers so I can compete with what they offer the general public. I'm a vender for the biggest one, Pick N Pull (owned by Schnitzer Steel) so I get preferred pricing that's about 25-50% higher then a joe schmo. So I'm lucky in that reguard. I get most of my cars off craigslist (search all cars for sale for less than $500 and send a respectful email saying that if they don't get any better offers, you will pay [insert offer here] and give contact info), but I also find cars laying around occasionally that I bug people about (I should be doing that more often but craigslist keeps me pretty busy). I also live in an area where almost everybody is poor (myself included haha), so it's easy to get stuff for cheap when people need the cash. I also get plenty of flippers this way and rent a storage yard to store junkers that I'm doing lien sales on and/or parting out.

Kris Kringle that's an incredible offer for that truck, did they pay by weight or by make/model (pick n pull pays by make/model and have a grading system on the parts value of the car)?

Check out iaai.com for cars not sure if they are in your area. The yard the have in NJ is about 10 minutes from me.

Originally Posted by Kris Kringle

it was by weight weighed in at 6687 Lbs

$235/ton is pretty good. Best price I ever got for anything around here is $230 a ton for prepared.

I was buying step vans for awhile. Bought and sold 11 so far. Most came from Frito Lay. A few came from Interstate Bakery. I'd buy them for $500 to $1,000 and resell for 1,500 to 3,000. Last one I bought was end of 2008 and haven't had any more come up for auction in my area.

If any one is interested go to dovebid.com, then look under transportation and find vehicles in your area. Everything from forklifts to pickups to step vans and tractor trailers.

I'm currently working on getting trailer with winch ready for cars but will be set up for general scrap. My intention is to work a rural area for autos and farm scrap. I see lot's of cars in the yards around the farm and I'm sure there are a lot that are there that I don't see. So I plan to just stop and ask but while there ask about other scrap as well. I have some contacts that I think can help put me on some larger farm scrap jobs. I know that the farm that I bought had no less than 6 junk cars and 1 truck all from the early 50's but were total rust relics. Also one combine, one disk, one belt driven sheller and assorted old refrigerators etc.Just driving back roads spotted an old school bus that is on the rims.

I do know that from time to time apartment complexes and hotels/motels have autos that are left for whatever reason---just a thought.

I also plan to call insurance adjusters as they are the ones that are hands on when it comes to determing damage. I know that some adjusters work for the large companies like Allstate and then there are other adjusters that are totally independent.
They also deal with other industrial/commercial claims so might be a source for other larger scrap jobs.

I do think a seprate subject soley devoted to marketing and proven ideas would be beneficial.

I'm just starting to do vehicles. I haven't done many, but so far most of them have just been by word of mouth. I live in a small town, so the word got out and every once in a while I have people calling wanting me to make an offer. Usually these people just want it gone. I also look on craigs list for any car listing where they are asking 500 for. Then I usually call and give them an offer. This has only worked a few times. I've also got one from the bank in town. They got in back from a loan that wasn't payed and just wanted it gone.

Right after I made the last post I saw an ad on TV. Just a small box with a # that says we buy junk cars and gave telelphone#. I plan to call the # just to see who has that kind of money to run a blurb on tv.

I'm not signed in at the moment and I can view all auctions. Dovebid is worldwide.

IMO the site is a clusterf!%^ in the way it's laid out.

Go to the right hand of the page. Choose your interest. (Because this is a thread on finding cars, I stated transportation, but they sell all kinds of stuff. CNC machines, lab/medical equipment, electronics/manufacturing, assembly line equipment etc etc)

Choose "lot catalogue".

Then you will see "all locations". Click to see a drop box and choose your area. If you don't see your area this month, check back in a few days to a month. New auctions every month with stuff added to current auctions all the time.

Originally Posted by metaljacket

Right after I made the last post I saw an ad on TV. Just a small box with a # that says we buy junk cars and gave telelphone#. I plan to call the # just to see who has that kind of money to run a blurb on tv.

Run the # through Google and see what ya find.

Thanks for all the replies everyone. Good discussion!!! I'm on my phone right now but when I get on computer I'll check into the links.

Saturday was a great day, I scoured craigslist and bought two junk cars and a truck to flip. Very excited. One guy I purchased junker from does the same thing but had to sell his truck n trailer. he still buys cars but just doesn't have a way to haul them. He buys em cheap an puts em on craigslist. So now I am his first call :-) or so he says! Hopefully that works out for both of us!!!!