A car that does not run because it has been damaged is often thought of as worthless. In fact, totaling a vehicle is when the repairs to that vehicle are more expensive than the worth of the vehicle. That’s a calculation of worth based on its utility as a vehicle; that means it’s determined by the current driveability and durability of the vehicle. However, there are also other things to consider. Namely, a car is made up of hundreds of pounds of metal. Every type of metal has value. If I want to recycle my car, I need to consider taking it to a scrapyard.
Every Metal Has Value
Every type of metal has value since metal is used as the base material for thousands of different applications. For example, your vehicle might have aluminum body panels. If they’re scratched and dented, they might be ugly, but they’re still made of the same amount of aluminum. If I recycle my car in Louisiana, that same aluminum can be cleaned and refined so that it is then used to make aluminum soda cans or even new body panels. That means more aluminum does not need to be mined from the ground and fewer resources are needed to refine raw aluminum.
Recycling that aluminum will save the environment some stress and also save the manufacturers a lot of money. That’s why they’re willing to pay for different types of metal, even if the metal itself is damaged. That’s why every metal has value.
Different Purposes
The value of different kinds of metal is calculated the same way any other commodity is calculated. The rarity is compared with the usefulness of the metal. Some metals, such as steel, are incredibly useful, but they’re not very rare. That means you’ll always be able to sell steel, but not always for great prices. Copper, on the other hand, is more rare and very useful. If I recycle my car, I can earn money for a lot of different types of metal.
