If you’ve made the decision to scrap your car rather than to waste time trying fruitlessly to sell it, chances are you’ll find the subject a pretty easy one to tackle. A quick web search will return dozens of dealers working in any given locality and all are chomping at the bit to take your car off your hands.
However, this does not for one second mean that each and every one of the dealers presented before you is of the same quality or calibre. Far from it in fact as while some genuinely have everyone’s best interests at heart, others care about little more than making a quick buck and to hell with everything else.
Why does choosing the right scrap car dealer matter? A multitude of reasons, though the following are the most prevalent:
Recycling, Not Rotting
First and foremost, it’s still referred to a car scrapping by most but what you’re actually looking at…or should be…is car recycling. In some cases, a scrap car service will take your car, take off the bits of value and leave the rest on a pile to rust and rot away. The fact that cars take hundreds of years to in any way decompose should drive home the message of how bad this is for the environment in general. By contrast, a good scrap dealer will make sure that the car and all viable parts are sent off for recycling.
Responsible Recycling
And on the subject of recycling, there’s a difference between throwing a few parts at a plant to make the most cash and making sure that the whole of the car is processed and recycled. In the right hands, no less than 80% of the steel in a car can be recycled, so really there’s no excuse for not making sure this happens.
Registered and Authorised
Ask yourself – are you sure the place is registered and fully authorised to be doing what it’s doing? If the answer isn’t a resounding ‘yes’, then by doing business with them you’re effectively helping them break the law and will not have a leg to stand on if you run into any problems further down the line.
The Best Price
There are two prices you can be offered for your scrap car – those being the best price and any other price at all. Unless you’ve got more money than you’ll ever need to play with, then of course you want the best price for your scrap car. It could be worth a pretty penny or literally a handful of pennies, but you’ll only ever get what it’s worth by going to a reputable and responsible dealer.
No Legal Headaches
And finally, the last thing you want is to hand over your car only to find out a few weeks later that the paperwork wasn’t done properly and you now have to pay a fine that’s three-times the amount you were paid for the car. Go with a responsible dealer and they’ll make sure every aspect of the legal side of things is covered – trust a less trustworthy dealer and you’re on your own.