Scrap metal
Discarded metal, including stripped and crushed cars, collected and sold for melting into new metal.
Scrap metal is metal from discarded products and manufacturing waste that is collected, sorted and sold to be melted into new material. Cars are a major source, mostly steel and iron with aluminum, copper and other metals.
For a car with few sellable parts, scrap metal value sets the floor price. That value moves with commodity markets, which is why junk car offers change over time.
The U.S. Geological Survey calls iron and steel scrap a vital raw material for new steel and cast-iron products, says the U.S. scrap recycling rate averaged between 80% and 90% over the past decade, and reports that automobile recycling is nearly 100% each year.1
References
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U.S. Geological Survey, “Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Iron and Steel Scrap” (February 2026), https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2026/mcs2026-iron-steel-scrap.pdf ↩
Related terms
Guides that mention scrap metal
- Car titles explained: types, transfers and problems
- Certificate of destruction and nonrepairable certificates
- How car recycling works: what happens to a junk car
- How junkyards price cars
- How much is my junk car worth?
- How to sell a car after an accident
- How to sell a car that doesn't run
- How to sell a car with a blown engine
- How to sell a fire-damaged car
- NMVTIS junk and salvage reporting: who reports, what and when
- Salvage title: what it means and what you can do with one