Stripping cars - viable business model?

[V8mate]

5harp3y said:

V8mate said:

JB! said:

V8mate said:

lost in espace said:

If I can get the car to the scrap man he can deal with a lot of the fluids, and presumably pay me for whatever is left of the car. I assume a scappy will take even a shell plus bits I cannot remove?

Waste oils can be disposed at my local tip along with tyres/rims, albeit on a non commercial basis. I was not planning on using torches or such like. Any fuel in the tank can be safely removed and stored for use.

Please keep the comments coming for and against, its still something I am mulling over at the moment before I committed to buying a trailer I wanted to check with the PH massive that I was not being a bit bonkers.

Stripping individual cars quietly in a close garage should not cause any problem for my neighbours.

The fluids will be the first thing you'll need to attend to, not the last and scrapyards will charge you to take away a bare shell as the revenue from it alone will not warrant the visit.

And don't take the guys at the tips for fools; they'll soon recall 'that bloke who brings round 4 tyres every week'.

Eric is right about running such a business from home too.

But...and this is a big but... assuming you ignore the law and get away with doing so, have you thought how the revenue stream will run against the time and expenditure stream?

How would you feel if you had fully dismantled four cars, cleaned and catalogued all serviceable parts, to have only sold one headlamp unit?

bare shells with no interiour/ mechanicals actually are easier to get rid of IME, as with nothing other than metal and maybe a windscreen, they can be sold straight to the metal merchants rather than having to dispose of fluids etc.

I don't disagree, but a bare shell on its own does not have enough inherent value for it to be collected without charge. You'd be lucky to get £10-20 if you delivered it.

I scrapped my mk1 golf convertible shell. it had nothing left on it, no panels, no glass ... nothing.

phoned up local vehicle dismantlers (big registered place) 45 mins laster a low loader dragged it off my driveway and took the v5 to have it registered as scrap.

no money in the shell, but i made well over £1500 from the car (lots of modified / performance parts)

How long ago. Bear in mind there was a mini-boom in scrap metal prices just ahead of this recession (which disappeared just as rapidly)

[JB!]

V8mate said:

5harp3y said:

V8mate said:

JB! said:

V8mate said:

lost in espace said:

If I can get the car to the scrap man he can deal with a lot of the fluids, and presumably pay me for whatever is left of the car. I assume a scappy will take even a shell plus bits I cannot remove?

Waste oils can be disposed at my local tip along with tyres/rims, albeit on a non commercial basis. I was not planning on using torches or such like. Any fuel in the tank can be safely removed and stored for use.

Please keep the comments coming for and against, its still something I am mulling over at the moment before I committed to buying a trailer I wanted to check with the PH massive that I was not being a bit bonkers.

Stripping individual cars quietly in a close garage should not cause any problem for my neighbours.

The fluids will be the first thing you'll need to attend to, not the last and scrapyards will charge you to take away a bare shell as the revenue from it alone will not warrant the visit.

And don't take the guys at the tips for fools; they'll soon recall 'that bloke who brings round 4 tyres every week'.

Eric is right about running such a business from home too.

But...and this is a big but... assuming you ignore the law and get away with doing so, have you thought how the revenue stream will run against the time and expenditure stream?

How would you feel if you had fully dismantled four cars, cleaned and catalogued all serviceable parts, to have only sold one headlamp unit?

bare shells with no interiour/ mechanicals actually are easier to get rid of IME, as with nothing other than metal and maybe a windscreen, they can be sold straight to the metal merchants rather than having to dispose of fluids etc.

I don't disagree, but a bare shell on its own does not have enough inherent value for it to be collected without charge. You'd be lucky to get £10-20 if you delivered it.

I scrapped my mk1 golf convertible shell. it had nothing left on it, no panels, no glass ... nothing.

phoned up local vehicle dismantlers (big registered place) 45 mins laster a low loader dragged it off my driveway and took the v5 to have it registered as scrap.

no money in the shell, but i made well over £1500 from the car (lots of modified / performance parts)

How long ago. Bear in mind there was a mini-boom in scrap metal prices just ahead of this recession (which disappeared just as rapidly)

the VW scene has high used part prices, because dealers charge loads for new. "Scene tax" is the coined phrase for the inflated value of "rare" parts or BBS Splits.

[V8mate]

We're talking about the detritus though, not the juicy bits.

[JB!]

V8mate said:

We're talking about the detritus though, not the juicy bits.

detritus? name soem parts you call detritus and i'll tell you what they sell for.

[andye30m3]

The guy who bought my old M3 with a blown engine for £2250ish seamed to think it would break for around £7k so with the right cars there would appear to be profit to me made.

[Eric Mc]

andye30m3 said:

The guy who bought my old M3 with a blown engine for £2250ish seamed to think it would break for around £7k so with the right cars there would appear to be profit to me made.

The words "seemed" and "appear" may not have equated to the reality.

[andye30m3]

Eric Mc said:

andye30m3 said:

The guy who bought my old M3 with a blown engine for £2250ish seamed to think it would break for around £7k so with the right cars there would appear to be profit to me made.

The words "seemed" and "appear" may not have equated to the reality.

true but he had broken several others so although £7k maybe optimistic it was based on some experience.

[jas xjr]

years ago i had a mechanically sound transit van but it was really really rusty. some parts on it such as gearbox ,prop and rear axle were new. i could not get anybody to even give me £200 pounds for it.
a mate said break it so i did. sold most of the major components with people driving 50 or even 80 miles for them. i had quite a few parts left which sold over a few months. my memory is not great but i reckon it fetched me about £800. even sold parts that i would have given away , such as a scratched windscreen. wheels and tyres,£10 each (£50) ripped up seats held together by gaffer tape £10. and so on.

gave the bodyshell away , as neighbours were complaining.

[Nickellarse]

Be aware that scrap tyres are haz and your local CA site won't take them. Most use cameras to clock repeat visitors, especially if it is haz waste, which all the fluids are as well as batteries etc.

You'll make some cash if you are selling the parts and the local scrap yard will take the residual, but you won't get any cash for it and I'd imagine that you'll be taking the bits left over to them, not them collecting it.

For what it's worth: One call to the council from your neighbours and you'll be wishing you'd never started the venture.

[JB!]

Nickellarse said:

Be aware that scrap tyres are haz and your local CA site won't take them. Most use cameras to clock repeat visitors, especially if it is haz waste, which all the fluids are as well as batteries etc.

You'll make some cash if you are selling the parts and the local scrap yard will take the residual, but you won't get any cash for it and I'd imagine that you'll be taking the bits left over to them, not them collecting it.

For what it's worth: One call to the council from your neighbours and you'll be wishing you'd never started the venture.

my local municipal dump takes used tyres.

infact, the 3 closest ones all take them.

[V8mate]

JB! said:

Nickellarse said:

Be aware that scrap tyres are haz and your local CA site won't take them. Most use cameras to clock repeat visitors, especially if it is haz waste, which all the fluids are as well as batteries etc.

You'll make some cash if you are selling the parts and the local scrap yard will take the residual, but you won't get any cash for it and I'd imagine that you'll be taking the bits left over to them, not them collecting it.

For what it's worth: One call to the council from your neighbours and you'll be wishing you'd never started the venture.

my local municipal dump takes used tyres.

infact, the 3 closest ones all take them.

Not if you turn up with a bootful every week they won't.

[JB!]

V8mate said:

JB! said:

Nickellarse said:

Be aware that scrap tyres are haz and your local CA site won't take them. Most use cameras to clock repeat visitors, especially if it is haz waste, which all the fluids are as well as batteries etc.

You'll make some cash if you are selling the parts and the local scrap yard will take the residual, but you won't get any cash for it and I'd imagine that you'll be taking the bits left over to them, not them collecting it.

For what it's worth: One call to the council from your neighbours and you'll be wishing you'd never started the venture.

my local municipal dump takes used tyres.

infact, the 3 closest ones all take them.

Not if you turn up with a bootful every week they won't.

true, but why would you remove the tyres? wheels & tyres are easier to sell on.

[essayer]

I guess it comes down to: are you "dismantling" or "scrapping"?

Scrapping probably a legal nightmare with waste regs and hazardous materials etc, dismantling not so bad. Esp if the scrappy comes and takes away everything unsaleable.

Don't try and take any stuff to the tip, you'll soon end up in lots of hassle.

[V8mate]

essayer said:

I guess it comes down to: are you "dismantling" or "scrapping"?

Scrapping probably a legal nightmare with waste regs and hazardous materials etc, dismantling not so bad. Esp if the scrappy comes and takes away everything unsaleable.

Don't try and take any stuff to the tip, you'll soon end up in lots of hassle.

There's no difference - all covered by the 'end of life' regs.

[BigBen]

I just broke an old Merc because I wanted the engine. I paid £2k for the car and have got somewhere close to £1k back with some bits still to sell.

Point being the engine would sell for £1k+ all day long and I have also been able to keep the brakes and some other bits to go on the recipient car. Therefore I think I could have turned a £500 - £1k profit on the car and that is from advertising bits on a single forum rather than ebay.

The pikeys took the chassis away and did not give me any cash but didn't ask for any, although they did try to steal my alloy wheels but that's another storey....

Ben

[Glassman]

BigBen said:

they did try to steal my alloy wheels but that's another storey....

You kept them on another floor?

[BigBen]

Glassman said:

BigBen said:

they did try to steal my alloy wheels but that's another storey....

You kept them on another floor?

No I tried to catch the miscreants and throw them off a building.

[Dr.Doofenshmirtz]

It'll never work as a viable business.
Even if you get away with running a breakers yard from your back garden - you will definitely have the tax man after you once the money starts rolling in - he will want to know where the cash has come from, eventually you'll get busted.
This is not to mention the utter pain in the ass of dealing with eBay idiots and PayPal disputes.

Sorry - it's something I'd like to do, but these days it's neigh on impossible unless you've ticked all the boxes.

Edited by Dr.Doofenshmirtz on Sunday 1st August 21:03

[cymtriks]

Be warned...

IIRC scrap cars are classified as toxic waste and are legally required to be broken in a special yard with an impermeable floor covering the entire area.

You will be breaking local planing laws by running a breakers yard from your garage and god only knows what laws regarding toxic waste.

The only loop hole I can see is if there is an allowance of X cars per year or a certain quanitity sold to cater for the home mechanic. There has to be some clause like this but it will almost certainly severely cut down any legal business that you have in mind.

[V8mate]

cymtriks said:

Be warned...

IIRC scrap cars are classified as toxic waste and are legally required to be broken in a special yard with an impermeable floor covering the entire area.

You will be breaking local planing laws by running a breakers yard from your garage and god only knows what laws regarding toxic waste.

The only loop hole I can see is if there is an allowance of X cars per year or a certain quanitity sold to cater for the home mechanic. There has to be some clause like this but it will almost certainly severely cut down any legal business that you have in mind.

No. Under the End of Life Vehicle Directive, all cars must be disposed of via an Authorised Treatment Facility.

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/business/regu...