As the saying goes, "one man's rubbish is another man's treasure" - and never has this been truer than when you are considering setting up a business in the 'scrap' industry. In fact the Scrap Metal industry has grown rapidly over the last 10 years with a raft of new International legislation with regards to recycling waste goods to limit their environmental impact on disposal.
For instance, the EU has now imposed strict limits on the amount of waste ending up in landfill sites - and implemented guidelines for the disposal of all scrap vehicles.
> How to make money in the Scrap Car Business:
There are a number of approved scrap metal recycling centres around the UK - who will pay an amount per ton of scrap metal at the point of delivery. The revenue per ton of scrap metal fluctuates - but is often in excess of £100 per ton.
There is a HUGE demand for a Scrap Car collection and disposal service. More than 2 million cars reach the end of their life each year in the UK. EU Guidelines now stipulate that more than 74% of the vehicle MUST be re-used or recycled.
When a person has a vehicle that they wish to dispose of, the vehicle is often no longer road worthy, no longer insured to be driven - or both. Therefore, the owner NEEDS to have the vehicle collected and disposed of for them - and this is where you come in.
In order to incentivise the flow of business, you may wish to make a small cash payment on collection of a scrap vehicle. But often, people are simply happy to have a vehicle collected and disposed of for free.
> The Basic Car Scrapping Process:
Once you collect a vehicle for scrap, you need to run it through a depollution process before it can be taken to the scrap metal disposal centre.
You start by draining all fluids from the vehicle including oil, fuel, brake fluid etc... and you remove the battery.
You then remove the wheels including the spare - and any other large non-metallic fittings.
There may be certain fittings that you can sell on or reuse - so you should pay close attention and know what is of value. This often comes with experience.
Once the vehicle is fully depolluted, you can then take the vehicle to your local scrap metal recycling plant who will pay you per ton weight of metal.
You MUST have the vehicle log book, or the scrap metal recycling plant will not accept the vehicle for recycling. This protects against people trying to dispose of stolen vehicles.
> How to advertise your scrap car business:
There are a variety of ways to market your new scrap car business, and I have overviewed just a few below.
a) Get a website specifically targeting your local area.
b) Advertise on your local Gumtree, or other free websites.
You can place your adverts in the car section, as people often look on Gumtree when they want to sell or dispose of an old vehicle.
c) Look in local free ads for people that are trying to get rid of their car.
Most areas of the UK have free ads papers and magazines - where you can post adverts about your business or service for free.
d) Look on e-bay for people trying to sell vehicles in your area very cheaply.
You could look on eBay for people selling vehicles very cheaply in your area (eg. for less than £50). You can set up alerts to monitor eBay automatically.
e) Advertise in yellow pages.
When you are more established you may wish to invest in a Yellow Pages advert or a paid advert in your local / regional paper.
> Conclusion.
A scrap car business is a great business to setup, particularly for anyone that is already in the car repair trade. You will likely have all the equipment you need to operate what could turn out to be a very lucrative business in your local region. Not only can it bring financial rewards, but it also feels good to know that you are doing your part to help the environment.