Selling car for junk- need advice/input


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Old 01-30-12, 05:41 PM
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Selling car for junk- need advice/input

I have a 1987 Mercury Grand Marquis that I'm considering selling as "junk". Would like some input from anyone that has had experience getting rid of a car for scrap to get the most benefit from that, or anyone that wouldn't mind commenting. Could use some advice. I have a couple specific questions and would like some comments on the situation as well.

It has a 5.0 liter V8 with about 113,000 miles and runs great with no problems. But the exterior and interior have gotten bad to the point that I know I can't sell the vehicle for a decent price without putting money into it, which wouldn't be cost effective. I don't think I could sell it for what I put into it as a decent running vehicle. (The paint has given way to surface rust- hood, roof, and trunk- no rust holes- that could be an easy repaint, but the partial vinyl roof is shot- cracked and weathered- and the interior has all the fabric desintegrating.).

So based on all that, I've decided best to sell it for junk. BUT- the battery just went dead, and the starter solenoid just went out. I know I'll get more for the car running, but I'm wondering if it is worth it to spend what I would need on a battery and solenoid to get more for the car! Obviously I could spend as little as necessary on a used battery, and probably spend little on a used junkyard solenoid. But I don't know if this makes a difference with hundreds of dollars, or a few dollars. I think I could get around $250 or so for the vehicle running. Wondering if it drops as low as $50 if not- thus it might be worth spending $50-80 bucks.

Next thing I question is if this particular 5.0 liter V8, and maybe even the transmission possibly be something sought after by car guys that need a good foundation motor for a racing engine, or good running hot rod engine. In which case I could sell the motor and still get $50 for the vehicle. (I have no idea if this particular 5.0 liter and transmission have any preferred features, nor how to find that out).

I guess one further question would be hoe much less would a junk buyer give me if the car had no hubcaps, or chrome pieces. (I know these items are probably what makes the car valuable to such a buyer, thus they would give less for the car if they were missing. Obviously I'm wondering about selling them myself to maximize the potential amount I could get for the car. Keeping in mind that these particular items aren't necessarily hugely sought after, and I may not have much interest to buy them.).

Anyone had experience to know what might be best to do??
 
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Old 01-31-12, 05:36 AM
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Had to check to see where you are, Illinois? First thing I would do is check around at the junkyards - now usually referred to as recyclers, etc - and see what the current scrap price is; you may be surprised. I just called our local yard and the current rate is $13.25/hundred# for steel-wheeled, "complete" vehicles and $14.25/hundred# for aluminum-wheeled. They don't really care if they're running or not, but if you, for instance, pull the motor first the rate goes down. Those prices equal $265 & $285 per ton and your Marquis probably goes almost two tons, 4000 pounds. That would get you between $500-600. I really don't know how wide the spread is on scrap prices around the country, but generally I think they are fairly high. I don't know that that particular engine or trans is particularly in demand; my gut instinct is that it would be pretty common and available already. One of the other members here may shed some light on that. If you were in my area I would either offer you cash where it sat - I would have no problem giving you at least $300 for it - or you could pay the standard rate for a tow from where it sat to the junkyard and pocket everything else, $400-500.

Hope this helps.
 
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Old 01-31-12, 05:54 AM
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You might inquire at your local salvage yard.

25 yrs ago I had a friend that owned a junkyard. His long standing practice was to buy old cars at their estimated scrap value. He'd sell parts off of them [occasionally he'd fix one for resale]. Every so often he'd bring the crusher in to thin out the yard.... more times than not, that would be at tax time
 
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Old 01-31-12, 04:11 PM
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Thanks for the great recommendation tow_guy, yes I'm in Illinois. You just reminded me that a long while back I thought I researched that I could bring a car to the scrap yard and get a fairly decent amount for it. I kind of forgot about that option- with all the ads and ppl advertising that they will take a car such as this one off my hands for $50-$200, I was improperly thinking that's what the scrap rate would be for a car this size. I lost cognascence of the fact that these ppl are probably middle men, and probably not the scrapyards themselves. I will certainly call my local scrapyards/recyclers and see what I can get for the car. Appreciate the help and recommendation.

Visser
 
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Old 01-31-12, 04:47 PM
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Good plan. For a while several years ago the scrap price went right through the floor and you would be lucky to get a hundred bucks, but the rate's been pretty high for a while now. The insider information is that the Chinese are supposedly buying all the scrap metal they can get their hands on, in addition to the domestic users.
 
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Old 01-31-12, 08:55 PM
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I remember 40 years ago the Japanese buying scrap metal from recycled Fords and Chevys at $20/ton and selling it back at $2000/ton with Datsun and Toyota badges. Heck, I bought one of them at that time. Steel is still going to Asia. Not much has changed it seems.
 
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Old 01-31-12, 09:07 PM
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There's a place in Omaha (about an hour from me) that will give you $400 for any car you bring them that has a title, running or not. I would think that any large city would have a scrap dealer like that.
 
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Old 02-01-12, 04:33 AM
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It's good they require a title! Around here if a car is so many yrs old,you don't need a title to sell it for scrap. Some poor guy in a town near me had an old car that he was restoring in his driveway, came home from work to find it gone I think they finally caught the thief but the car had already been crushed
 
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Old 02-01-12, 07:35 AM
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Good advice from everyone.

The engine is of no use to "hot rodders". It's very common, too small, and worn out...

People, in general, assume their vehicle is worth more than it really is. (Due to sentimental reasons.) Take whatever you can get for it - it has lived a full life.
 
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Old 02-01-12, 09:16 AM
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Don't know about Illinois but Minnesota seems to have some rules to follow as far as the scrap yard goes:


Car Body Recycling Rules
THE FOLLOWING MUST BE DONE TO EACH CAR BODY PRIOR TO BAY SIDE RECYCLING ACCEPTING THEM, BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE FOLLOWING RULES:

Gas tanks must be REMOVED and totally off the vehicle. We will accept the tanks but they must be COMPLETELY EMPTY
Air Conditioning must be Professional Pumped out. (ABSOLUTELY NO CUT LINES)
NO battery cable ends. Bay Side will accept the Lead cable ends at no cost
ALL FLUIDS MUST BE DRAINED: OIL, RADIATOR, TRANSMISSION, BRAKE FLUID, WASHER FLUID
Mercury switches must be removed. Bay Side will accept the mercury switches only if they have been removed
Tires must be removed and disposed of by the customer
Cars CANNOT contain any TRASH and/or stuffed with any loose scrap iron
Hoods and Trunks (on non semi loads) must be OPENED prior to pulling on scale
ABSOLUTELY NO PASSENGERS or HELPERS will be allowed in the yard to assist the driver of the vehicle during unloading
Please make sure all lug nuts are loose and tie downs and tarps are easily removable
NO CAR BATTERIES

Car Body Recycling Rules


Probably easier to take it to a junk yard and let them do it.
 
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Old 02-01-12, 09:25 AM
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ABSOLUTELY NO PASSENGERS or HELPERS will be allowed in the yard to assist the driver of the vehicle during unloading
I can understand all the rules/regs but that one! Wonder if they get peeved when a slow old man brings a car in for recyling?

I don't think they have most of those rules here. I've been told you need to remove the tires [or pay them to] and remove the gas tank. I know they let you fill the car up with metal..... I've gotten behind a few going down the road and wondered how they stuff all that into the car.
 
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Old 02-01-12, 10:58 AM
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Asked my brother about that...he figures it's for insurance purposes. Can't have people wandering around getting run over or squished.

He brought a pick-up load of engine blocks down there, unloading only takes a minute. They position the magnet just so and "they flew out like they had wings."

 
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Old 02-01-12, 11:10 AM
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From what little bit I know about the scrap yards around here is, one yard will help you manually unload [if they're not busy] and the other one you're totally on your own.
 
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Old 02-01-12, 12:13 PM
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Make sure you have a record of the title transfer to protect yourself. You never know where the vehicle on body/engine IDs can go.

Dick
 
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Old 02-01-12, 04:03 PM
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Were I live in upstate NY, the scrape yards will gladly come to your house, and pick up a car. And then there are the scrapers, that run the roads, the day before trash pick up taking all the scrape they can get. I had as car setting in front of the garage, I was going to fix up. The scrapers kept knocking on the door wanting the car. One day I said make me a offer. He pulled out 6 50, is that enough. I said let me get the keys and tiled.
 
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Old 02-01-12, 06:31 PM
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Thanks for all the input everyone! I'm going to call a few scrap yards around here and report back. I too had heard years ago that they would require me to pull the gas tank, remove all glass, etc., etc. Fact is I don;t know what really is required, so I'll find out and let us all know for sake of knowing.

Also just as for informational purposes- I've had many ppl stop by and ask if I wanted to sell the car as scrap. They have offered between $50 and $250- if it was running and they could drive it away. My local paper has many ads for buying scrap cars, but no prices are given. I'm going to call a few of them as well. I've made the assumption that the ppl stopping and offering up to $250 must know they can get more for it, otherwise how would it be profitable to them? They are obvioulsy not scrap yard owners. The car has a lot of great parts to part out, but I know the demand for parts for an '87 grand marquis is not huge enough to profit from the parts.

So it might be feasible that its worth scrapping at a scrap yard- maybe not. I'll find out what the yards situations is and what the ads in the paper uncover.
 
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Old 02-02-12, 04:26 AM
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My guess is that ALL the people offering $50-250 know what the scrap price is; just depends on how much profit they want to pocket.
 
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Old 02-03-12, 09:45 AM
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scrapping cars

A junk yard will pay what a car will bring for scrap. If they sell anything off it that is gravy,if not they are covered. The guys going around buying cars are not paying full scrap prices,BUT if the car is not running there will be a cost to get it to the yard one way or another.
 
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Old 02-16-12, 08:18 AM
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Many Thanks for all of the input from everyone. This has actually been very helpful- the information being posted by everyone is helping me sort this all out now that I'm aware of these different possibilities.
 
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Old 02-16-12, 09:48 AM
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There are also some very desirable parts on older cars (especially Ford, GM and Chrysler) that restorers will pay big bucks for because of the problems getting them. If you are not into it, it hard to determine what a real parts guy will know.

A few years ago my friend had on old 1940(?) Lincoln with a bad V12 engine. He dug around and found a scrapped 1946 Lincoln (Capri?) to buy for the engine. Fortunately, he did some research and found out the 1946 was actually worth more than the 1940 Continental because there were so few because of the parts scalpers eliminating the 1946 cars. - A little old, but just a reminder that there are a lot of people that know the value of some components/parts.

Hemi Chrysler products may have some great value because of the current craze of rebuilding. Forget about most of the Chevrolet and Corvette parts since they seem to be readily available and generic.

The problem with some cars is the knowledge required that can make a few parts worth far more than the scrap value of and entire car. - Save your old Dusters, Road Runners and some 1960's-70's Fords and do not scrap them. Even a fuel pump, water pump or a piece of trim could be worth more than scrap value of the entire car.

Dick
 
 

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