Junk Car Value Calculator: What Is Your Car Worth as Scrap?

Junk car value calculator

Scrap prices checked October 2026. No phone number or email.

Vehicle type Choose one Compact car (Civic, Corolla)Midsize sedan (Camry, Accord, Altima)Full-size sedan (Avalon, Impala, 300)Small SUV (RAV4, CR-V, Escape)Midsize SUV (Explorer, Highlander)Full-size SUV (Tahoe, Expedition)Minivan (Odyssey, Sienna, Caravan)Small or midsize pickup (Ranger, Tacoma)Full-size pickup (F-150, Silverado, Ram)Hybrid car (Prius, Camry Hybrid) Weight drives scrap price more than anything else.

What shape is it in?

Runs and drives Doesn't run Wrecked Missing big parts: we take ~20% off the weight

Is the catalytic converter still on it?

Yes No Not sure

Do you have the title in your name?

Yes No

Estimate my car →

Add year, make, model and ZIP (optional)

Year ZIP code Make Model

Our junk car value calculator estimates what a yard would pay for your car by weight: the curb weight for your vehicle class, times $140–$200 per ton, the range most US yards paid as of October 2026. Pick your car type above and the number shows up right away, with no phone number or email. It is a free vehicle scrap value calculator that answers one question: how much do you get for scrapping a car at today’s rates.

How to calculate the scrap value of a car

The junk value of a car is mostly arithmetic. A yard weighs it, multiplies by a price per ton and takes off what is missing. This car scrap value calculator does the same with a typical weight for your vehicle class instead of a scale ticket.

Weight comes first

You pick one of ten vehicle classes, from compact car to full-size pickup. Each has a default curb weight: the car with a full tank and fluids but no passengers or cargo. Scrap is priced by weight, so weight matters more than anything else you enter.

The scrap rate: $140 to $200 per ton

The formula is weight in pounds ÷ 2,000 × dollars per ton. iScrap, a crowd-sourced scrap price app, put the national average for a complete car at $183.63 per ton on October 23, 2026. Its recent yard reports ran from $150 to $250, and single yards reported as low as $105 over the past year.

Most yards land inside $140–$200, so that is the band we use. Seven of iScrap’s last nine complete-car reports were $150 to $170. The two $250 reports came from yards in South Dakota and New York.

That headline number is a blend of user reports, so it swings each time new yard reports come in. Don’t read a trend into one month. Our scrap car prices page tracks the reports.

Trade press quotes bigger numbers. RMDAS put shredded auto scrap at $418 to $422 per ton at mills between August 20 and September 19, 2026, according to Recycling Today. That is processed steel delivered to a mill. A yard buys the whole car and has to drain it, haul it and get it shredded first, so don’t expect that price for a car.

Net ton, gross ton or price per pound

The calculator uses a net ton of 2,000 pounds. Some yards post gross tons (2,240 pounds) or scrap car prices per pound, and iScrap reports arrive in both (a Huntsville yard’s 8 cents a pound is $160 a ton). Chuckran Auto Parts in Bridgewater, Massachusetts listed complete autos at $190 per net ton and $212 per gross ton on September 28, 2026. Same price, two units.

If a yard quotes per gross ton, divide by 1.12 before you compare it with this tool. A price per hundredweight (CWT, 100 pounds) times 20 gives the net-ton price, so $9.18 per CWT is $183.60 a ton.

Deductions: missing converter and missing parts

Two answers change the math. Set the catalytic converter to No and the calculator subtracts a typical converter range for that class: about $30–$184 on compact and midsize cars and small SUVs, $20–$128 on full-size sedans, $80–$280 on midsize and larger SUVs, minivans and pickups, and $300–$700 on hybrids. It never cuts the low end by more than half or the high end by more than 40%.

Set the condition to Missing big parts and it takes 20% off the weight. Yards cut the rate too: Chuckran’s same board paid $160 per net ton for incomplete autos missing the motor, transmission or wheels, $30 under its complete-car price, so the estimate for a stripped car can run high. Results round to the nearest $5. Runs, doesn’t run and wrecked don’t change the number, because a yard weighs them the same. Year, make, model and ZIP code don’t either.

Curb weight by vehicle class

The table shows each default weight, the scrap range it produces at $140–$200 per ton, and real curb weights from spec sheets checked in September 2026.

The examples are mostly base trims from model years 2022 to 2025, taken from Honda’s spec sheet, cars.com and The Car Connection. No source publishes an official average for these ten classes, so our defaults sit near the middle of the examples, with two exceptions: the compact default is about 45 lb above the Corolla and Civic, and the hybrid default is about 110 lb below the Civic Hybrid. That is our judgment, not a published figure.

Expect 300 to 500 pounds of swing inside one model, depending on drivetrain, hybrid battery, cab and engine. The cars getting junked are also older than the ones in the table. Our guide to how much a car weighs lists more models.

Curb weight, not GVWR

Use curb weight, which NHTSA defines as the vehicle with standard equipment and full fuel, oil and coolant. Ignore GVWR, the manufacturer’s loaded weight rating. A 2025 Ford F-150 XL regular cab has a 4,396 lb curb weight and a 6,220 lb GVWR, so plugging in GVWR would overstate its value by about 40%.

Worked example: a midsize sedan, start to finish

Say a Camry, Accord or Altima no longer runs. The calculator puts it in the midsize sedan class at 3,350 lb. That is 1.675 tons, or $234.50 at $140 per ton and $335 at $200, so the calculator shows $235 to $335. At iScrap’s $183.63 average, the same car comes to about $308.

With the converter gone, the low end falls to $115 (about half the weight value) and the high end drops $30 to $305. A converter’s price depends on its part number, which is why the deduction is a range.

Where the estimate falls short

Treat any scrap car value calculator, this one included, as a starting point. The real number is whatever a buyer actually pays, and three things pull that away from the math, up or down. For prices by car type, see how much your junk car is worth.

Cars that still run, and newer ones

A yard that buys by weight pays the same per ton whether the car runs or not. An online buyer doesn’t, because a running or lightly damaged car can be resold or parted out. The calculator flags model year 2011 and newer for that reason.

Your ZIP code and tow distance

Prices differ by region. Clunqr’s June 2026 state table runs from $195 per ton in California and $190 in Michigan down to $155 in Alabama and $145 in Alaska and Hawaii. Those are aggregator figures, so treat them as directional. Our page on how much junkyards pay for cars has yard reports.

Ask any yard whether towing is free or comes out of the price. Peddle and CarBrain both say towing costs you nothing. Neither covers storage or impound fees if the car is sitting in a tow yard.

The catalytic converter guess

The converter is the largest adjustment the calculator makes. A converter buyer’s price list puts the national average at $90.15 per unit on October 23, 2026, with categories from $20–$128 for regular domestic units to $110–$1,150 for some Ford torpedo units. The list calls its own prices guidelines only. One buyer blog (May 2026) lists Toyota Prius converters at $300 to $700.

Those are prices for a loose converter. Peddle and CarBrain price the whole car, so don’t add a converter price on top of an offer.

Pick Not sure and the calculator treats it like Yes, so the number may run high. Look under the car before you trust it.

How real offers differ from a scrap estimate

What Peddle and CarBrain price in

CarBrain’s FAQ says its offers weigh location, the car’s pre-accident wholesale value, the damage, demand for the car and its parts, make, model, mileage and age, and that damaged cars have no book values. Peddle says the cars it buys end up as used parts, scrap through recyclers, or reconditioned resale, so a car with a resale path can beat the by-the-ton math.

CarBrain says to expect $250 to $750 on average for a junk car. Peddle publishes no average, but its Texas page lists sample payouts of $305 to $370 on cars from 2000 to 2015, such as a 2009 BMW 328 at $305 and a 2008 Chrysler 300C at $370. Peddle picked those examples, and the page doesn’t say what shape the cars were in. Set against the sedan rows in the table, they land in the upper half of the ranges or a little past them.

Why the offer can change at pickup

Peddle’s help center says the accepted amount holds unless the car was misrepresented or a major component is missing, and its terms count a missing major part even if nobody asked about it. CarBrain’s How It Works page says an accepted offer will not change, and its reply to the BBB complaint below ties that to an accurate description. Peddle says title status can affect the amount, and CarBrain says it requires a title in your name, so read selling a junk car without a title before you answer that question. Our Peddle reviews: is Peddle legit page covers the pickup-day price cuts sellers report.

In one BBB complaint from June 2026, a seller says a $470 online CarBrain offer on a 2004 VW Passat fell to $250 at pickup because the converter was missing. CarBrain’s reply said the details submitted did not accurately reflect the car. That is one seller’s account. Answer every condition question the way the tow driver will see the car, and see CarBrain vs Peddle for how the two compare.

Scrap it, sell it whole, or sell the parts?

If the car is old, complete and dead, the scrap number is close to its real value, so take the better of one yard quote and one online offer. If it runs, has a working engine and transmission, or is under about 15 years old, get an online offer first.

Parting it out can beat both, but you do the work and still need someone to take the shell. Our guide to selling a car for parts covers the tradeoff.

Scrap value, salvage value and actual cash value

If you searched for a salvage value of car calculator, you may be after an insurance number. The three terms price different things.

Federal law calls a car a junk automobile when it cannot run on public roads and is worth only parts or scrap. A salvage automobile is one damaged badly enough that its salvage value plus the repair cost would exceed its value just before the damage. Your insurer decides the claim and your state decides the title brand, so this tool can’t give you either answer. It covers the junk end.

Ways to raise your number before you sell

• Keep the car complete. iScrap says yards pay more when the car has its engine, transmission, catalytic converter, battery, radiator, rims and tires, and wiring harness, and that selling the converter separately could make it count as incomplete.
• Leave the small stuff alone. A car battery weighs 30 to 75 pounds and scraps at about $0.20 per pound, so $6 to $15. Peddle’s terms check that the battery and wheels are still on the car.
• Get the title ready. CarBrain requires one in your name, and Peddle says a missing title can change its offer.

What to do with your number

1. Write down the scrap estimate from the junk car value estimator above.
2. Request a Peddle offer and a CarBrain offer for the same car, with the same honest answers.
3. Call one local yard, ask for its per-ton rate, and ask whether towing is free.
4. Take the highest number that comes with free pickup and paperwork you can manage.

How long it takes after you get your number

Not long, if the paperwork is ready. Peddle says pickup is typically 24 to 48 hours after you schedule it and the whole process, offer to payment, usually takes 2 to 5 days. CarBrain says it averages 24 to 48 hours from acceptance to pickup. Have the signed title and keys ready, because Peddle’s driver hands over the check once those are exchanged.

The paperwork steps are in our guides to selling a junk car and how to junk a car. If the car won’t start, selling a non-running car covers the tow and the questions buyers ask.

Written and fact-checked by the Junk Car Worth team. Prices and buyer policies checked October 2026. How we estimate value.