Category: Selling Your Junk Car

When it comes to selling anything, the seller is usually interested in making the sale as quickly as possible. Selling a junker vehicle is no exception. However, as with other types of sales, there are measures you can take to speed up the process of receiving payment. If you’re ready to liquidate your junker vehicle to a junkyard that offers cash for cars in Belton, below are four helpful steps you can take to expedite the sale, and get cash your hands fast.

1. Remove Personal Items

When it’s driven for years, a car can become a repository of person effects ranging from ATM receipts to items of clothing. A junkyard generally won’t refuse to buy a car because it contains such items, but the seller typically wants the items removed. Don’t wait until the junkyard tow truck shows up at your location to start cleaning out the inside of the vehicle. Do it beforehand.

2. Secure Proof of Ownership

For legal purposes, a professionally operated junkyard will ask you to prove that you own the vehicle. You can do this by providing any of the following documents: owner’s title, auction sales receipt, mechanic’s lien, storage lot lien, or a repossession affidavit. Have proof of ownership ready when the tow truck arrives at your property. Otherwise, the sale of the car will be delayed.

3. Avoid Price Haggling

It doesn’t make sense to price haggle over a junk vehicle for two reasons. First, because the car is usually worth a few hundred dollars at most, the time you spend haggling simply isn’t worth the potential payoff. Second, receiving a price increase is unlikely, as the buyer firmly bases the financial value of the vehicle on the worth of its salable parts and the scrap metal it contains.

4. Receive Prompt Payment

You should be paid when you relinquish ownership of the vehicle and not a minute later. Most Junkyards that pay cash for cars in Belton are quite good about providing prompt payment in cash, as it helps them helps reduce the volume of money stored in the business office from the sale of used auto parts. Before the tow truck drives away, you should have cash in hand.

We Offer Cash for Cars in Belton

If you need to sell your junk car as quickly as possible, Wrench-A-Part is the junkyard to call. We travel to your location, pay you in cash, and tow away the automobile for free. We sell a high volume of reliable, used parts from end-of-life vehicles, which means that we need to acquire new vehicles as expeditiously as possible. To receive a free price quote for your car, truck, or SUV, give us a call today at (254) 831-4905 ext. 1, or fill out the contact form on our website.

Any driver who has had a broken down car towed several miles to a repair shop knows how expensive one-way towing service can be. The hook up fee, which is charged to literally load the vehicle on the truck, and the total per mileage cost can easily add up to hundreds of dollars.

Most drivers incur towing fees when they have a car towed to an auto dealership or a mechanic’s shop for repairs, but they can also end up paying towing fees when they sell an end-of-life automobile to a junkyard, and have the business send a tow truck to the car’s location to tow it back to the vehicle salvage lot.

Towing Fees Vs. Sale Price

The average junk car fetches a few hundred dollars from a professionally operated junkyard — an amount that’s also similar to what you might pay for towing service if the buyer charges for it. Moreover, you could conceivably owe more for towing service than you receive for your junker, putting you at a financial loss in the transaction, which is something no one wants to happen when they sell a junker; they expect to get paid by the junkyard, not pay the junkyard.

This is why Wrench-A-Part offers free towing in Belton and at our other Texas salvage lot locations in Austin, Holland, and Lubbock. Unlike some junkyards — particularly small ones that have a single location — which use third party towing companies, and thus have little choice but to charge for towing, we own our own fleet of trucks, and absorb the cost of operating it as a part of our dedication to customer service.   

Don’t Get Stuck With a Bill

When you sell your car to us, we know you expect to be paid a competitive price in cash, the full amount of which is all profit within the context of the sale — and that’s exactly what you get. Some junkyards don’t offer free towing in Belton, but we offer the service for every vehicle we purchase, whether it still runs and can be driven to the salvage lot, or must be towed there.

To sell your junk car for a great price, and take advantage of our free towing in Belton, please call our Belton location today at (254) 831-4905, ext. 1, or use the contact form on our website. We look forward to helping you receive the most money for your end-of-life vehicle.     

They say that everything is bigger in Texas. However, some things can be smaller there, too. For example, if you sell an end-of-life vehicle to a junkyard in Lubbock — or any other city — that requires you to pay to tow the automobile to the salvage lot, you’ll end up with a smaller profit from the sale than you would if you sold it to a junkyard that offers free towing in Lubbock.

Free Towing Equals More Profit

Most people pay for vehicle towing out of necessity. In the junkyard industry at large, this necessity doesn’t exist. There are plenty of auto salvage businesses that provide free towing for vehicles they purchase. If you choose a buyer that makes you pay for towing, you’ll be losing money unnecessarily — and you could lose quite a bit. To get a better idea of what we mean, consider the following, typical expenses that apply to towing automobiles in the U.S.

Base Rate

Also known as a “hook up fee”, the base rate for towing a vehicle is a flat price you pay to engage towing service. A base rate fee of between $35 and $100 dollars is average. However, the base rate for towing a heavy-duty vehicle can be as high as roughly $175.

Mileage Rate

Unless a flat towing fee is offered, expect to pay between $2.50 per mile and $5.00 per mile to tow an average consumer vehicle. However, the mileage rate for towing a heavy-duty vehicle can easily range from nearly $5.50 per mile to $7.50 per mile.

Winch Use

If your vehicle is stuck in a ditch or another odd place that requires the tower to use a winch to extricate the car and get it ready to transport, you’ll pay dearly. Winch use is commonly billed at rates that run from $50.00 per hour to a whopping $200.00 per hour.

So, if you have a common consumer vehicle towed 20 miles to a junkyard that doesn’t offer free towing in Lubbock, you could easily end up forking out about $250 on the conservative side. Considering that the average junk car is typically worth a few hundred dollars, you could conceivably end up with a debt instead of a profit after you sell your end-of-life automobile.

We Offer Free Towing in Lubbock

When you sell a junker to us, free towing is a part of the deal. We know that you’re selling your junker to do more than remove an eyesore from your property or make more space in your garage. You also want to be paid for the vehicle to get the biggest return on the investment you made to buy it. To receive a highly competitive offer, please call us today at (806) 748-5856.

Junk vehicles are the same as new vehicles in one respect: Some of them are worth more money than others. If you have a junk vehicle, and you plan to sell to a junkyard that offers cash for junk cars, you may be wondering how much cash the automobile will fetch. The only way to arrive at a precise offer is to have the junkyard inspect the car. However, from the start, there are certain types of junkers you can expect to receive a bigger payment for than others.

Popular, Late Model Vehicles

Many popular, late model vehicles start experiencing mechanical problems after they pass 50,000 miles on the odometer — a number of miles that’s generally about half as many as the car is expected to drive before it dies. This means that plenty of drivers look for replacement parts to help extend the lifespan of the automobiles. In turn, this makes popular, late model vehicles highly valuable to junkyards.

Popular, Early Model Vehicles

Junkyards are also interested in purchasing popular, early model vehicles, as long as there’s considerable demand for their parts. For example, Volvo models from the 1970s and 1980s are seldom seen on U.S. roadways, but Ford models from these decades — particularly the speedy Mustang — are still quite popular among performance car enthusiasts. If you own one of these models, its age may actually work in your favor instead of making the car hard to sell.

Vehicles Known for Reliability

Highly reliable brands such as Honda and Toyota are are another class of vehicles that draw nice offers from salvage lots that pay cash for junk cars. Because some of the vehicles can easily be driven for over 200,000 miles, owners are motivated to repair them to get the most miles for the money. As the vehicles typically don’t have problems early on, some junkyards are just as interested in acquiring older models as they are in acquiring new ones.

Vehicles With Lemon Status

Vehicles that have legal lemon status due to a persistent mechanical problem or safety defect often receive the status early in their expected lifespan. Consequently, even when they’re judged unfit to drive — if they drive at all — they typically contain plenty of components that practically look and perform like new. Your lemon car may be unfit to sell to another consumer, but chances are that a junkyard would be interested in making you an offer.

We Pay Cash for Junk Cars

Wrench-A-Part has four Texas locations that are frequented by drivers who want to save money on auto parts by buying them used. That’s why we’re constantly interested in acquiring more vehicles — and the vehicles we buy are paid for in cash before we tow them away for free. Even if your end-of-life vehicle doesn’t fall into one of the categories above, there’s still a chance that you could get hundreds of dollars from selling the automobile to Wrench-A-Part.

To receive a free price quote, please call our location in Austin, Belton, Holland, or Lubbock — whichever one is closest to your car’s location. We pay some of the best prices in the industry for junk cars and look forward to making you a cash offer for your otherwise “worthless” junker.    

 

Most auto manufacturers give you a nice range of options to choose from when you buy a new car, such as engines that offer different levels of horsepower, trim packages that dress up the cabin and body of the vehicle, and different types of brake systems. For some car enthusiasts, though, factory options aren’t enough. They buy the car they want, and then install aftermarket auto parts that significantly redefine its looks and performance.

When Tuner Cars Become Junkers

Despite their supreme level of customization, cars that contain a wide selection of aftermarket parts (a.k.a. tuner cars) share a commonality with standard vehicles: If you drive them long enough, they eventually reach the end of their lifespan, and would require an extensive overhaul to be restored to great driving condition.

Because the work needed to restore their vitality would typically cost more than the car is worth on the fair market, drivers in Belton, Texas, often consider selling end-of-life tuner cars to a provider of auto salvage in Belton. However, at the time of the sale, many of the cars’ aftermarket parts — especially ones that were installed recently — are still in good condition. So, drivers of tuner cars are naturally interested in recouping as much of their investment in aftermarket parts as possible.

With this in mind, is selling a tuner car to a provider of auto salvage in Belton a good option?

Yes and no. On the positive side, the salvage lot will apply value to your car’s aftermarket markets when deciding how much to offer you. However, the offer is likely to be based on the price of standard components and not ones that cost a pretty penny due to their aesthetic or mechanical uniqueness, and which were your choice to install. That’s the negative side. You’ll recover some of the money you spent on parts, but probably not nearly all of it.

Other Ways to Recoup Your Investment

The best way to preserve your investment in tuner car parts is to remove them from the vehicle before you sell it, and install them in your next vehicle. If the parts are “universal”, meaning they can be installed in a wide variety of vehicles, this scenario shouldn’t pose much of a problem. However, if the parts are designed for a specific make and model, you would need to buy a clone of the vehicle you will eventually junk.

Another option is to remove the parts and sell them to other car tuners. Because aftermarket performance and aesthetic upgrades can be exceptionally expensive, you’re likely to find some takers if the parts are in good condition and you offer a nice discount. You won’t receive as much as you paid for the parts, but you may get more than you would from a provider of auto salvage in Belton.

As long as your car contains plenty of salable components after you remove the aftermarket parts, you could still receive hundreds of dollars — and perhaps a bit more — by selling your car to a professionally operated salvage lot, especially if you can reinstall the standard parts that were replaced with tuner components.

Who We Are

Wrench-A-Part is a professionally operated, Texas-based provider of auto salvage services. In addition to offering some of the best prices in the business, we simplify the salvage process by traveling to your location, paying you in cash for the vehicle, and towing it away for free. If you live in Belton and have a junk car you would like to sell, please call us today at (254) 831-4905 to receive a free price quote.   

 

Sometimes, a wrecked vehicle is affordable to repair. Other times, the vehicle is so damaged that the driver’s auto insurance provider considers it not worth fixing and “totals” the car, paying the owner for the remaining value of the vehicle in the form of a lump sum check. However, the driver can often receive additional hundreds of dollars by selling the wreck to a junkyard, with the amount received based on the value of the usable parts the car contains.

Parts You Thought Were Worthless

When we think about used parts that a junkyard that offers cash for wrecked cars would be able to sell, major mechanical components such as clutches, driveshafts, and exhaust manifolds quickly come to mind, but there are also some parts that are commonly considered “worthless”, but which junkyards routinely sell to consumers who are looking for excellent prices. Below are three common examples of these types of used auto components.

1. Tires

The condition of tires is relatively easy to assess. As long as they have plenty of tread, display no cracking due to weather-related wear, and have no leaks, there’s no reason why junkyards that offer cash for wrecked cars can’t sell the tires to customers who need a new set. It’s often said not to reuse used tires, but the tires that this observation applies to are ones that are dangerous to use due to heavy wear or damage that causes inflation problems.

2. Brake Pads

Depending on their composition, brake pads can last for tens of thousands of miles. Because professional junkyards routinely stock late model wrecked cars and late model lemon cars that have few miles on the odometer, they’re a good place to look for brake pads that display only minor wear. If your end-of-life automobile still has good brake pads in place, their value will be considered when a junkyard that pays cash for wrecked cars makes you an offer.

3. Filters

Vehicle filters are like tires and brake pads in that they lack resale value when they are heavily used but do have resale value when they are still within their expected lifespan. Oil filters, air intake filters, and special exhaust filters are good examples of used filters that some junkyard customers are interested in purchasing when the components are still in good condition.

Plan to Sell Your Junk Car?

If so, use our contact page to choose our closest location, and then give us a call or send us an email to receive a free price quote. We offer some of the best prices in the business and promptly pay you in cash when you relinquish ownership of your automobile to us. In addition, we’ll come to you and tow your vehicle away for free. Contact us today to receive an offer!  

 

Should I sell my wrecked car to a junkyard or an auto recycler? It’s a common question among environmentally conscious owners of wrecked cars that want as much of their vehicle as possible to stay out of  landfill. However, properly answering the question requires at least three considerations: The overall condition of your car, how much you expect to receive for the vehicle, and the steps you must take to liquidate the automobile for a cash payment.

1. Condition of Car

If your car is a lemon vehicle or an early model vehicle that quit working but still contains many reusable parts, you’re likely to receive a better offer from a junkyard than you would from an auto recycler, as junkyards are primarily interested in selling auto parts. However, if your car is wrecked to the point that it wouldn’t yield many salable components, selling it to a recycler may be the best idea, as recyclers are primarily interested in refining and selling scrap metal.

2. Expected Price

Junk cars are commonly reported to be worth hundreds of dollars each — a price that’s typically reflective of what junkyards offer for non-operational automobiles that still contain plenty of salable parts. Because auto recyclers don’t evaluate or sell used auto parts as a core business practice, they are likely to base the price on the value of recyclables that comprise the vehicle, particularly metals. If you want hundreds of dollars for your car, and the car contains plenty of working components, selling it to a junkyard is almost certainly your best financial option.

3. Sale Requirements

All that junkyards require you to do to sell a car is provide official proof that you own it. A professionally operated vehicle recycling business will require proof of ownership, too. However, the business may also ask you to remove from the vehicle any materials that the business doesn’t recycle, which can be time consuming. If you want to sell your car fast, selling it to a junkyard is the answer to the question: Should I sell my wrecked car to a junkyard or an auto recycler?

Contact Wrench-A-Part for a Price Quote

Should I sell my wrecked car to a junkyard or an auto recycler? If you’re pondering the question, Wrench-A-Part can help you answer it by offering you a free price quote. If you’re satisfied with the offer and insist on liquidating your vehicle to a junkyard that participates in auto recycling, we recommend that you sell it to us. We sell a high volume of used parts from junkers and constantly need additional vehicles. To get started on the sale process, use our contact page.

Most junk cars are worth considerably less than fully operational vehicles. However, because junkers are valuable to junkyards that sell secondhand auto parts, most junkyards are willing to pay for the recalcitrant cars. If you look at how-to guides for selling end-of-life vehicles, they often advise you to receive more than one price quote, as some buyers are likely to make a better offer than others. What accounts for the price difference? There are at least four factors.

1. Vehicle Inventory

If a junkyard has several vehicles in stock that are the same make and model as your car, it may feel motivated to offer you a lower price than a junkyard that doesn’t have your automobile in stock. Makes and models that are highly popular with consumers are often an exception. Because parts from these vehicles are in high demand, the buyer may offer you a highly competitive price, regardless of how many vehicles like yours are currently in the salvage lot.

2. Vehicle Components

Because junkyards that pay cash for junk cars earn most of their revenue from selling reliable, used auto components, the number of salable parts a vehicle contains is a primary determinant of how much money a junkyard will shell out to acquire the car. So, as one would expect, junk automobiles that contain the most reusable components tend to sell for the highest prices.

3. Business Overhead

The more it costs a junkyard to operate, the less financial flexibility it has when offering price quotes for junk vehicles. Utilities, insurance, security systems, and maintenance are just some of the expenses that contribute to a junkyard’s overhead. If a buyer offers you a surprisingly low price compared to other junkyards, it may be because the business has higher overhead than some of its competitors.

4. Type of Junk Car

There are several types of junkers, including wrecks, lemon cars that have a defective component, and old vehicles that stopped running because some of their parts reached the end of their lifespan and failed. Again, junk cars that are in the best condition in terms of salable parts usually attract the best offers. For example, a lemon with a single defective could fetch far more than a wrecked car that contains several parts that were damaged in the collision.

Need to Sell Your Junk Car for Cash?

If so, contact Wrench-A-Part to receive a free price quote. We pay cash for junk cars and make some of the best offers in the industry. Why? Because we strive to operate economically and pass the savings to you, constantly need new vehicles in stock, and are experienced parts evaluators who know exactly how much you should receive for your car’s salable parts. To get cash for junk cars, please refer to our contact page. We look forward to making you an offer!

If you need a provider of auto salvage in Killeen, Texas, it’s important to map out a plan of action before you contact an auto salvage business. We’re going to make developing that plan a little easier by providing you with a practical guide for salvaging your car. After you consider the points below and take the appropriate steps, you’ll be ready to offer your vehicle to a provider of auto salvage in Killeen and get a nice cash return that you can put toward a new car.

1. Remove Personal Documents

After they’ve been driven for a few years, many cars become repositories of personal information that drivers wouldn’t want falling into the hands of strangers. In the glovebox, inside the console, under seats, and in storage areas on seat backs are often found financial documents, traffic tickets, and old pieces of mail that should be removed to help prevent identity theft.

2. Pay Off Unresolved Tickets

Transferring legal ownership of your vehicle to a salvage lot will officially separate you from the vehicle, but that won’t erase unresolved tickets you accrued while you owned the car. And let’s face it: No one feels like settling tickets on a car they no longer own. Unless the tickets have been delinquent for a while, you’ll likely receive more than enough money for your car to cover them.

3. Secure Proof of Ownership

Now it’s time to take the first official step toward selling your car: officially proving that you own the vehicle. Most drivers do this by providing the owner’s title for their automobile, but any of the following documents can also be used to prove ownership: an auction sales receipt, a mechanic’s lien, a storage lot lien, or a repossession affidavit.

4. Receive Price Offers

How many price offers you receive is up to you, but it’s typically a good idea to receive at least three. Salvage cars are notoriously hard for their owners to price because the normally decrepit condition of the vehicles is not listed as a price tier in standard auto industry price guides. Receiving three offers from different salvage lots will give you a good idea of what your car is worth.

5. Receive Free Towing

Before you choose a provider of auto salvage in Killeen, be sure that the business offers free towing. Otherwise, you could end up using most of the money you receive from the sale to cover towing costs. Free towing is a common offering at salvage lots that are highly motivated to acquire cars. If you decide to sell your vehicle to Wrench-A-Part, you can count on receiving free towing.

Looking for Auto Salvage in Killeen?

If so, contact Wrench-A-Part. We’re a professionally operated junkyard that sells quality, used auto parts to consumers and works with recyclers to repurpose the leftover materials. We sell a high volume parts and continually need new vehicles in stock. So, we’d love to see your vehicle and make you a competitive price offer if we need the car in stock — and chances are that we do. Please contact us today by referring to the contact page on our website!