It's the first question everyone asks, and the honest answer is: it depends — but on fewer things than you might think. Here's what actually moves the number, and what doesn't.
Four things set your offer
Every scrap quote starts with the same handful of factors. None of them are secrets, and none of them should be mysterious when you call:
- Vehicle weight — steel moves by the tonne, so a full-size pickup is simply worth more than a light hatchback.
- Completeness — a car with its catalytic converter, battery, wheels and wiring intact is worth meaningfully more than one that's been stripped.
- Metal markets — scrap steel and converter prices move week to week with global demand, which is why a quote today isn't a quote from last spring.
- Distance — a pickup ten minutes from our Abbotsford base costs less to run than one out past Bradner, and that shows up in the offer.
What quietly kills the value
A missing catalytic converter is the big one — it's often the single most valuable part on an end-of-life car. Vehicles stripped of wiring, interiors or wheels, anything burned, and anything that's been sitting in a swampy corner of a field for a decade all come in lower. Not zero, usually, but lower. Tell us up front and we'll still quote it; we'd just rather tell you a realistic number than a flattering one.
How we put a number on it
Describe the vehicle honestly — make, model, rough year, what runs and what doesn't, where it's sitting — and we'll give you a real figure before anyone drives out. The number you hear on the phone is the number you get at the curb. If your description was accurate, nothing changes at pickup.
“If a quote sounds too good to be true, ask what happens when the truck shows up.”
