Junk cars, scrap cars, end-of-life cars

ARC standards compel them to act as a governing body, from coast to coast. “It’s almost unbelievable, but there are some scrap operations who buy cars just to crush them and sell them for the value of the metal, allowing toxic fluids and heavy metals to escape into the soil and groundwater. They don’t recycle any usable parts and pay no regard to the damage they’re doing to the environment.” Read more details here.

Junk cars are managed differently by different companies. One of the reasons you might see a reduction in the value of your old car at the area scrap yard is due to the costs of processing responsibly.

Scrapping junk cars: More than just rusty metal and old tires!

If these practices are important to you, contact us here today and we’ll walk you through our donation process and take that clunker off your hands!

End of life processing for junk cars can benefit not only the charity you love, but the planet you rely on. Donate your old SUV, van, truck, or car today and make a difference!

You are also invited to contact and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter! There you’ll be able to keep up to date on our program. You can also see posts that showcase our amazing donors and charities in every province in Canada!

The post Our Junk Cars | Caring for the Earth appeared first on Donate A Car.

Recycle or re-sale: how do we decide?

There are a few key factors in determining your tax receipt amount. The vehicle’s year, make/model, and mileage are all important. The re-sale market condition in your area impacts our hopes of seeing successful auction re-sale. The condition of the interior/exterior make a difference, too.

There is one more determining factor. The one thing that we have no control over, but that is having the biggest impact on just how many zeros you’ll see on your tax receipt? The value of metal in Canada. This correlates directly with fluctuating oil and gas prices.

You may have been checking around at your local scrap yards to see what they’ll offer for your ’98 BMW, or that still-drivable Jimmy?

Perhaps you’re finding that they’re not offering more than a few dollars. They may have turned you away at the gate. In some parts of the country they’ve even asked you to pay them to take your car.

Here’s why:

Graph Courtesy of IAA Salvage Index Report

How the Recycle and Metal Industry Impact the Value of Your Car

The instability of a country such as Greece causes uncertainty in global markets. Global markets trade, among other things, metal, and investors are reluctant to spend when a country is unstable. This causes demand to drop and supply to increase (due to low sales); this drop in demand causes the drop in price for metals.

For some detailed (and we do mean detailed!) information on some of the many moving parts related to this issue — everything from the price of oil to international markets to various metals — read this article from the Recycling Product News website.

How this affects you, our donor:

If you donate a car that can be sold at auction, and kept on the road as it serves a happy new owner, we’ll facilitate that through as-is sale to the highest bidder.

If your car is recycle-ready, our supporting recycle or scrap yard will buy your vehicle for the metal they can re-sell to metal processors in North America (to our neighbors down South), or offshore (China and India are major buyers). They also attempt to re-sell serviceable parts here at home so, even if metal values are low, our cooperating agents may be able to make up for some losses by selling individual pieces.

What the scrap yard salvages:

Vehicle itself – Aluminum/Steel/Iron

Catalytic Converter – Platinum

Engine Block – Aluminum

Transmission – Aluminum

Radiator – Aluminum

Turbo – Aluminum

Alloy wheels – Aluminum

Battery – Refurbish and re-sell

Serviceable Parts – Refurbish and re-sell

So much information – all in our concerted effort to good for your chosen charity

You can see why we ask the pesky question, “Are there any parts missing?” Our guys in the field are working hard to pay for fuel in the tow truck tank and bread on the table through every salvageable part! This is great for the environment as nothing’s wasted, and it ensures that our supporting tow companies and auction houses can continue to serve us by providing free tows and donation returns.

Metal values are low today, but our contacts in the industry assure that it just takes a little time for these things to sort themselves out; we can expect to see an increase in due time. 

If you have curiosity or concerns about this aspect of your vehicle donation process we welcome your call or email query. We look forward to hearing from you!

The post The Metal Monster | How we Value Your Recycle Donation appeared first on Donate A Car.