The Complete And Only Salvage Yard Guide You’ll Ever Need

According to some research, each year, 27 million cars reach the end of their life.

If you have a car that is near the end of its life, you may be thinking about taking it to the best salvage yard.

However, we came up with the perfect guide to taking your car to the salvage yard, so keep reading!

Table of Contents

What is a Junkyard?

A junkyard is where you can take the best scrap cars so that they can collect the scraps and dispose of or recycle them.

Most people think that these lots are only for cars, but you can actually take boats, RVs, and trucks too. In fact, some f them even have appliances there as well.

To find a good junkyard, search for the best junkyard near you!

How Do Junkyards Work?

When you go to a salvage yard, normally they’ll start with pre-treatment of the car. This is when they’ll disassemble it and drain all of the fluids out.

That includes fuel, oil, and coolant. This will help prevent any leakage when they disassemble the car.

They’ll also remove the battery, tires, and gas tank. If any of these parts are able to be reused, they may sell them. If they can’t be re-used, they’ll recycle them.

After all of those parts are taken out, a technician will look at other parts of the car and see if there is anything worth saving. Then, they’ll decide if they want to repair the car, refurbish it, or sell some of the parts. They may even sell parts of the engine or floor mats if there’s a large demand for them.

Some junkyards will let customers pull out parts of the vehicle, and then other companies will do the manual labor on their own. Sometimes they refurbish them and just sell them online.

Once they’ve removed all the parts, then they’ll crush the body and the frame of the car and recycle that.

How They’re Different

Not every salvage yard is the same in the country. For example, some of them resell parts, but some of them just collect the vehicles and then sell them.

A lot of salvage yards actually work with metal recycling companies and try to recycle as much of the car as possible.

Some yards are also more specific on what type of vehicles they’ll take. Some may not take abandoned cars, and some may only accept junk cars. If you’re not sure what they take, contact them to ask.

What Types of Cars Can You Find

Normally, the junkyards will have different categories that they’ll put the cars into.

You may be able to figure out which car yours would fall into, but if not, you can always ask the employees.

Category A

Category A cars aren’t functional anymore, and there’s nothing but the shell of the vehicle. This means that there are no parts that can be reused.

Normally these cars are very damaged and can’t function properly. A car that was wrecked in a natural disaster would also fall into this category.

Since they can’t resell it for parts, you may not get as much money from this kind of car.

Category B

If you have a Category B car, you’ll also have a lot of damage, and the car won’t be able to run. However, there might be some parts that the junkyard can salvage.

These are cars that were considered totaled by an insurance company, and the only value in them is whatever parts can be salvaged.

Category C

Category C cars are still able to be driven, but they have a lot of mechanical or structural damage. Sometimes these cars are sold off to customers who don’t mind taking the time to repair the car. However, the amount to repair these cars will normally cost more than the appraised value of the car.

Category C is different than D because the cost to repair this vehicle will be more. That means that you may not get as much money from the junkyard for it.

Category D

As we mentioned above, Category D cars were damaged but can be repaired. And the cost to repair it will be less than the appraised value of the car.

If customers want to repair a vehicle, they’ll normally look for a Category D car at a salvage yard. However, if you buy one of these cars, you’ll get a salvaged title as well.

Who Benefits From Salvaging a Car

You might be wondering why anyone would take their car to the junkyard, but there are many benefits of doing so. For example, you contribute to recycling and sustainability.

With everyone driving cars, it can really hurt the planet to just let these cars waste away when they can be recycled and given back to the automotive industry.

If you had any questions or wanted to know more about how salvage yards work, click this link for more information.