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| hard times junking cars; scrap | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Feb 12 2009, 09:24 PM (964 Views) | |
| billy508 | Feb 12 2009, 09:24 PM Post #1 |
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billy508
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Over the years I have been scraping cars as away to pick up a few dollars. It maybe something you might want to look into if there is a good auto Shredder in your area. I am lucky as there is a big one about 1 mile away from me. They have passed some new laws that make it a little harder to do, but nothing impossible. Right now prices are really down so the action has slowed way down. Last summer before the prices fell I was getting 3 to 400 for average size car But now they are not paying very much. 2 months ago I junked a 87 Acura Ledgen only got 130 for it WTF!!! But I took all the ignition off it and sold it on Craigslist for 125. Anyway thought I would try and start a discussion on salvage Oh yea you have to take the wheels and gas tank out beofre they will take them. Damn tires can build up fast in the yard LOL I have a tow bar and most of the time I just drill 4 holes in the bumper and use all thread to bolt the brackets on. Crude but it works. A lot of people will let you have them just to get them out of the way Your thoughts?
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| Johnny Mullet | Feb 12 2009, 09:31 PM Post #2 |
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Fear the Mullet
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The scrap industry was at an all-time high last summer, but now the bottom fell out of it. When I got my Metro, I scrapped a 1990 Buick Lesabre and got about $400.00 for it, but now, I would be lucky to see $150.00 for the same type car. I guess the price of copper is still up. Here in Ohio, they do not require removing the fuel tank or tires or even a title for that matter. But if you have no cat, you will get much less for it. |
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| Bon2000 | Feb 12 2009, 09:47 PM Post #3 |
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we dont have a scrapyard around here for cars,but ill tell ya this,people are stealing central heat and air units for the copper,its been real bad around here,actually we had been lucky being a gas and oil producung state,but its slowed down a lot,and im seeing more and more people pawning and losing their stuff,so the deep knife of recession is at our doorstep now,they said we were down over 50% in oil fiield emplyment,there are huge layoffs.... |
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| billy508 | Feb 12 2009, 09:55 PM Post #4 |
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billy508
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I had a good friend that lived in Gotebo Ok. I went home with him one time to vist his mom. I just googled it up. Only 265 people now but there were not much more than that a long time ago.
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| tmaxmetro | Feb 13 2009, 08:59 AM Post #5 |
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Advanced Member
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If the opportunity presented itself, I'd pile all sort of scrap metal into the hatchback and off I'd go. $40 here and there for an hours worth of work is fine in my book. Never really scrapped complete vehicles as I have no tow vehicle - but I would if I could. One of the real downfalls of the previous high price of scrap steel was that many older or low priced vehicles were scrapped. Vehicles that could have been fine with just a bit of work and vehicles that had many salvageable parts. With the frequent frame failures and the age of most Metros - many found their way into the shredder. |
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| billy508 | Feb 13 2009, 09:12 AM Post #6 |
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billy508
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Very Good point Tmax. When prices were up all kinds of good cars were going to the shredder. Jillions of dollars in good parts are gone. I met some on the people who I call full time scrapers. Good people. hard working using old ragged trucks and cars to try and carve out a living. I really hope things get better for them
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| jeff | Feb 14 2009, 05:27 AM Post #7 |
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Billy I knew a guy who retired from the military. He was a VW (Beetle) maven. Any thing VW he was involved with. Towards the end of his life he made & sold nice 3wheeled powered VW trikes. Maybe you could do the same with GEOs. |
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| billy508 | Feb 14 2009, 09:25 AM Post #8 |
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billy508
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I have thought about it. Not too sure what i am going to do right now. Things have been pretty messed up for the last 2 years but they seem to be smoothing out now. This forum helps me out a lot. I most probably post way too much but................ . Thanks again for your post
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| PushnFords | Feb 15 2009, 11:15 AM Post #9 |
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Over the last couple of years I'd buy cars and trucks cheap, fix them up, and sell them. When scrap prices started going up it got a lot harder to do...cars that once cost $50-100 were selling for $200-300. I ended up meeting a local guy that does a lot of scrapping and made a deal with him. I'd pass cars to him that weren't worth fixing and he'd tell me about ones he had that were. I'd pay him a little under scrap price and pick them up from his house...which saved him hauling it 40 miles to the salvage yard. Both of use would pull of easy to sell items to unload on Craigslist or eBay including the converters. The local yards paid a set amount per pound regardless of if the cat was still there or not. I bought a '93 Mazda MX3 for $100 and sold the cat for $240. After that I thought I'd see what else sold on eBay. When I was done I sold the hulk for $100 to a guy that was restoring a rusty car and needed body patches. Cleared $1,000 profit on that one. Some cars were just $100 or so but worth doing. Back then the salvage yard was paying around $150 a ton but now it is at $40 so I haven't even been looking for cars. Looking at eBay it seems that converters that were once selling for over $200 are now going for $30-40. |
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| billy508 | Feb 15 2009, 11:31 AM Post #10 |
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billy508
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Good post Pushnfords. Cat prices sure hit bottom quick. I am still holding on to a couple. Maybe one day they will go up. I have a nice cat from 88 Acura if anyone needs it. I wonder about the place down the road that is a major recycler . They have tons and tons of scrap. Are they going to be able to survive? All that stuff might only be worth a fraction of what it once was. These guys load it onto seagoing barges and ship it out. Be bad news if a scrap dealer goes out of business. Later
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| PushnFords | Feb 15 2009, 11:33 PM Post #11 |
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If I had the extra cash right now I'd start buying up cars again. I'm seeing more and more being advertised for $100. It could be a pretty good investment to buy as many as possible even if you do only get $75-80 out of them when you sell them. But...you'd have around $30 each in a pile of converters that could easily be worth $100+ each in the future. |
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I have thought about it. Not too sure what i am going to do right now. Things have been pretty messed up for the last 2 years but they seem to be smoothing out now. This forum helps me out a lot. I most probably post way too much but................ . Thanks again for your post
9:54 AM Jul 11