Scrapping a whole car in Australia: sell it whole, or strip it first?

A car that will never drive again is still a few hundred kilograms of steel, a decent lump of aluminium, and a handful of components that are worth more than the metal they are made from. The question every seller faces is whether to hand the whole thing to a car-removal buyer for one payment, or to spend a weekend pulling the valuable bits first. The answer depends on how buyers price a whole vehicle, and on a catch that trips up a lot of people: taking parts out can knock more off the whole-car offer than the parts fetch on their own.

How a whole car gets priced

Cash-for-cars and car-removal buyers work from two numbers. The first is weight. A whole vehicle is mostly scrap steel, so the baseline offer is roughly the shredded-steel rate multiplied by the car’s kerb weight, less what it costs the buyer to tow it, drain it and process it. A heavy 4WD or ute is worth more on this measure than a small hatchback, regardless of what is wrong with either.

The second number is parts value. A buyer who also runs a dismantling operation will look at what can be pulled and resold or scrapped separately: the catalytic converter, alternator, starter motor, aluminium wheels, radiator and battery. A late-model car with an intact exhaust and a full set of alloys sits well above the weight-only floor. A stripped shell sits on it.

That is why quotes vary so much for the same car. One buyer is pricing on weight alone, another on parts, and a third is guessing without seeing the vehicle. Distance from the yard, whether the car rolls and steers, and whether it is complete all move the number. Get a few quotes, be honest about what is missing, and ask whether the offer is conditional on the car arriving as described. Rates differ by region too, so check the city pages first.

What happens at the yard

Once the car is collected it goes through depollution before anything is crushed. The battery comes out, the fuel is drained, and the engine oil, coolant, brake fluid and transmission fluid are pumped into separate tanks. Tyres are removed because they cannot go through a shredder. If the car has air conditioning, the refrigerant has to be recovered by a licensed operator: under the Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Management Act it is an offence to discharge fluorocarbon refrigerant to the atmosphere, and anyone recovering it from vehicle air conditioning needs at least a Restricted Refrigerant Recoverer Licence.

After that, anything saleable is pulled, the shell is baled or fed to a shredder, and magnets and eddy-current separators split the output into ferrous steel, non-ferrous metal (mostly aluminium and copper) and the residue of plastic, glass and foam. Every one of those steps costs the buyer money, which is why a whole-car offer is always well below the raw metal value you would get from the scrap calculator.

Paperwork before the truck arrives

The car remains your responsibility until the registration is dealt with, and the rules differ by state. Everywhere you will need photo ID and something showing you are the registered operator, and the buyer should give you a receipt or signed disposal notice. Keep it.

• New South Wales: the registered operator cancels at a Service NSW centre with the registration certificate, the number plates, proof of identity and the cancellation form. Plates are handed in, and you can apply for a refund of the unused motor vehicle tax after a cancellation fee.
• Victoria: cancellation is done through a myVicRoads account, and VicRoads states that you do not need to return your number plates. For a refund on a written-off car you attach an insurance report or a wrecker’s receipt.
• Queensland: standard plates must be surrendered when you lodge the cancellation form, and you may receive a refund of the unused registration and CTP premium, less a cancellation fee.
• Western Australia: on a voluntary cancellation the plates go back to a Driver and Vehicle Services Centre, a regional agent or by post, and a refund may be available if the licence had not yet expired.
• South Australia: a written-off or wrecked vehicle cannot be cancelled online; you lodge the paper form with Service SA, surrender the plates, and provide an insurer’s letter or a statutory declaration to backdate the cancellation.

Other states and territories have their own process, so check the transport authority’s site before you book the pickup. Whatever the state, take the plates off before the car leaves your driveway.

Do a PPSR search as well. It shows whether a vehicle has been used to secure a loan, has been written off or is recorded as stolen. If there is finance still registered against the car, sort that out with the lender before selling it, because a buyer who checks (and most do) will walk away.

Which parts are worth pulling

If you do decide to strip first, work down this list in order of value for effort.

• Catalytic converter. The single most valuable component on most cars, because of the platinum-group metals in the honeycomb. It unbolts or cuts from the exhaust in minutes. See the catalytic converter page for what affects its value.
• Battery. Lead-acid batteries are bought by weight and are easy to remove. A car battery is a two-minute job with a spanner.
• Alternator and starter motor. Both contain copper windings and, in the alternator’s case, an aluminium housing. Yards buy them as a separate grade. Access varies from easy to miserable depending on the engine bay.
• Aluminium wheels. Alloys pay at aluminium rates rather than steel, and unbolting them is trivial. Swap steel spares on so the car can still be rolled onto the truck.
• Radiator. Aluminium-and-plastic radiators are worth pulling if the engine bay is already open; brass-and-copper radiators from older vehicles are worth considerably more.
• Copper wiring. The harness is copper, but it runs through the whole body and takes hours to extract. Rarely worth it on a single car.

The catch

A whole-car buyer is quoting you on a complete vehicle. Remove the converter, the battery and the alloys, and you have a shell, which the buyer will re-quote on weight alone, possibly with a fee for the missing wheels. The drop in the whole-car offer can easily exceed what the parts fetch at the yard, especially once you count the trips.

The stripping route pays off in two situations: you have several cars, or the buyer is pricing on weight anyway and has told you so. If you are dealing with one car and a buyer who values it as a complete unit, sell it whole and let them do the work.

Safety

• Airbags. Undeployed airbags contain a pyrotechnic charge. Do not cut, drill or hammer near the steering wheel, dash, seats or pillars, and leave airbag modules to the yard.
• Fuel. Petrol vapour in an enclosed garage is a fire hazard. Drain outdoors into an approved container, away from any tool that sparks.
• Refrigerant. Air-conditioning lines are pressurised and, as above, cannot legally be vented. Do not cut them; the yard will recover the gas.
• Jacking. Never work under a car on a jack alone; use stands on a hard, level surface.

The bottom line

Sort the registration and PPSR check before anything else. Get quotes from buyers who tell you how they are pricing the car. If you are being paid on weight, pull the converter, battery and alloys and sell them separately. If you are being paid for a complete car, leave it complete and take the cheque.