Is it just me or...

[Ben_L]

Is it just me or are fewer people now breaking their cars up for spares when they've finished with them?

 

Pretty much everything I've thrown in the towel with, I've broken up and sold parts off of, not for money (I normally end up having a few beers, but I'm no Del-Boy!), but just so I know I'm not cubing all the good stuff?

 

I am really struggling to find anything like my car being broken up in the local area recently and it's starting to get me thinking about what IS gonna happen once it's all been over the bridge and there's no more...? There used to be threads on MIG, VXON and the like day in day out with people trying to get more than bridge money for their once pride and joy, it all seems to have finished now though?

 

Is it cos' the prices at the bridge are so good, or just people can't be bothered?

 

I've always been paid an extra few quid for a bare shell with only metal bits left (Obviously, with some old scrap thrown in) rather than it all being cloth and plastic inside.

[jonny69]

A couple of reasons from my perspective, in no order:

 

1) I can't be bothered trying to strip a car any more. Example is the old Renault where you have to take a disproportionate amount of the car apart to take the smallest part off.

1a) I also haven't got the time to do it any more and I can't be bothered with eBay messers etc.

2) I don't have the space for a shell to sit there.

3) Until recently, the other residents of the block I lived in would have complained about a half-stripped car outside, plus it was against the tenancy rules.

4) Let's cut to the chase: if I've killed it, chances are it's completely dead

[254575]

last time i sold bits off a car, some chancer bought the front grill, then filed an 'item not as described' complaint against me because it was dirty.

 

same reason i refuse to punt on most cars to the general public, too many idiots out there.

[dollywobbler]

I should break my BX estate but there are a few reasons I haven't. One is I can't be bothered - it's not the time of year to be working outside and stripping down is going to be a lot of work. Some of it is sentiment - she's been a good ol' workhorse. The main one is storage though. Until very recently, I didn't actually have anywhere weather proof to store bits.

 

Even if I do break it up, no-one local is going to want the bits so everything will have to be packaged up and/or couriered. It just feels like a lot of work for sod all reward.

[Stixy]

High bridge price and lazy people

 

 

A lot of cars now are bypassing dismantlers and straight to the frag the main problem is a lot of whats getting fraged shouldnt be , i know peoples financial situations and the cost of garages kills a lot off especialy with modern junk like dmmf and injector problems etc .

 

Trouble is is 5-10 years time there will be a missing generation of motors and there will only be "historic" or 5 year old motors left , but thats what the manufactures want as far as there concened the sooner everybody is on a continuos lease and paying monthy through the nose for somthing that will never be owned the better ( Ford options scheme etc ) scrapage will be part of the lease so there wont be any secondhand bargains .

 

I allways personaly break up everything im finished with and put up with the messers , but there has allways been messers

 

As said before enjoy motoring as it is now because things are going to get much worse

[beko1987]

I broke the Puma up as I got more for it than selling it whole. When I'm done with the ZX I'll try and sell it whole, then think about breaking for spares.

 

To break a car up though it needs a good fan club so people will buy the bits. I sold the Puma via the ProjectPuma group and it all went instantly. As there is no club for the ZX it would be hit and miss what would sell on Ebay. If no-one else wanted to buy the whole car and I didn't want it, I'd either give it away if it owed me nothing or scrap it and get what I could.

[steve28]

I think dismantlers want everything for nothing or next to nothing so they end up over the bridge, also the stuff that does end up in the dismantlers they ask too much for the parts so dont sell as much as they could so whats left again just goes over the bridge.

[CortinaDave]

Last car i sold parts from was a perfectly serviceable and very tidy P reg Calibra SE7. Taxed and MoT'D i put it up for sale for £400 ono and got nothing but tyre kickers with derisory offers of around £200 so I sold the cream leather for £75, the auxiluary gauges for £20 , the alloys/tyres for £100, spolier for a tenner, cashed the tax in for £30 , took the battery and CD player for myself and weighed in the rest and got £125.

Not much work really, just unbolting basic stuff and I got most of what I wanted for the car. Shame though, there was sod all wrong with it.

[caver1]

I wonder if it will change, now that I think today, cash for scrap is banned, and it's all got to be cheque / money transfers.

[Lankytim]

I'm breaking up a Puma right now and i'm getting hardly any interest.

 

No cash at the weighbridge? I don't mind a cheque but will I need to take a passport, proof of address e.t.c.?

[caver1]

I don't know for certain, and I gather there are loopholes for if they have a "breakers licence", but take your driving licence and that ought to be plenty.

[Ben_L]

See, I've broken a few more interesting cars up, but the uninteresting shite goes straight to the breaker. I get payed bridge money and it normally ends up getting stripped and ovalled (at which point, anything of rarity gets ebayed) and then weighed in once its bare.

 

No decent breakers left tho, the yard I go to still has P5's and even a Princess... 10+ Mini's, Metro's, mk1 Novas, mk2 Astras, Carinas, Orions, Sierras etc... But every yard I go to in the "Fens" where most of the breakers have no idea on how to make money all have Mondeo TDCi's and Megane Dci's in, or they specialise in 4x4's for export.

 

Headlight switch for the Cavalier (Taken from a mk3 Astra), £40 was asked. I rejected on the basis that it's not worth that, they then said to me "Go to Vauxhall and find it cheaper".

 

Honestly, gets on my wick. But I'll stop now...

 

And this cash for scrap being stopped is a good thing. Needs some sort of regulation to prevent the dids nicking everything with a weigh in price.

[meggersdog]

I'm breaking up a Puma right now and i'm getting hardly any interest.

 

No cash at the weighbridge? I don't mind a cheque but will I need to take a passport, proof of address e.t.c.?

 

There is a loop-hole, if you are of no fixed abode they will still pay in cash !

A photo driving license is ok but with a passport proof of address is needed as your address is not on your (modern, chipped) passport

[Guest]

I normally break my old cars and keep as many bits as i can ready for my next project but you are right there are less people doing it now,especialy since the price of scrap went up a while back it was still possible to get a quid back without all the hastle of touching you dead car.

[gearoil]

I'm breaking up a Puma right now and i'm getting hardly any interest.

 

No cash at the weighbridge? I don't mind a cheque but will I need to take a passport, proof of address e.t.c.?

 

Is the red one a gonner Tim..??