Price a junk car too low and the seller takes the next buyer’s offer. Price it too high and you bought a car you lose money on. Most buyers who win a lot of cars have a simple, repeatable way to land in between.
Here’s that method. The numbers in the example are made up to show the math; use what your scrap buyer, converter buyer and parts sales actually pay you, because those change every week.
- Offer = what the car is worth to you − tow and handling − your margin.
- What it’s worth to you is usually scrap weight + the catalytic converter, plus parts if you sell them, plus more if it runs and could be resold.
- Ask the questions that move the price before you give a number: runs, title, keys, complete, converter, wheels, where it is.
- A fair first offer wins more cars than a low one you raise later.
Step 1: What the car is worth to you
Scrap value
For most junk cars, the floor is the metal. Find the curb weight for the year, make and model, take off what won’t be there when you crush it (fluids, tires, the converter you sell separately), and multiply by what your scrap buyer pays per ton for whole cars this week. Ask your buyer how they pay: some pay by the ton for whole cars, some grade by material.
The catalytic converter
On many cars the converter is worth more than anything else you’ll pull off it, and it varies a lot from car to car. Original converters are worth far more than aftermarket ones, and some models carry much more precious metal than others. If you sell converters by code, get to know which cars in your area carry valuable ones. Always ask whether the converter is still on the car. A car with its converter cut off is a different car.
Parts
If you pull and sell parts, a car with a good engine, transmission, catalytic converter, doors or wheels is worth more than its weight. Be honest about what you’ll actually sell, and how long the part will sit before you do.
Running cars
A car that runs and drives may be worth more resold or sent to auction than scrapped. If you have that outlet, ask about it.
Step 2: Take off your costs
- The tow: fuel, your driver’s time and the truck’s time. A car 40 minutes away costs more than one around the corner.
- Handling: draining fluids, removing the battery and tires, the time it sits in your yard.
- Paperwork: title work, and extra time for a car with title problems.
Step 3: Take off your margin
Decide what you need to make on a car to make the business work, and hold to it. If a car doesn’t leave you that, it’s fine to pass. Not every car is worth buying.
A worked example
These numbers are only to show the math.
| 2009 Toyota Camry, doesn't run, complete, clean title | Example |
|---|---|
| Scrap value at your buyer's price | $330 |
| Catalytic converter, original | $250 |
| Worth to you | $580 |
| Tow and handling | − $80 |
| Your margin | − $100 |
| Top offer | $400 |
That $400 is the most you should pay. Whether you open at $400 or a little under depends on your market, but don’t open so low that you have to come up $150 on the second call. Sellers remember the first number.
Questions to ask before you give a number
These are the answers that move the price. Get them before you say a figure:
- Year, make, model and trim.
- Does it start? Does it drive?
- Is the title in your name, and do you have it? See title rules by state.
- Do you have the keys?
- Is anything missing? Engine, transmission, catalytic converter, wheels, tires.
- Any damage? A wreck, fire or flood.
- Where is it, and can a truck get to it? In a back yard, on blocks, in a parking garage.
On a Clunqr phone lead, the app asks you the catalytic converter question right on the lead page, because it moves the price more than almost anything else.
Make the offer easy to say yes to
A number alone isn’t an offer. Tell them everything that comes with it:
For your 2009 Camry, I can pay you $400. That includes the tow, so there's nothing to pay us. We can come tomorrow morning between 9 and 11, and we pay you when we pick it up. You'll just need the title and your ID.
Then stop talking and let them answer. If they need to think, tell them you’ll text the offer so they have it in writing. Our phone script has more.
Don’t change the price at the door
If the car is as described, pay what you offered. Dropping the price in the driveway is the fastest way to get bad reviews and lose the referrals that make this business work. If the car really is different (no converter, no engine, different car), explain exactly what’s different and why the price changes, and let them say no.
Set your prices once
If you price the same kinds of cars every day, write it down: a price for each body style and age, and adjustments for the things that move the price (doesn’t run, no title, no converter, missing wheels). On Clunqr Leads, that price sheet can send instant offers: online sellers see your offer the moment they finish the form, and you price anything unusual by hand. Every price comes from you; nothing is offered in your name until you set it. See how it works.
Clunqr Leads sends junk car sellers in your area to you and nobody else, $30 a lead, with an app that texts sellers, follows up on your offers and puts missed calls first. See how it works or apply for your area.
