If your car has reached the end of its life and you are looking to scrap it then you’ll want to make sure that you get the best value possible. In order to know how to get the best price for your vehicle, you’ll need to understand how your car’s value is calculated and if there is anything you can do to help increase this.
Get a quote
One of the easiest ways to assess the value of your vehicle is to get a scrap metal quote from a local scrap metal dealer such as Cars-2Cash. Not only will they be able to give you an accurate price for the value of your scrap car, but they’ll also be able to organise collection and make a same-day payment by cheque or bank transfer.
What factors influence price?
There are many things that can influence the price of your scrap car but one of the biggest is the current market value of steel. This can be checked using the London Metal Exchange. As most scrap values are based on the weight of your vehicle you’ll want to keep an eye on the market prices and choose a time when these are trending upwards to sell your vehicle.
Over recent years the value of steel has dropped due to an oversupply of materials from exporters such as the Chinese. This has impacted the prices in the European market and despite improvements in the index it still remains below levels before the recession in 2007.
Grades of metals
It’s not just the market and the supply of metal that has an impact on the price of metal. The grade of metal also plays a big part in the value as metals that are considered Grade 1 have a much lower recycling cost than those which are Grade 2.
Grade 1 metals are ones that don’t have any alloy or other material in the metal and these might include copper, steel and aluminium. To be of value they need to meet size and weight requirements and have no signs of corrosion.
Lower value metals and ones which are made with alloys will be given a grade 2 listing as these are not worth as much as their grade 1 equivalents.
Benefits of scrapping your car
Not only are there financial benefits for you when you scrap your car but you will also be doing your part to help the environment. Each year hundreds of thousands of vehicles are recycled in the UK and these are depolluted before salvage parts are removed. The body and frame can then be broken down and the metals separated and recycled. It is much more cost-effective to recycle material in this way then it is to mine the natural resources.