Unfortunately, that time has come. Your car is on its last legs, and you need to put it out of its misery and send it to its final resting place. You’re ready to take it to one of the wrecking yards in your area. But you probably have a few questions about how to prepare for the exchange as well as about what happens after you release it, and we are here to make the process clearer and more easily understood.
Are you sure?
The first thing that you want to do is ensure that it makes financial sense to bring your car to a place like this or to get it repaired. Selling a running car would likely get you more money than bringing it to a scrap yard.
How to prepare
If you have decided to use the services of a junkyard, you will want to follow these steps prior to handing it over.
Shop around. Make sure that you are getting a fair price for what you are providing. Sometimes, a junkyard on one end of town will offer you twice as much as one on the other end. Also ask if you need to do any additional steps such as removing its tires before it will be picked up. You may want to work with a place that offers less money but requires less labor on your end prior to accepting your vehicle.
You should thoroughly look through your car to ensure that anything in it that you want to keep has been removed since nothing will be available to you once it has been destroyed. Also be wary of leaving anything that could lead to identity theft. It’s important to note that the contents technically belong to the wrecking yard once you sell your vehicle even if it hasn’t been worked on yet.
You’ll also want to remove any parts yourself that you believe could earn you considerable money. Possibilities include the car’s battery, doors, cooling system, tires and windows.
Remove the license plate(s). Depending on your state, this might be required to get your registration and insurance cancelled.
Be prepared to transfer the title over to the wrecking yard. Get a copy from your DMV office if necessary. Do make sure that this step is completed because, if you don’t, you will technically still own the car after you give it to the junk yard and may incur liabilities as a result.
Be prepared to have it picked up immediately after calling. Some wrecking yards are quite prompt in picking up junk cars. Depending on the business and where you’re located, the pick-up likely won’t take more than 24 hours.
If your car is in such a condition that a traditional tow truck cannot move it, let the junkyard know prior to having somebody come over.
What happens after you let it go?
Any fluids remaining in junk cars are drained. This includes gasoline, which is not reusable and is disposed of, so, if your car is still running, you should take it on a last joy ride, using up the last of its fuel, before releasing it to the wrecking yard. Reusable fluids such as antifreeze and motor oil are recycled.
Any parts that can earn the yard some money prior to the car being crushed are removed and, after they are cleaned and tested, sold to those looking for quality used car parts. Also at this time, parts of the car that can be recycled such as tires and batteries are.
Now that all fluids have been drained and parts removed, the car is crushed and shredded.
You can also sell to a trusted online junk car buyer like [namebrand], they work all over the country like North Carolina.
