Salvaging parts before scrapping

[alone wolf]

What's the etiquette on salvaging parts from a car prior to scrapping? Things like battery/ECU/headlights/stereo etc?

The only questing they asked prior to quote was if it had alloy weels and if it was rolling.....

The car's getting towed away for scrap as a non-runner (not salvage)

[magpie215]

Some companies have a list of major items that still need to be on the car for the quote price to be paid.

[E-bmw]

I would say that depends on the conversation you had with them.

If you said "the car is complete but has failed it's MOT" or similar then that is what they think they are buying, so leave well alone or they will possibly just walk away.

If you said "I have a scrap car can you take it away" I would say anything that doesn't severely affect the scrap weight is fair game, especially if it is a scrap yard rather than "vehicle dismantler/recycler etc".

[alone wolf]

Fair points..... i will have to speak to them

[paul_c123]

They'll know the desirable parts better than you. They haven't paid you yet either. So expect an adjustment, and not a good one, if you remove anything valuable. They can also decide to not take the car at all, leaving you at square one.

[DaveF-SkinnysAutos]

They are all different, some drivers don't care and simply load it, others have a look around first.

They will definitely adjust if you take the pee, but they are expecting a knackered car that you've probably had work done on first so I've previously taken a few bits off, but kept them on hand, so if the driver says anything you can say oh yeah, I forgot about those and chuck them back in, but Ive never had to. Ive taken good batteries out a couple of times and it's never been a problem.

You cant strip it like you listed but you would get away with something you can then claim is the reason why you are scrapping the car. You need to decide what's more valuable, the quote they have given you or the price you can get for the bits you want to take off and accept you will get less for the scrap part of the car when they collect. Just speak to them, I assume you've got an online quote, they are more professional than you think nowadays!

[Belle427]

I would say its fair game if they only asked if its rolling.
Its not up to the driver to inspect everything really, they should have specified the terms when you spoke with them.

[paul_c123]

DaveF-SkinnysAutos said:

I assume you've got an online quote, they are more professional than you think nowadays!

My (admittedly limited) experience with the online firms is, there's a good chance they won't show up at all. They seem to quote for everything then cherrypick the ones in their area, or with a decent parts haul.

[Dynion Araf Uchaf]

Interesting , not my experience. My local professional dismantler quoted £300 for a Ka without MOT, but intact, but if I took anything from it, they will still have to collect it but not pay anything for it.

[catso]

I have recently scrapped two of my Son's cars.

The local scrap/breaker gave me an immediate online valuation (£350 and £330) for which they will collect the car.

Car doesn't need to be a runner (they tell me the valuation is based on weight/value of scrap) and I don't recall them saying it needed to be 100% complete but, they deduct an amount (£15 IIRC) if no battery and in both cases they checked that the car had it's original (apparently replacements are less valuable) catalytic converter though I expect they wouldn't be happy to pay the full price if many parts were missing as they recoup the price paid, not only from the scrap but also by selling parts that can be re-used.

Both of ours were actually running cars though one had a failed clutch so wouldn't drive, the other, an MOT fail level of rust (sills) but drove fine and had recently had a new battery which we wanted to keep so, I fitted an old motorbike battery to it that could actually start the car which was fine with them.