Scrap Car Prices (Just Updated): What Yards Pay Per Ton

Scrap car prices are about $140–$200 per ton at most US yards in October 2026 (iScrap average $183.63), so a 3,000 lb sedan scraps for roughly $210–$300.

How much is a scrap car worth? Scrap value by weight

Scrap value is curb weight divided by 2,000, times the yard’s per-ton rate. Example weights are 2025 curb weights from cars.com, The Car Connection and Honda. These are mostly base trims. AWD, hybrid and V8 versions of the same model run roughly 100–500 pounds heavier.

These are our calculations from the per-ton rates, not published payouts. Want it for your exact car? The junk car value calculator does the math.

Scrap car prices per ton right now

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 November 11, 2026, iScrap’s complete-car average read $186.56 per ton, up from $183.63 on October 23. The page said it was last updated three weeks earlier, and its newest yard report was still dated October 22.

iScrap’s headline price 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

Of the nine most recent complete-car reports on iScrap’s page on November 11, 2026, five fall between $150 and $176 per ton. Three October reports from Michigan and North Carolina ran $220 to $240, and one Arkansas yard reported $140. We converted the per-pound and per-100-pound reports to tons. 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 $183.63 per ton is 1.5 tons, or about $275. Look up your exact weight on our car weight page. Yards weigh the car as delivered, so at a given rate this is a best case for a complete car. A car missing parts will come in lower.

How much to scrap a car: towing and fees

Scrapping shouldn’t cost you money. Peddle and CarBrain both say towing is free. A yard may want you to deliver the car or may charge for its own tow, so ask before you agree and subtract any fee from the quote.

What changes the price of a scrap car

Weight sets the baseline. Four things move a yard’s number from there.

Junk car prices per ton by state

Prices run higher in California, Michigan, Illinois and New York, and lower in states such as Alaska, Kansas and Wyoming. Two secondary sources publish state figures. We have not found a primary state-by-state source, so read the table as direction, not a quote.

reapmyride names the middle-tier states only as examples. clunqr also lists Minnesota and Washington at $175, Missouri, Colorado and Arizona at $170, Oregon at $165 and Alabama at $155. Single yards break the pattern: Ace Steel & Recycling in Rapid City, SD reported $250 in August, above the top of either table, and iScrap logged $150 in Missouri in September. Call two local yards.

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, October 23, 2026) puts the national average at $90.15 for a detached converter. The list calls its own prices guidelines, because the final quote depends on the part number and condition.

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.

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 $183.63 on October 23, 2026, up 11.9%. That headline is a blend of crowd-sourced yard reports and swings as new ones come in, so the 11.9% is noise around a $140–$200 band, not a trend.

Mills show small drops, a flat September and a rise in October. 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 (BL Duke), then flat in September (BL Duke). October 2026 mill prices for shredded scrap rose about $20 a gross ton (Steel Market Update, Oct 9); mid-October trading was flat (ScrapMonster, Oct 16). Recycling Today reported record diesel prices in mid-September. That raises hauling costs, though no report we read ties it to yard car prices.

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 junk 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

1. Run your car through the junk car value calculator, or use the weight table above.
2. 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.
3. Request instant offers from Peddle and CarBrain below. Both are free and you can decline.
4. 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.
5. 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.

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