Scrap car recycling in Northwest Indiana

Recycling a car is mostly an industrial job, and most of it happens after the car has left your hands. Your part is short: get a fair offer, clear out your things, and be paid when the car is towed. Cash for Scrap Junk Cars NWI covers that part for owners from Hammond to Gary and Merrillville.

Our part: offer, tow, payment

1. You send the car details. The car’s year, make and model, plus its title status. Then your name, phone and the pickup address.
2. We call back with an offer for the whole car.
3. We tow it free. The tow is never subtracted from the offer, and same-day pickup is often possible.
4. You’re settled up on the spot, while the car is being loaded.

No title? We can still help. Scrapping a car in Indiana takes one of two documents. The first is the title, and a lost one can be replaced at the BMV for $15. The second is a BMV certificate of authority: a $4 application backed by proof you own the car, such as the current registration. State law says a car under 15 model years old can’t be sold for scrap without one or the other. Send us what you do have (a bill of sale, the registration, an insurance card) and we’ll work out on the call which document fits your car.

What happens to the car next

This is the general process the recycling industry follows for end-of-life vehicles, as described in the vehicle recycling overview:

• Inventory and first parts off. The car is checked for parts. The wheels, tires, battery and catalytic converter are removed.
• Fluids drained. Engine coolant, oil, transmission fluid, air-conditioning refrigerant and gasoline are drained and removed.
• Reusable parts pulled. Serviceable parts, sometimes complete engines or transmissions, may be removed and sold used or sent for remanufacturing.
• Hazardous bits removed. Older cars (before the 2003 model year) can contain mercury switches, which recyclers take out before shredding.
• Crushed and shredded. The stripped shell is flattened or cubed for transport, then shredded into fist-sized chunks.
• Sorted and sold. Glass, plastic and rubber are separated out, and the metal is sold by the ton to steel mills.

Why it’s worth doing properly

A car sitting on a lot slowly leaks fluids and rusts. Recycled, its steel goes back into use. The US Geological Survey notes that remelting scrap takes much less energy than making iron and steel from ore, and that recycling steel saves landfill space (USGS iron and steel scrap overview). For the car owner, the practical upside is simpler: the car is gone and you’ve been paid for its weight.

Before the tow

• Take out everything you want to keep: papers from the glove box, garage remotes, a toll transponder, child seats, anything in the trunk.
• Have the title ready. No title? We can still help. Indiana scrap sales need either the title or a BMV certificate of authority, and we’ll work out which one on the call.
• Tell us where the car sits: street, driveway, garage or lot, and whether it rolls.

Is it scrap, or worth more?

If your car still runs well, recycling it for its weight may not be your best money. Our guide on whether to scrap it or sell it whole walks through that call honestly. For the step-by-step of the sale itself, see how to scrap a car in Indiana.