On this page
- Scrap car prices per ton in September 2026
- How to calculate the scrap value of a car
- What changes the price of a scrap car
- Are scrap car prices going up or down in 2026?
- Mill price vs yard price: why you will not see $420 a ton
- Scrap yard or junk car buyer: who pays the most?
- Get your real number before you tow
Scrap car prices sit at about $140–$200 per ton at most US yards in September 2026, with a national average near $178 (iScrap, yard reports through September 16). A 3,000-pound sedan works out to roughly $210–$300 at those rates. Buyers that price the whole car instead of the weight advertise more: CarBrain says its average junk car payout is $250–$750.
Last checked September 30, 2026. Each price below names its source, and its date where the source gives one.
Quick answer
$140 – $200per ton for a complete car
Divide your car’s curb weight in pounds by 2,000, then multiply by the per-ton rate. That is the scrap baseline. Region, missing parts and whether a buyer wants the car for parts move the real offer up or down.Free online quotes. Free towing. Compare two offers before you say yes.
Best overall Towing: free Peddle
Instant online offer for junk, damaged, and running cars in all 50 states.
- Best for
- Most junk cars, including ones without a title
- Payment
- Usually a check at pickup
- No title?
- Sometimes OK. Tell them up front
- Coverage
- All 50 states
- Offer shows on screen in a few minutes
- No fees. Towing and title transfer included
- Cancel any time, even after you accept
Watch for: Offer can drop at pickup if the car does not match what you entered.
Get my Peddle offer
Best for wrecked cars Towing: free CarBrain
Buys wrecked, flooded, and mechanically dead cars as-is, often for more than scrap.
- Best for
- Accident damage, blown engines, newer cars that died
- Payment
- Check at pickup
- No title?
- Needed in most states
- Coverage
- 48 states (not AK or HI)
- Quote in about 90 seconds for many cars
- Offer held for up to 7 days
- Pickup usually 24 to 48 hours after you accept
Watch for: Needs the title in your name in most cases. Missing parts lower the price.
Get my CarBrain offerWe earn a commission if you sell through some links on this page. It never changes what we recommend. How we make money.
Scrap car prices per ton in September 2026
Yards quote a price per ton for a complete car. iScrap defines that as a car with the engine, transmission, catalytic converter, battery, radiator, wheels with tires and wiring harness still on it. When we checked on September 30, 2026, iScrap’s headline price for a complete car was $177.58 per ton. The page said it was last updated two weeks earlier, and its newest yard report was dated September 16.
That number is a blend of crowd-sourced yard reports, not an official index. Treat it as a center point. Around it, you will hear about $140–$200 per ton at most yards, and single-yard reports have run from roughly $105 to $250 over the past year.
Recent yard reports
| Yard | Date | Price per ton |
|---|---|---|
| Eau Claire, WI (ScrapMonster) | Sep 29, 2026 | $140 |
| Reeds Spring, MO (iScrap) | Sep 16, 2026 | $150 |
| New Ulm, MN (iScrap) | Sep 3, 2026 | $170 |
| Huntsville, AL (iScrap) | Aug 9, 2026 | $160 |
| Ace Steel & Recycling, Rapid City, SD (iScrap) | Aug 5, 2026 | $250 |
| Ben Weitsman, Albany, NY (iScrap) | Jul 25, 2026 | $250 |
| Unnamed yard (iScrap) | Jul 14, 2026 | $162 |
| Moscow, OH (iScrap) | Jul 11, 2026 | $160 |
| Bass Brook Recycling, Cohasset, MN (iScrap) | Jun 18, 2026 | $150 |
| Kingsland, GA (iScrap) | Jun 14, 2026 | $150 |
Of iScrap’s nine most recent complete-car reports, seven fall between $150 and $170. The two $250 reports (Rapid City and Albany) are the outliers. Ask for the top of the range, but do not count on it.
Why car scrap prices differ from site to site
Every site samples different yards on different dates. ScrapMonster’s junk-car page lists only two yards, and one of them is a November 2025 report of $120 in Catasauqua, PA. clunqr listed a $175 national average and a $150–$200 range in June 2026. reapmyride, on a page dated February 2026, said $146–$206 with a $190 average. Both are secondary sources, so read them as direction, not data.
How to calculate the scrap value of a car
Scrap value is weight times price.
The formula
Take the car’s curb weight in pounds, divide by 2,000, then multiply by the yard’s per-ton rate. A 3,000-pound car at $177.58 per ton is 1.5 tons, or about $266. Look up your exact weight on our car weight page. Yards weigh the car as delivered, so at a given rate this is the top of what a yard pays for a complete car. A car missing parts will come in lower.
How much is a scrap car worth, by weight?
Here is the same math at three rates. Example weights are 2025 curb weights from cars.com, The Car Connection and Honda. Junk cars skew toward smaller sedans, so many weigh less than these examples.
| Curb weight | Example | At $150/ton | At $177.58/ton | At $200/ton |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2,500 lb | Small car | $188 | $222 | $250 |
| 3,000 lb | Corolla (2,955), Civic (2,877–3,252) | $225 | $266 | $300 |
| 3,500 lb | Camry (3,450), CR-V (3,472) | $263 | $311 | $350 |
| 4,000 lb | Large sedan, small SUV | $300 | $355 | $400 |
| 5,500 lb | Tahoe (5,383), Expedition (5,404) | $413 | $488 | $550 |
These are our calculations from the per-ton rates above, not published payouts.
What changes the price of a scrap car
Weight sets the baseline. Four things move a yard’s number from there.
Region
Prices run higher in California, Michigan, Illinois and New York, and lower in states such as Alaska, Kansas and Wyoming. reapmyride’s February 2026 tiers put California and Michigan at $170–$200 per ton and the low tier at $140–$170. clunqr’s June 2026 table has California at $195 and Alabama at $155. Both are secondary sources, so read the gaps as direction. Ace Steel & Recycling in Rapid City, SD reported $250 in August, above the top of either table.
Complete or incomplete
A complete car earns the headline per-ton price. iScrap says yards pay more when your car includes all its key parts. A car without its engine, transmission or catalytic converter falls outside iScrap’s definition of complete, so a yard may price it lower. iScrap gives no figure for the discount, so ask the yard for its incomplete-car rate before you tow.
Scrap catalytic converter prices
Peddle’s offer flow asks about the catalytic converter directly. A New Jersey yard’s price list (rrcats, September 30, 2026) puts the national average at $103 for a detached converter. The list calls its own prices guidelines, because the final quote depends on the part number and condition.
| Converter type | Range per converter |
|---|---|
| Regular domestic | $20–$133 |
| Small domestic | $30–$184 |
| Large GM | $80–$283 |
| Large foreign | $90–$454 |
| Ford torpedo | $110–$1,150 |
| Diesel | $15–$508 |
Do not add these numbers to a whole-car offer. Peddle and CarBrain price the whole vehicle. Our catalytic converter scrap price page has the full list.
Leave the converter on the car
Peddle says a missing converter can drop a car’s value by 30% or more. iScrap warns that selling it separately could reclassify your car as incomplete. Selling a detached converter is also regulated in states like California, Texas, Florida and Maine, so check your state’s rules before you pull anything.Battery, wheels and fluids
Per iScrap in September 2026, a lead-acid battery brings about $0.20 per pound on its own (30 to 75 pounds, so roughly $6–$15) and clean aluminum rims about $0.95 per pound. iScrap’s complete-car definition includes the battery, rims and tires, and it gives no figure for how much removing them hurts the per-ton price. Pull them only if the yard confirms it will still pay the complete-car rate. Some yards also deduct for fluids left in the car, so ask.
Are scrap car prices going up or down in 2026?
Fairly stable, and noisy. iScrap’s complete-car headline read $164.12 per ton in an archived October 18, 2025 capture and $177.58 in September 2026, up 8.2%. The same headline showed a 22.58% drop over 45 days then and a 6.25% drop now, so the 8.2% is noise around a $140–$200 band, not a trend.
| Measure | Oct 2025 | Sep 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Complete car, iScrap headline | $164.12/ton | $177.58/ton | +8.2% |
| Single-yard reports, low to high | $105–$205 | $140–$250 | Different samples |
| Car battery, iScrap | $0.16/lb | $0.20/lb | +25% |
Mills show small drops and a flat September. Trade press had shredded scrap down $10 a gross ton in October 2025 (Steel Market Update), down $10–$20 in April 2026 (Steel Market Update) and down $10 in August, then flat in September (BL Duke). Recycling Today reported record diesel prices in mid-September. That raises hauling costs, though no report we read ties it to yard car prices.
Our read: don’t try to time it. The yard-to-yard spread in recent reports, $140 to $250, is wider than any month-to-month move we found.
Mill price vs yard price: why you will not see $420 a ton
Headlines quote mill prices. RMDAS data reported by Recycling Today on September 21, 2026 put shredded auto scrap at $418 per ton in the South and North Central/East and $422 in the North Midwest for August 20 to September 19. No. 1 HMS ran $354 to $383. That is more than double what a yard pays for a whole car.
Mills buy prepared material. A yard buys an unprocessed car, drains it, hauls it and shreds it before a mill will take the metal, and keeps a margin for the work. No source we read gives the split, so ignore anyone quoting you a percentage. The mill price is not an offer you can ask for.
Scrap yard or junk car buyer: who pays the most?
A yard pays for weight. A junk car buyer also prices what the car is worth to someone else, so its offer can land above the scrap math. CarBrain says the average junk car payout is $250–$750 and that a car in good condition can fetch $500 or more. That is a company claim. Peddle publishes no payout range and says the cars it buys end up as used parts, scrap or resale.
A 3,000-pound sedan at yard rates is $210–$300, so one instant offer shows quickly whether your car is worth more than its steel. Our junk car buyers list compares the main options.
Who pays the most for a scrap car?
Whoever wants the car for more than its weight. Collect three numbers: two yards’ per-ton quotes and one instant offer from a buyer. Peddle and CarBrain both give you about a week to accept and tow for free, so the comparison costs a few minutes.
Either company can revise an offer at pickup if the car does not match what you entered. Peddle’s terms let it recalculate the offer or refuse the pickup, and a missing catalytic converter shows up in cuts that CarBrain customers describe on BBB and Trustpilot. Answer the condition questions honestly.
Get your real number before you tow
- Run your car through the junk car value calculator, or use the weight table above.
- Call two yards. Ask for the complete-car price per ton, the incomplete rate, whether they tow and how they pay. Our page on what junkyards pay for cars has more detail.
- Request instant offers from Peddle and CarBrain below. Both are free and you can decline.
- Find your title. CarBrain requires a title in your name. Peddle lists a signed title as its main document and says to contact them first if you lack one. See selling a junk car without a title if that is you.
- Take the highest offer that holds, and confirm free towing before you agree. If the number changes at pickup, get the new figure in writing before you hand over the keys. Our junk car removal page covers pickup.
Free online quotes. Free towing. Compare two offers before you say yes.
Best overall Towing: free Peddle
Instant online offer for junk, damaged, and running cars in all 50 states.
- Best for
- Most junk cars, including ones without a title
- Payment
- Usually a check at pickup
- No title?
- Sometimes OK. Tell them up front
- Coverage
- All 50 states
- Offer shows on screen in a few minutes
- No fees. Towing and title transfer included
- Cancel any time, even after you accept
Watch for: Offer can drop at pickup if the car does not match what you entered.
Get my Peddle offer Best for wrecked cars Towing: free CarBrain
Buys wrecked, flooded, and mechanically dead cars as-is, often for more than scrap.
- Best for
- Accident damage, blown engines, newer cars that died
- Payment
- Check at pickup
- No title?
- Needed in most states
- Coverage
- 48 states (not AK or HI)
- Quote in about 90 seconds for many cars
- Offer held for up to 7 days
- Pickup usually 24 to 48 hours after you accept
Watch for: Needs the title in your name in most cases. Missing parts lower the price.
Get my CarBrain offerWe earn a commission if you sell through some links on this page. It never changes what we recommend. How we make money.
FAQ
What is the current price for scrapping a car?
As of September 2026, most US yards pay about $140–$200 per ton for a complete car, and iScrap's headline average is $177.58 per ton. For a 3,000-pound sedan that works out to roughly $210–$300. Buyers that price the whole car can offer more: CarBrain says its average junk car payout is $250–$750. Get two yard quotes and one instant offer before you decide.
How do you calculate the scrap value of a car?
Divide the car's curb weight in pounds by 2,000, then multiply by the yard's price per ton. A 3,000-pound car at $177.58 per ton comes to about $266. That is a ceiling for a complete car, because yards pay less for one missing key parts. Ask each yard for its incomplete-car rate, and look up curb weights by model on our car weight page.
Who pays the most for a scrap car?
Whoever wants the car for more than its weight, such as a buyer that resells the parts or the car itself. Yards pay by the ton, so their offers track the $140–$200 range. Compare two yard quotes with instant offers from Peddle and CarBrain, both free to request and open for about a week. Take the highest one that holds after you answer the condition questions honestly.
How much is a scrap catalytic converter worth?
One New Jersey yard's price list showed a national average of $103.30 per detached converter on September 30, 2026, with regular domestic units at $20–$133 and Ford torpedo units at $110–$1,150. The yard calls those guidelines, since the part number sets the price. If you are selling the whole car, leave the converter on it. Details are on our catalytic converter scrap price page.
Do scrap car prices vary by state?
Yes. reapmyride's February 2026 tiers put California and Michigan at $170–$200 per ton and Kansas and Wyoming at $140–$170. Single yards break the pattern: iScrap logged $250 in South Dakota in August 2026 and $150 in Missouri in September, while clunqr's June table has Missouri at $170. Call two local yards and treat a state average as a starting point.
Are scrap car prices going up or down in 2026?
Mostly flat. iScrap's complete-car average was $177.58 per ton in September 2026 against $164.12 in October 2025, but that headline swings with its crowd-sourced yard reports. Mill prices for shredded scrap fell in small steps earlier in the year and held flat in September. Plan around the $140–$200 range, not a trend.
Sources we checked
- iScrap App: Complete Car scrap price per ton
- iScrap App: Complete Car price, archived October 18, 2025
- iScrap App: Car and truck battery scrap prices
- ScrapMonster: Junk cars scrap yard prices
- Recycling Today: Ferrous scrap prices, August to September 2026
- CarBrain: Sell your junk car
- Peddle: Cash for junk cars
- Catalytic converter scrap price list (rrcats), September 30, 2026
Written and fact-checked by the Junk Car Worth team. Prices and buyer policies checked September 2026. How we estimate value.
