How to get the best deal when you scrap your car

Some of the best things in life just don’t last; a family pet, for instance, will not be around forever. The same can be said of the family car which will last for around 12 years at most, if one is lucky. Perhaps cars are seen as a form of pet. Some people certainly give their car a name.



So how do you get the best deal for your old vehicle when the day comes for you to part ways? If you do a little leg work, you’ll often find that the parts are worth much more than the sum of the whole. In fact, if you bought your car part by part, it would cost 2 or 3 times what a new vehicle costs.



The reason for this lies in the tremendous cost-effectiveness and efficiency of modern car manufacturers. When made as a small part of a large production line, the car does cost less. This is because the cost of parts, when manufacturers design and order them themselves in vast quantities, is relatively low.



But, for instance, if you require a new rear quarter-panel, it could be a different matter. The laws of supply and demand mean you may need to pay $100 on a part that the multinationals can produce or obtain for around $21 – because they buy thousands at a time. Most parts you need for your car are readily available at junk yards and often you can put them in yourself, provided that they don’t require any special machinery for safety’s sake, for instance, a windshield repair.

So visit your local junk yards or parts resellers and see whether they happen to be low on your model. They know that they will be able to make a good profit on your car, as long as they divide the parts out into as many separate sales as they can. Maybe they will make you an offer you didn’t expect.



Another good option is to take your old car to the car dealer from whom you are intending to buy a new one. You can negotiate a substantial amount of money off if they need the sale. And there are plenty of reasons why they may be keen for the sale. Normally dealers do not yet own the cars on their lot; they lease them on special consignment and so it costs them money to have them sit there. This is why they are anxious to move at least a few vehicles per day and get some productivity out of their space to cover their costs until a day when there are lots of easy sales.



Daniel Collins writes for a digital marketing agency. This article has been commissioned by a client of said agency. This article is not designed to promote, but should be considered professional content.