simple question concerning junk cars

I was wondering what individual auto parts net the most money towards junk yards or metal recyclers etc. I hear that you can make a lot more money off of your car that way than just junking it. thanks in advance.

It all depends on market forces. Some makes and models have MUCH higher value than others.

Generally, late model cars which have been damaged but have good parts fetch decent money for body shops.

Older cars, especially those with low resale values usually are not worth much as parts.

The most valuable parts are the larger components, such as engines and transmissions. Individual body panels often get a decent price, but it is better to sell an entire clip (ie: all body parts from the windshield to the front bumper. )

Finally, the easiest parts to sell (imo, due to high demand) are the head and tail lights.

One of the easiest things to sell on a car for junk recycling is the engine blocks, radiators, tranny's, and catalytic converters. Due to the high metal content and specific content in each item makes it worth more with the most valuable being the converter since they have platinum inside them.

are u talkign about parting the car out, or handing the parts over to a salvage yard?

parting out, if i parted my 944 i could get 800bucks for each seat, just b/c they aren't standard 944 seats. it really depends on the car that ur talking about.

It's kind of a mixture of both, for items like electronics, interior, wheel & tires, performance things you will get more out of selling the individual parts to someone. Other parts like the converter, O2 sensor, engine blocks (if bad) will get you more money out of selling it for scrap than a junkyard as most won't take individual parts only entire cars so they can make more money.

This is true, most salvage yards buy whole cars, part out what they can, then remove the engine/trans and any other small things worth resale value.

Then they just scrap just the car it's self(all glass must be removed too).
I know some folks that make over 1 million a year in scrapin cars. The draw back is you have junk laying everwhere and the DNR can come down on them hard for spilling fluids onto the ground. But when you make that much money it realy doesnt matter to them. :disappoin

Converters are worth quiet a bit, but it takes 100's to get any platinum that could be resold and used again.

Headlights and tails are worth trying to resell somewhere, like fleabay. :2cents:

things on a car that resale the most...fenders, hoods, spoilers(on econo cars), headlights/tailights, wheels(especially if an optional wheel), spare tires to(full size=more) electronics, interior(especially leather on a econo car). engine/trans if in mint condition(and u can pull em urself).

not in that order, but that's what my neighbor said, and he worked in a salvage yard for 15yrs, and is a mechanic for the last 3yrs...and rebuilds cars for a secondary income

even better info...try to part out the car first. then if after a few wks of advertising, sell it to a yard. if it's in running condition, they may just repair watever's wrong and resell it 3wks later. like a friends 240 that he just sold to the guy up the road. it's already for sale