Scrap car prices today

Why the same car is worth more in one postcode than another

A scrap price is what a yard can make from the car — the steel, the catalytic converter, any parts it can sell — minus what it costs to fetch it. Every yard does that sum differently, and every yard has districts it can reach cheaply and districts it cannot. A district with three licensed yards within a short drive of a shredder is competed for; a district served by one yard a long haul away is not. On the network you see the best rate any yard covering your district will pay, which is why the postcode box on the quote form matters as much as the registration.

What moves the price

Weight

Scrap metal is bought by the tonne, so the floor under every price is the car’s kerb weight. An 1,100 kg supermini is worth less than a 2,500 kg 4x4 in any condition, at any yard. The registration lookup gives the exact weight of your car rather than a guess from the body style.

The catalytic converter

The platinum, palladium and rhodium inside a converter make it the most valuable single part on most scrap cars — worth more than the rest of the steel on some models. A car with its converter is priced well above the same car with the converter cut out, which is why the quote form asks. If yours was stolen, say so; the price then comes out right first time.

Whether it is complete

A car that has already been picked over for parts has lost most of what made it worth more than its weight. A missing engine, gearbox, wheels or seats all come off the figure, and the form asks about each so the collector arrives expecting what you described.

Parts demand — and which kind of yard is quoting

Some cars are worth more dismantled than crushed: Transits, Sprinters, Land Rovers, anything with a sought-after engine or a strong parts trade behind it. A yard that breaks cars for parts will pay more for those than a yard that only weighs them in, and both kinds are on the network. Very common older superminis are oversupplied and tend to sit at metal value wherever they are.

The metal market

Underneath everything, ferrous scrap prices move week to week with world demand, and the yards move their rates with it. That is why a price is quoted live and holds for a limited time rather than being printed on a list that is out of date by the time you read it.

Prices that look too good

An offer far above everyone else’s usually gets renegotiated on the driveway once the car is on the truck. On the network the yard that set the rate is the yard that collects, the price is written on your booking, and the only thing that changes it is the car not being as described — which the driver raises before loading, not after. Two questions to ask any buyer: is the price in writing, and will you be paid by bank transfer? Cash for a scrap car is illegal in England and Wales, and a yard prepared to break that rule is unlikely to be careful with the rest.