Beat the Credit Crunch by changing your salvage strategy

admin    Salvage hints and tips    

Everyone seems to be going on about the credit crunch these days, and as we look like we will soon officially in in a recession, its important to assess how this will affect the salvage and breakers businesses.

Its tough times out there, and cars are not selling for anywhere near what they were 6 months ago, likewise they are taking much longer to sell, meaning people who make a full time living out of the salvage business will be finding it even harder!

There is always the opportunity to haggle harder with the salvage yards your buying a car off, as they will also be feeling the pinch, but there is also the opportunity to take advantage of more competitive prices from bodyshops and mechanics as they will be forced to price better to stay in business.

Alternatively, one other avenue that is overlooked, especially for newer more expensive cars, is breaking for parts. Regardless of whether there is a recession of not, people still need to repair their cars when they are broken. When money is tight they are even more likely to do it themselves, with used parts! Which is excellent news if you are a breaker.

Again, I’d always consider which route before buying a car, as each will come with its own pluses and minuses, when breaking a car, where are you going it store it, and all the parts? Where are you going to list the parts for sale e.g. ebay? Likewise, are you prepared for the cash to come in dribs and drabs.
Make sure you also have the ability and tools to make use of all the cars parts, if you dont have the skills to remove all the saleable parts your loosing out on potential income. Last but not least, make sure you have some method of getting the shell or left over parts of the car to the scrappy, you don’t want to have to pay for expensive removals if you dont have to.

Just something to consider, as times get tougher I can only see the used parts business and opportunities for breakers increasing.

Salvage Car of the Week – Ferrari 360 Modena Spyder

admin    Salvage car of the week    

Car of the Week: Ferrari 360 Modena Spyder (2003)

Available on: www.bluecycle.com

Make and Model: Ferrari 360 Modena Spyder (2003)

Category: C

Damage Description: Rear panels, glass, engine cover, rear chassis, N/S exhaust air box, O/S rear and N/S rear inner quarter, gear linkage, gearbox banjo joint, O/S rear quarter, floor pan, oil pan cover.

Auction Closing Date: Monday 27 October 2008.

Additional information:
3.6L V8 Mid-engined with 85 mm bore, 79 mm stroke
40-valve
Dual overhead cams
Variable valve timing
Five valves per cylinder
400 BHP at 8500 RPM

Log-on to www.bluecycle.com to see the full details.

Salvage car of the week – Audi R8 Cat D

admin    Salvage car of the week    

Bluecycle.com the car salvage auction site currently have once of the best super cars available today. With a waiting list of up to 10 months for a new R8, why not save yourself some cash, and have one now.
This Cat D repairable Audi R8 is currently up for aution on bluecycle, currently piced at £35,010
(price correct as at 6.55 Friday 17th October 2008)

Currently similar spec, age, and milage cars are on autotrader for around £65k!

Car of the Week – Audi R8 (2007)

Make and Model: Audi R8

Category: D

Milage: 1593

Damage Description: Bonnet, N/S/F wing, O/S/F wing, front bumper, all front panels,
headlights, all front plastic grills, front end frame, rads, tyre. Started.

Auction Closing Date: Tuesday 21 October 2008

Additional Information:
Mid-mounted, high revving V8 4.2L FSI engine
0-62mph in 4.6 seconds
Top speed of 187mph
Quattro permanent four wheel drive.

Log-on to www.bluecycle.com to see the full details.

Salvage Car of the Week – Undamaged Mazda 626

admin    Salvage car of the week    

A credit Crunch Special!

Keeping it cheap and cheerful this week, and possibly one of the simplest salvage cars we have ever featured. Its unrecorded, un-damaged Maxda 626, on a 2000 W plate. 89k miles, and for sale for £595. The car simply requires an MOT, and for you to apply for the V% and other docs.

I live locally to Aldershot and often visit there for parts spares etc, and can highly recommend the salvage yard. They are excellent for providing cheaper salvage, but do often have the odd few gems!
They often advertise on bluecycle.com, so be sure to keep an eye out.

If you are after a 1st salvage car, which is very easy to repair, try this one.

Aldershot Car Spares

Mazda 626
Damage: No Damage
Category: Not recorded (Cat U)
Milage: 89k

Required Repairs: Just requires MOT

Disclaimer:
Please note all descriptions of salvaged cars are taken directly from the salvage yards. Wrecks to Riches is not held responsible for accurately describing the damage of salvaged cars, nor what is required to bring a salvaged car back to road worthiness. We would always recommend personally viewing a salvaged car before purchase.

Bluecycle.com start selling non-salvage vehicles

admin    Salvage news    

Bluecycle.com salvage auction site, have announced they will now start auctioning, non-salvage cars. According to their communication, they have stuck deal with one of the UK’s biggest dealer networks, and they will be selling their part-exchanged stock through bluecycle.com

In response to customer demand requesting more non-salvage vehicles on the site, we are delighted to announce that Bluecycle will now be auctioning Part Exchange vehicles from one of the biggest car dealerships in the UK.

From this week, we’ll be launching the Part Exchange forecourt, where a wide range of makes and models will be up for auction.

We will send an email confirming the forecourt launch date during the week. If you have any queries in the meantime, please feel free to contact the Customer Service Team in the usual way.

Kind regards,

I’m not quite sure what this means for us? But I suppose there may be some cheap cars available, that would be easy to re-sell.
The biggest impact will be to the traditional auction houses. Margins are tight on part exchange cars, and dealers will want to get as much as possible for their cars. If the auction method is more cost effective, we could see far fewer cars coming through the old auctions.

Building a Car History File

admin    Salvage hints and tips    

When selling a damage repaired car, its always important to fully document the cars history since it has come into your ownership. Not only does this help you when you come to sell the car, by showing t buyer the exact details of the original damage and subsequent repair, but it also shows that you are a responsible seller – which is worth its weight in gold when selling a car!

Many damaged cars specifically Cat D & C’s will often not come with any history or documentation of any sort. However, as I have mentioned in previous posts it is often possible to recieve copies from main dealers for servie etc.
Therefore its really important to gather as much information on the car as you can.

Buyers will more of often than not always want to see detailed pictures of the extent of the accident damage before buying. I’ve always previously taken as many digital photos as possible, before repairs, and then a few during repair to show the quality of the repair work.
Once finished, I have stuck all the photo’s in a folder with the VIC (if its a Cat C Car) which then accompanies all the usual book packs.

Being that the credit crunch is biting, take advantage of all the free photo printing offers available from all the online photo printing providers. Details of a couple of the offers are below. Just register upload your pictures, pay a couple of quid postage, and they are on your doorstep in a couple of days.

I will takeadvantage of the below, and print at least 50 photo’s for any new salvage project.

Photo Box – 50 Free Prints

Snapfish – 40 Free Prints

Insuring a damaged repaired car

admin    Uncategorized    

This is a question I@m frequently asked.

“Will I be able to get insurance on my car if its a cat D or C?”

I’m simple terms, Yes. It shouldn’t be any different than insuring any other car. However you should definitely make it clear to your insurer that it is a damaged repaired car, as this would affect any pay-out if something happened. Likewise the overall value of the car will be affected, so if involved in an accident the insurers would not pay-out full book value for the car.

Another frequently asked question about insurance and salvaged cars is.

“Do I have to tell my insurer when insuring a Cat X or U car?”

With Category X & U cars, there isn’t the need to tell your insurance company unless you would specifically like to. These cars are not insurance write-offs therefore once repaired the overall book value of the car is un-altered. Additionally, damaged on cat X an U cars is usually only cosmetic, and not structural therefore the insurance company wouldn’t be concerned there either.

If you are ever worried make sure you have a chat with your insurer as they will be able to clarify all the above for you.

Aside from the above you shouldn’t have any problems insuring a damaged repaired car.