The first thing that comes to everybody’s mind when considering selling off their old vehicle is, “How much value can I get for this old heap of metal?”
It is a fair question and it deserves a fair answer. But prices are not uniform all over the place. And even without the price variation in different cities, there are several important factors that affect the value of your old vehicle.
Factors that affect the value of a car
Here is a quick breakdown of the factors that affect the value of a car in the scrap market:
- If the car is not in a working condition
If the car is not in a working condition, then it is valued by scrap metal. The make and the model of the car also play a part in determining the pricing here. A Maruti 800 will return much lower value than a Toyota Innova. There are other logistics costs to be considered as well.
- If the car is in working condition
If the car is working, then the scrap dealers can reuse pre-owned spare parts of the car and hence will be able to give a comparatively higher value for the vehicle. Further, if the car is in a working condition, then the cost to move the vehicle will not be incurred.
- Paint Job and Rust
This has nothing to do with the aesthetic value. Rust or corrosion greatly degrades and, consequently, devalues the metal parts of the vehicle. If there is no good quality metal to use for scrap, then it is hard to produce good quality crude metal through processing. In such a case, it is hard for the scrap dealers to sell the metal parts to recycling plants.
- Petrol or Diesel engine
An important thing to note is that, as per legal guidelines, engines need to be defaced by scrap dealers, and not resold. This is very important when you consider the environmental implications of an old engine – on average, an old engine will produce 10 times the emissions compared to a new one). Unfortunately, the unorganized scrap markets do not follow this. Cero is the first organized vehicle recycling enterprise in India that does this properly and follows all guidelines laid down on the subject.
- Scrap Metal prices
The price of scrap metals extracted varies from time to time. Steel, cast iron, aluminum, etc are extracted and sold at different rates. More processing fetches higher value since it is closer to the recycled product.
- Other parts
The rubber from the tyres, the seats, seat-covers is also of value. And scrap dealers take everything into account when estimating the value of an old car for scrap. The rubber from the tyres can be processed to make carpets and sports turfs.
Caution
A few things need to be kept in mind when getting your car scrapped. Try to make sure that the scrap dealer is actually performing this activity. You can watch the car being dismantled right before your eyes – there is no law to bar you from doing so.
The car’s chassis has a unique number on it. That part is cut out before the car’s destruction. You should also make sure to keep evidence indicating you sold the car to the dealer for scrapping purposes – get it in writing. Cero, a joint initiative between Mahindra and MSTC, actually provides you with a Certificate Of Destruction (COD) and then deregisters the vehicle with the concerned authority – Regional Transport Authority (RTO) – after submitting the chassis plate and other documents.
Cero can provide you with a fair evaluation of your end-of-life vehicle, maintaining transparency throughout the procedure and a strict adherence to all the necessary legal guidelines.
