Selling a car for spares?

[Triumphman]

Anyone ever bought a write off and broke it sold it for spares?
Co part etc?
Cheers

 

[Barking Mat]

Used to be a market buying old discoveries driving them to Portugal, and breaking them.

Not me, people I know.

 

[hotponyshoes]

You need a breakers licence to buy breakers from the big places. Mainly to ensure the old fluids etc. are disposed of properly.

You can buy damaged repairable stuff with no licence but the prices it fetches are a bit much for breaking. If you have the space buying a few the same (something common like a focus) and making 4 good cars out of 5 damaged ones and selling the leftover spares works out sometimes.

Some cars are worth more in parts than they are whole so looking locally for non-runners might be a better option for sourcing stock.
A low mileage good condition high end car with a snapped cambelt is a good one, seats, trim, panels, etc are all good sellers. Look out for stuff that is common and has a wide range of trim levels. Plenty of people will buy a good condition leather interior to upgrade their own from cloth. Don't pick something too classy like a Bentley where they all come with leather as standard.

 

[TechnicAl]

Used to be a market buying old discoveries driving them to Portugal, and breaking them.

Not me, people I know.

suprised that they made it without falling apart on the way

 

[Rrobson]

I’ve broken a few over the last couple of years, haven’t bought from “licensed sellers” like copart though. Most have come off eBay, few other streams too.
I have had one cat c write off, the guy I bought I off was totally unaware, even though it said at the bottom of the v5 so he got ripped off for it, it it was specifically bought to break. Made a good few hindered quid off it actually, the cats sold for more than I paid for the car!

 

[RWD3M]

From what I gather the theiving and breaking of cars is quite a lucrative and active market. I don't know where that leaves the legitimate market.

I've been trying to get round to doing it to my poor old X Type, just haven't got the heart!

 

[a111r]

I've bought donors for project cars and spares cars to support daily drivers. Very handy
One has to really know the market for specific models; only enthusiasts will strip and change an interior.
Otherwise, as purely a money making exercise, it doesn't really pay when you add up all the various factors.

 

[MoreWellie]

you need space and an understanding wife/parents/boss/children/mates

it used to be straight forward when you finished you ticked the relevant box on the v5 and sent it off to DVLA, now you have to get a certificate of destruction from an authorised breakers and they generally aren't interested if large lumps of it are missing

 

[sasquar]

it used to be straight forward when you finished you ticked the relevant box on the v5 and sent it off to DVLA, now you have to get a certificate of destruction from an authorised breakers and they generally aren't interested if large lumps of it are missing

ive been known to just write 'scrapped' in big letters with a black marker pen diagonally across the entire v5 since they got rid of that little box. it worked ok, got a letter through abuot three days later, 'thankyou for informing us you are no longer the keeper'... more recently ive discovered the people I weigh in at down here, are able to inform the dvla as you hand the v5 over and they can do it online. does rather depend on being able to take the remains to them though, im not sure if they would still do it if they were collecting.....

 

[qwakers]

you can register it as scrapped online.

 

[grim_d]

I've broke a few cars for spares.

It's nothing more than a bloody hassle.

You end up with a big pile of bits nobody wants.

 

[bricol]

you can register it as scrapped online.

Indeed - done it to a Scimitar and an Mx5 this summer.

 

[bricol]

I've broke a few cars for spares.

It's nothing more than a bloody hassle.

You end up with a big pile of bits nobody wants.

I've now got a small pile of bits no-one wants, me included - anyone want an MX5 rear bumper, both doors, bonnet and boot lid?

 

[a111r]

I've broke a few cars for spares.

It's nothing more than a bloody hassle.

You end up with a big pile of bits nobody wants.

And the hoarding gene, ** err, if afflicted ** means that it takes like a year to realise that fact...

 

[brightspark]

I once bought a mk1 ford capri 2ltr for 40 quid kept the mint rs alloys off it reconditioned the engine used the suspension and brakes off it for a mk2escort van I had sold the back axle for 50 quid and cut the shell up with a stihlsaw and got 50 quid for it bought an escort van for 20 quid and flogged all the stuff of it and got 40 for the shell; was well profitable bad part was some thieving b stard stole the mew tires and wheels of me kitcar never ever got em back or saw them

 

[bigegg]

I bought a mot-less vauxhall carlton gs3000 for parts for my Diamond (GS3000 estate) (mainly the gearbox and dashboard)
Sold the engine for more than i paid for the car, then the interior, the rear axle, the doors, and the bumpers + bonnet - all on autobahnstormers (vaux owners club).
No cat: it was too old.

Then i cut the remains into four pieces with the 9" grinder and a couple of nice irish lads with a pickup took the rest away for me.

Netted the best part of a grand on it.
Biggest problem was sweeping the broken glass from the windscreen + back window.

 

[cheb]

I've broken and sold a couple of motorcycles, I'm not sure I'd pay anything other than a nominal amount for the vehicle though unless I was buying it for specifics parts and then shifting on the rest. Some of the bits took 18 months to sell. Being organised and labelling stuff is vital IMO.

Anyone want some CB200 spares, crankshaft, gears, engine casings? No? Thought not.

 

[Cobbler]

I've now got a small pile of bits no-one wants, me included - anyone want an MX5 rear bumper, both doors, bonnet and boot lid?

Guess what, I’ve got front & back bumpers, 1 door, driveshafts, rack & various other bits for an MX5! Oh and 2 engines a gearbox, 2 Rover V8s as well. All my sons bits from the various swaps we’ve done. I don’t say anything, my father used to grumble all the time about what I got up to, so I vowed not to be like that.

 

[armalites]

I often go back through the reg numbers that I've had(I can remember most of them, sad I know) on the vehicle enquiry service. Many of those cars would have been scrapped decades ago but they are still listed on the service.

So the reality is worst case senario you sorn them and forget about them. I know there was talk a while back about having to insure vehicles that weren't on the road, that would be the death of this kind of thing.

These things go through cycles, in those early years it's good body panels that make the money, vehicles commonly driven by boy/girl racers that have good front end make good money because they always smash the fronts.

Then it's mechanical stuff and trim/interior parts

If you can keep the stuff long enough there will value in all the parts as people start to restore older ones but sadly when parts start to break it seems with modern cars the same part will break on all of them.

 

[bricol]

Guess what, I’ve got front & back bumpers, 1 door, driveshafts, rack & various other bits for an MX5! Oh and 2 engines a gearbox, 2 Rover V8s as well. All my sons bits from the various swaps we’ve done. I don’t say anything, my father used to grumble all the time about what I got up to, so I vowed not to be like that.

I keep having to add sheds to the sheds for the "just in case" and "next time" car mod bits . . .

bought the MX5 for the drivetrain - weighted the main shell in, flogged a few bits - sold the wheels yesterday - tried to give him the bumper, doors . . .