When you’re trying to get rid of an old car, you might opt to do some of the hard work yourself and strip it for useful parts to sell on privately, rather than scrapping the vehicle whole. Of course, this is possible, but it requires a decent understanding of car mechanics and the parts that make these motors tick.
To help you out, we’ve put together this guide offering advice on which parts are worth removing from your car, how much you could get from them, where you’re likely to find a buyer and what alternatives you have if you don’t feel comfortable with this task but still want to scrap your vehicle.
How Long Will It Take To Strip My Car For Parts?
Your skill with a set of tools and knowledge of car mechanics will play a significant role in answering this question, but you could be looking at several days at least if you’re really breaking the vehicle into many parts.
For reference, removing an engine – which, admittedly, is one of the toughest parts to tackle – is probably going to be an entire day’s work, or around six to eight hours. A skilled mechanic could have it done before lunch, but on the other hand, an average motorist should expect the engine to keep them busy for an entire weekend.
Now, consider that this is just one part of a very complex machine – breaking it up and removing all the good bits is likely to take days, and possibly even a couple of weeks.
On the other hand…
While an engine is quite tricky to remove, you’ll find seats, trim and bodywork pieces quite simple, usually only requiring a couple of clips or bolts to be taken away before coming off!
Which Car Parts Are The Most Valuable?
It goes without saying that certain bits and pieces from your old motor will be worth more money than others. Here are the parts that are most valuable, giving you an idea of which might be worth the hassle of removing:
- Engine
- Catalytic converter
- Transmission
- Airbags
- Tyres & wheels (especially alloys)
- Infotainment systems
Bear in mind that the difference in value between these items could be massive; an engine is going to worth a lot more than a tyre, but a tyre is much easier to remove from a vehicle than an engine.
However, don’t forget that the condition of the parts is also incredibly important. Nobody is going to pay good money for an engine if it’s just a few hundred miles away from suffering a massive mechanical failure!
What Are The Easiest Car Parts To Sell?
Certain parts of a car are more sought-after than others. This means that you’ll be more likely to snap up a buyer in a few days, or maybe even a few hours, rather than having to live around the car parts that you’ve removed.
Often, these fast-selling parts will fall into one of two categories – cheap are plentiful, or expensive and rarer.
Cheap, Plentiful & Easy
If you want to earn some quick and easy cash, and don’t care about essentially dismantling your car in the process, target parts like the seats, bumpers and even the wheel nuts. Seats are usually fairly easy to remove and you’ve probably got at least two of them in your car!
Wheel nuts can be a particularly lucrative way to earn some money, with car enthusiasts sometimes paying more for the nuts than they would for an actual wheel! If you’re getting rid a car that’s of a more ‘desirable’ model, someone should be interested!
Expensive, Rare & Challenging
Things like the engine, transmission & airbags are going to fetch a healthy sum of money from a buyer, but the methods of removing these parts from your car are also quite difficult. We’ve already talked about removing an engine, but an airbag is no piece of cake either; you have to be very careful not to damage it, so amateur mechanics should probably leave them well alone.
Special Mention: Scrapping Batteries
The simplest part of a car to sell is arguably the battery. It can take seconds to remove, it’s easy to transport and, if you’re selling several in bulk, you can make a nice amount of money!
Where Can I Sell My Car Parts?
If you’ve taken your car apart and want a quick sale, you’ll need to know where to start looking for buyers right away. These days, the internet is a vital tool for anyone trying to buy or sell anything, including car parts. There are several websites, some auction-based and others of a more traditional shop format.
Don’t fancy selling online and having to post & package your parts? You could try to sell them to a local scrapyard. However, some might say that you may as well save yourself the hassle and simply sell your whole car as scrap!
How Much Money Will I Make If I Sell My Car For Parts?
It’s impossible to attach a specific figure to this answer, as every single part could sell for a totally different price depending on which parts you’re selling, who’s buying them, where & when you’re selling them and, perhaps most importantly, the condition of the parts.
The total could range from anywhere between a few hundred pounds, up to and beyond several thousand pounds! It’s impossible to say until you’re totaling up your profits once all is said and done.
What Alternative Options Are There To Selling Parts?
If your car has reached the end of its life and you don’t want to strip it down and sell it for parts, then the best alternative is to sell it with National Scrap Car who’ll find you a professional scrap or salvage dealer to purchase it!
Salvage buyers will do all the hard work for you, breaking down your vehicle and rescuing any of the parts that you might have taken out yourself to sell separately. Don’t worry though – you’ll still receive extra cash for the salvaged parts on top of what you’d get if you scrapped the car outright. That’s why you’re better off, financially, salvaging instead of scrapping!