Choose a yard. You should have two or three offers for your car. Determine which offer you will accept and make arrangements to dispose of your car. You’ll need to sign over the lien to the junk yard and receive payment for your vehicle. If your vehicle is worthless, the salvage company may tow it away for free.
Most salvage companies have “hot lines” that connect them with other companies. These are used to transfer information, such as requests for specific car parts. That means that you don’t have to hop from salvage yard to salvage yard in search of your car parts. You can simply check out a single salvage yard. If they don’t have what you’re looking for, they’re likely to find it from another dealer via the hot line.
You can also look on the Internet because of the presence of auto parts that are made for performance and speed. These places usually have competitive pricing but you may not like the shipping rates that are with these online auto parts stores. This is the downside to ordering on the Internet as well as any other time that you may end up ordering your auto parts for your race car.
Cars that have been given a salvage titles are those that the insurance company claims would cost more to repair than the vehicle is worth. However, it’s mostly based on the estimated value of the vehicle as compared to the Kelly Blue Book so for example if you own an older truck that was in mint condition before you got rear-ended, the insurance company might decide the truck is not worth it to repair so they will want to total it. Having been in this situation myself I can assure you it was definitely worth it to me to repair my truck!
For parts that are large, some 2000 honda civic sedan yards will haul them for you. This is something to ask when you make the phone call. Some people will buy the entire vehicle in order to scrap it themselves. Other parts such as trunk lids, hoods, door panels, and roofs can be too large for some to haul as well. If you need them to haul it for you, ask them how much they will do it for. Make sure that you comparison shop if you feel the price is too steep. If no one else can do any better or they don’t have the part, you can always call them back and tell them you will be there to make the purchase. You are not obligated the moment you make the phone call.
Learn to recognize the smell of burnt oil and/or burnt transmission fluid. Either forewarn of coming problems. Smell the dip stick on both. Open an oil filler cap while the engine is running. Does it have blow-by? If so, be prepared for major engine problems. At the least, the vehicle will need rings. Is there a lower or upper end engine knock? Same deal…Not good! How ’bout an anti-freeze smell. More than likely the vehicle has a bad head gasket. Get the point yet? Take a mechanic along if you aren’t versed in these things. They will know what to look for to save you money.