Junk Car Offer Calculator for Scrap and Salvage Buyers

What can you pay for this junk car and still make money?

Type the car's weight, what your crusher pays, what the converter and parts bring, and what the tow, paperwork, storage and labour cost. The tool shows the most you can offer, what the seller's ask leaves you, and how far you can tow, how low the scrap price can fall and how little of the parts must sell before the ask stops working.

Arithmetic on figures you type. Not financial, tax, legal or licensing advice. The example figures are placeholders, not your crusher's quote, your tow rate or your local scrap market.

1. The car

Curb weight (lbs)

Look it up by year and model if you do not have a scale ticket.

Weight of parts you pull and sell (lbs)

Taken off before the hulk goes to the crusher.

Catalytic converter value ($)

What a recycler pays for this car's converter.

2. What the scrap and parts bring

Crusher price per ton ($)

Your crusher's current quote for the stripped hulk, per 2,000 lb.

Value of parts if all sold ($)

Alternator, wheels, doors, ECU, whatever you will pull.

Parts value that sells (%)

Use your last ten cars, not your best one.

Marketplace and payment fees (%)

3. What it costs you

Flat tow charge ($)

One-way tow miles

Tow cost per mile ($)

Title and paperwork ($)

State fees and your time at the counter.

Fluids, tires and disposal ($)

Hours to pull and list parts

Cost of an hour ($)

What you would pay a helper.

Days in the yard

Yard cost per car per day ($)

Hulk to the crusher ($)

4. The deal

What the seller wants ($)

Profit you need on this car ($)

Questions junk car buyers ask

What should I pay for a junk car?

Work backward from what the car brings you. Add the scrap value of the stripped hulk (weight times the crusher's price per ton), the catalytic converter, and the parts that really sell after fees, then subtract the tow, paperwork, disposal, yard storage, your labour and the haul to the crusher. Subtract the profit you need and what is left is the most you can offer. This tool does that for the car in front of you.

How is a junk car priced by weight?

Crushers and shredders pay per ton of the stripped hulk. Weigh or look up the curb weight, subtract the parts you pull and sell separately, and multiply by the price per 2,000 lb ton. The price moves with the scrap market, so it is an input here, not a constant.

How far can I tow a junk car and still make money?

The tool finds the farthest one-way tow at which the seller's asking price still leaves your target profit, and shows the offer you could make at 5 to 80 miles.

What if the parts do not sell?

Parts are counted at the share you say actually sells, net of marketplace and payment fees, and the tool shows the sell-through the ask needs and what the offer looks like from none to all of the parts selling.

Is this financial, tax or legal advice?

No. It is arithmetic on figures you type. Title rules, licensing for salvage buyers, converter laws and environmental disposal rules are set by state and local law; check yours with a qualified professional.

Not decided

Whether the car's title is clean, whether you hold the licence a salvage buyer needs, whether the converter is legal to buy or sell where you are, which parts really are in good shape, the scrap price on the day the crusher weighs it, taxes, and your time beyond the labour figure. The hulk is priced at today's quote, and parts that do not sell count as zero.