Does breaking cars pay

[FarmerPug]

Ive been thinking, if i got a cheap car, and broke it for parts, would i really make much. If i had a 406 for spare parts i wouldnt sell them, but i could get a 405 cheap, would there be any point in breaking a car as old as this.

[teamster1975]

I'd check ebay to see the going rate for the bits. If you've got the time & the space you could do rather well out of it!

[highlander]

Hundreds of different independent breakers' yards across the country can't be wrong... These guys buy half-wrecked cars for a couple of hundred quid, then they'll sell the good parts on. When they're finished with the car, they sell the rest of the body shell on to metal recycling firms, who smelt them down and sell the recycled steel parts at a profit. It's a self-perpetuating industry, with profit to be had for all involved, providing they do it right.

It's sad to say it, but there's a lot of perfectly good working cars out there that are worth more money in scrap than they are on the road.

If it were me thinking of setting up a business like that, I'd make it a rule that the cars you break must be properly goosed (i.e. dead engine, fried electronics, etc) - don't take in victims of the scrappage scheme, or cars that have just had a little prang and could be repaired. Or if you do take 'em in, try and fix them up and sell 'em on.

[waue1978]

There's a guy 5 miles from me who used to sell cheapy cars until he found they were all worth more in bits than they were as a whole. Think the general rule is to buy something with lots of common faults that had sold loads & had the same model for a while so you have quite a large customer base who'll be looking for lots of parts as their cars keep going wrong.

These French car breakers must be making a fortune!

[GeordieBoy]

Its the reason why I wont sell 1 of my 328's, its worth more in bits. Prob worth about £120 scrap, no doubt I'd get maybe £250 if someone bought it.
But if I broke it, Engine, Gearbox, ECU and Wiring Loom is worth £600 on its own. Then £50 per door times 4, £50 for Diff, £100 for recon steering rack etc.
Over £1,000 in bits, on a car worth £120 scrap.

[FarmerPug]

i know a used 406 is a goldmine in bits especially working d9 electronics, but what about an old 405 saloon, or an old nissan bluebird, cars that could have been sitting in a field for well over 10 years (the 405 1 year)? I know from my experience of the suzuki vitara that buing it at £100 pulling out the engine and scrapping the rest for £104 wasnt too bad for a free engine. What are the best cheap cars to look out for breaking purposes?