The Crushing Process

I was wondering, before cars are crushed, are valuable, saleable used parts ─ such as head units, wheels/tires, seats, doors, etc, etc, which could be used by gas models or in the case of wheels/tires, other makes/models ─ removed and held by salvage yards for resale?

What a waste if they're not.

Are the vehicles actually being sold to salvage yards with a contractual obligation to crush where they might be able to first remove valuable, saleable used parts, or are they just hiring crushers to crush?

We're not privy to the contracts involved and probably never will be ... but what's been heard through the grape vine is that the ONLY parts that the salvage yards are allowed to remove and independently sell for profit are the batteries (which are legally required to be removed to prevent lead contamination of the subsequent shredding process) and the wheels and tires. They are NOT allowed to sell any other parts. Photos that have been published in various places are consistent with this.

Maybe it's not so much that they can't, but it may not be worth their time. They may be thinking the market would be so flooded, and the demand so low, it is simply not economical to strip parts.

Of course this all assumes that the yard would be the one pulling parts. Hard to tell if anything was pulled by VW (or another contractor the hired) prior to sending to the yard. Then again, VW probably is more interested in selling new parts, so would have very little motivation to compete with themselves . . . (or allow it to happen).

- Tim

I was under the impression that (given the fact that the battery, wheels, and fuel tank have to be removed, and for obvious reasons) the engine and most of the drive train have to be out, because those things cannot go through a crusher. As far as being worthwhile, there are salvage yards from coast to coast making a profit by removing parts from cars and selling them. I cannot see what would be so special about these cars (apart from what's already known about DEWATing the engines) that would prevent them from being salvaged like any Chevy or Toyota.

Contractual obligations, mainly. As noted in my last post, I doubt VW wants to enable a used parts source to compete with itself, so is disallowing it. I don't think this has anything to do with the settlement, but rather a choice by VW in contracting with the salvage yards. Unfortunate, but understandable . . .

search youtube "car crusher/shreader" they can def take the block and everything VW could dream up and stuff into a compact/midsized car.

Years ago there was a train derailment carrying a whole bunch of GM vehicles, mostly trucks and vans, near here. I knew the guy that bid for and won the salvage contract with the insurance company. A representative from both GM and the insurer stood and checked off each and every VIN as the vehicles were one by one fed into the crusher 100% complete save for fluids, batteries, and tires. And in many cases, only superficial damage had occurred, and the vast majority of the vehicle, even if you were not wanting to fix it, had most of its unboltable parts in perfect order.

And for those of you that think the crusher, and then the shredder, cannot handle the whole car? Think again. They obliterate EVERYTHING down to chunks no bigger than your fist. Cast iron engine blocks, crankshafts, differentials, all of it. Every last bit. Comes out the other end on a conveyor belt and you'd be hard pressed to identify any piece at all. Just a bunch of hot gray chunks. The lighter stuff, called "fluff", is blown up and out on to a different belt. It is an awe inspiring sight to see. I watched a 1978 Mercury Grand Marquis, which was already flattened, be fed into the shredder and inside of about 45 seconds it was GONE.

Big hub here for salvage, down by the Mississippi river, where the stuff gets loaded on to barges and shipped down river, then loaded into giant ships and sent to usually China to be made into all the cheap crap you see at Harbor Freight.

Scrap value is WAY down right now, though. So there are lots of stockpiles all over the place. The metal salvage industry "starves" the places that need it for a while until the price starts to go up. Then it is a game of hot potato. You want to hold on to it as long as you can so you can sell high. And it makes a difference. At low points, a semi load of flattened cars is barely worth the fuel and insurance and operator costs to bring it from say 100 miles away down to the riverfront. But at boom times, it can be worth 10 times as much, and you'll see salvage companies like Grossman running 24-7 trucks up I-44 for a solid month.

I used to do a lot of scrap business, but it just does not pay like it once did. Now it is difficult to get rid of it unless you have a LOT at one time to make the collector worth his trip.

It is on a pretty strong upward swing right now, though. Not at the highs it once was, but at least it is going back up. Certain metals, like copper and brass, never really dropped like unclean steel (cars) did.

GoFaster said:

We're not privy to the contracts involved and probably never will be ... but what's been heard through the grape vine is that the ONLY parts that the salvage yards are allowed to remove and independently sell for profit are the batteries (which are legally required to be removed to prevent lead contamination of the subsequent shredding process) and the wheels and tires. They are NOT allowed to sell any other parts. Photos that have been published in various places are consistent with this.

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You are correct Brian, those are the rules with these cars. It's consistent with a tax writeoff - e.g. nothing salvaged.

I can tell when scrap values are up by the number of guys stopping by asking about my spare cars. Also by how much they are offering. Usually seems to be in the spring around here. Nobody asked this spring. Just dragged out an old '85 Volvo 20 minutes ago to donate to a neighbor looking for parts.

Left to their own devices, wrecking yards usually want to remove radiator cores and drivetrains (not by unbolting nicely, but by ripping them out by brute force), and whatever bits of the wiring harness that they can get out easily (e.g. by ripping out the dashboard and whatever part of the car's wiring harness wants to come with it), because those bits contain a higher percentage of aluminum and copper (higher value than steel when on their own), and the remaining sheet metal body has less of those (which are contaminants if they are in the steel). It all depends on whether the scrapyard can get more money for it that way.

Rico567 said:

I cannot see what would be so special about these cars (apart from what's already known about DEWATing the engines)

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There's absolutely nothing that's "already known about DEWATing the engines", if by that you mean physically destroying them. There is no such requirement in any of the agreements.

tadawson said:

Contractual obligations, mainly. As noted in my last post, I doubt VW wants to enable a used parts source to compete with itself, so is disallowing it. I don't think this has anything to do with the settlement, but rather a choice by VW in contracting with the salvage yards. Unfortunate, but understandable . . .

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Yes, I suppose that makes sense, but what a WASTE !

This topic has morbid overtones. Once you sell it back, its theirs to do with as they wish.

The topic vaguely reminds me of the scandal a few years back when morticians were secretly removing body parts and selling them for donor tissue.