Enter your year, make, model and condition to see an estimated scrap value in under a minute. The estimate is free, carries no obligation, and works for cars that no longer start.
Priced the way buyers price — curb weight, current scrap metal prices, and demand for your car’s parts.
Reported US scrap values sat between $200 and $600 through 2024, with heavier trucks and models carrying high-demand parts clearing the top of that band. Walking into a negotiation without that figure is how sellers accept lowball offers.
Three inputs go in, a price range comes out. The whole run takes under a minute.
Select year, make and model, then mark the car as running, non-running or missing parts. Accuracy matters more than speed here, since condition alone can move the figure by a few hundred dollars.
Curb weight is multiplied against current scrap metal prices to set a floor. Demand for your model's reusable parts is added on top of that floor.
You get a range rather than one number, because local scrap prices and towing distance vary by ZIP code. Take that range to a junkyard, a salvage yard or an online buyer and see who beats it.
A car you no longer want has two exits: a private sale or a scrap yard. Repair costs, roadworthiness and parts demand decide which one leaves you better off.
Sell privately if the car still drives and holds resale value against comparable listings. Scrap it if repairs cost more than the car is worth, or if it fails to start. A scrap car valuation takes under a minute, so both routes can be priced before you commit to either.
Selling Your Car
Four variables set the scrap a car price, and the calculator weighs each one.
These decide how much of the car gets resold rather than shredded. Models with a steady used-parts market beat rare or discontinued vehicles that nobody stocks parts for.
A complete car with a working engine and transmission is worth more than one that has been stripped. Every missing part removes something a dismantler could have sold.
Heavier vehicles hold more recyclable metal, and scrap yards buy that metal by the ton. Curb weight is listed in your owner's manual and sets the floor beneath any offer.
Steel and aluminum trade on global supply and demand, and the price moves daily. An estimate from six months ago is stale for that reason alone.
These three tell a buyer how much of the car has a second life ahead of it. Any vehicle scrap value calculator asks for them before anything else.
Vehicles built from 2018 onward carry engines, transmissions and electronics that dismantlers resell, so they price above weight. Cars from the 1990s and early 2000s are usually valued on scrap weight alone.
Toyota, Honda, Ford, Chevrolet and Nissan keep steady used-parts demand across the US, which lifts what a yard will pay.
A 2018 Toyota Camry prices well above a 2001 Dodge Neon of similar weight, because its parts still move. Discontinued models fall back to metal value once parts demand dries up.
The terms get used interchangeably, but they describe different valuations. A scrap car is priced on the metal it contains, while a junk car worth more than its weight has parts a dismantler can pull and resell.
That distinction explains why two cars of identical curb weight get quoted hundreds of dollars apart. It also explains why a buyer asks about the catalytic converter before naming a price.
Priced on steel and aluminum content. It goes to a shredder once fluids and hazardous materials have been removed under recycling rules.
Off the road but structurally intact, with an engine, transmission or catalytic converter still worth pulling. That converter contains platinum, palladium and rhodium, so it is priced separately from the shell.
Built to answer the pricing question before you start calling yards.
Non-running cars, wrecked cars, stripped cars and cars without a title all return a figure. Condition changes the number rather than disqualifying the vehicle.
Local scrap prices differ by market, so a single national figure would mislead. The range shows the realistic floor and ceiling before you negotiate.
Curb weight, scrap metal prices, parts demand and mileage are what a yard runs through when it prices your car. Nothing is added that a buyer would not pay for.
An estimate is not an offer, and no calculator sees rust, flood damage or a seized engine. Expect a firm offer to land inside the range, not exactly on it.
A missing title or a seized engine changes the number. These guides explain what to expect from each.
Non-running car
No title
Salvage title
Car with a lien
Wrecked car
Flood-damaged car
Dead hybrid battery
No keys
The same car prices differently in Texas than in Ohio. Find your state.
What your car is worth, what the title takes, and how to get a better price.
Three steps raise the final figure, and none of them costs anything.
Enter the correct year, make, model, mileage and condition. An estimate built on optimistic details gets revised down the moment a driver inspects the car.
The catalytic converter, battery and wheels are priced separately from the shell. Sellers who fail to mention an intact converter routinely leave money behind.
Call a junkyard, a salvage yard and an online buyer with the same description. Offers on identical vehicles differ, and the first is rarely the highest.
Run the car scrap value calculator before the first call, then check every offer against the range. Confirm there is no pickup fee too — a collection charge deducted at the end can wipe out the gap between two competing offers.
Most fall between $200 and $600, based on reported US averages through 2024. Weight, whether the catalytic converter is still attached, whether the engine runs, and local scrap prices decide where a specific car sits. Heavier trucks with in-demand parts price above it.
Accurate enough to negotiate with, not accurate enough to hold a buyer to. The tool prices curb weight, metal rates and parts demand, but it cannot see rust, flood damage or a seized engine. Expect a firm offer inside the range rather than exactly on it.
A title makes the sale straightforward, and transfer rules are set state by state. Some licensed buyers accept alternative proof of ownership, so a missing title narrows your options rather than ending the sale.
Yes, on cars young enough for their parts to sell. Lower mileage means the engine and transmission can be resold rather than shredded, which lifts the offer. On a 1990s car valued on weight alone, mileage changes almost nothing.
Only if you plan to sell it separately, and most sellers should not. Offers assume the converter is fitted, since it holds platinum, palladium and rhodium, so a buyer deducts for a missing one. Pulling it yourself means finding a second buyer for a single part.
Local scrap prices, distance to the yard and demand for your model all differ, and metal rates move daily. Ask whether pickup is free as well, since a collection fee raises the scrap car cost and can cancel out a higher headline figure.
