BREAK IT OR SCRAP IT?!?! - URGENT - MUST RESOLVE TODAY

[jaishaw]

Hi,

My 'R' Reg Audi A4 has been declared dead....now, the engine is fine, it's the suspension and brakes etc that are shot. I was initially going to just call a scrapper and get the car collected, but was wondering whether there were any parts that were worth salvaging before I do? Seems a shame for the turbo and other bits to be either crushed into a little cube or sold for profit by the man who comes to take it away!

Any advice? The MOT expires tomorrow (Wednesday).

Thanks.

 

[ScottD3]

What's the engine?
Avant?
What model?

How bad are the brakes and suspension?
They might easier enough to fix with some 2nd hand parts or a new set of discs.

 

[@udi A3]

pull the engine out if you have space to keep it and then scrap the rest?

 

[jaishaw]

They are bad enough that the mechanic said "I wouldn't even drive it to the scrappers if it were my car mate". I've got a long MOT fail certificate from Friday.

1.9 TDI saloon
Dark Blue

 

[ScottD3]

pull the engine out if you have space to keep it and then scrap the rest?

Depends on the rest of the car.
If its a quattro the rear end would be worth something.

Does it have leather?
Load cover?
Alloys?
Clocks?
Radio?

 

[jaishaw]

In all honesty.... I neither have the space, the ability nor the inclination to take the whole engine out. What I didn't want to do is scrap it for £180 to find out later that removing a couple of nuts and bolts would've netted me double the cash!

 

[jaishaw]

standard alloys, so probably not worth a bundle. brand new full size spare tire in the boot however...

 

[ScottD3]

They are bad enough that the mechanic said "I wouldn't even drive it to the scrappers if it were my car mate". I've got a long MOT fail certificate from Friday.

1.9 TDI saloon
Dark Blue

its up to you and your wallet.

If I was told that about Audrey I'd put my hands in my pocket and get it fixed as cheap as possible for the short term.

 

[jaishaw]

As much as I love my Audi, I really think it is beyond it's useful economic life. If it was anything other than a battered and bruised standard edition, I'd be tempted to put my hand in my pocket. I have another car to drive so it is just a case of getting the best money I can for it today. Someone at work said something to me about the turbo specifically (but they have a habit of talking nonesense!)

 

[ScottD3]

I'd strip the fuses, bulbs and relays out of it (I like em, find em useful).
Take the clocks out and ebay.

3 spoke wheel?
CD changer?
Stereo?
arm rest?

ECU and turbo might be useful.

Being an R reg i assume its all prefacelift and nothing from the facelift models?

 

[aragorn]

detach anything that comes off easily, stuff like the head unit, spare wheel, central locking pump all just unclip, will make next to no difference to the money you get for the car, and can be sold on ebay easily.

If you start dismantling the engine and removing the turbo etc you might affect how much you'll get for the car, but the turbo will easily net you 50quid, and the cat converter will get you 30-40 at a scrap yard.

 

[Sandra]

Personally, i would break it for parts, there is always someone looking for a4 b5 parts. Is the body work/panels in good condition? As you have already said, the engine and turbo etc are fine, i would think you could get more selling them than weighing the car in. x

 

[jaishaw]

Thanks for your help everyone. I will take a couple of bits off then let the man take it away! Hopefully I will be back one day when I get myself another Audi!

 

[Bradderz_1988]

Just take the easy bits off scrap it and find a decent facelift B5 or TQS !!

 

[crazy88]

Not that you're biased?

TO be honest, if it was me I'd remove literally the simplest stuff as was mentioned, head unit etc. I don't have the space or time to break a car. If I had time and space though...I'd break it

 

[aragorn]

Folk often say "oh just break it" but its actually a LOT of work and requires space and time, not to mention tools.

I've broken two A4's. First one i bought for the engine, i paid £250 for the car, removed the engine and some other bits and bobs i needed, sold the wheels, locking pump and some various other bits and weighed in the shell and cat, making back around £250.

Second one i paid £600 for, so had to work a lot harder to break even. I kept the gearbox, diff, propshaft and some suspension components and sold as much as i could. Its hard going though as not only are you having to strip the bits off, your then packing them up, listing on ebay, posting, etc etc.

In both cases its worked for me, i've made the money back and got the parts i needed for nothing, but its certainly not something to take on lightly, and i've since seen other very tempting buys and let them go knowing just how much work is actually involved.

 

[Broonie]

As aragorn says, it is a LOT of work breaking a car, I used to do it quite a lot with the civic 1.8 vti's and some other models, those civics each netted me just shy of £2k profit but that was around 3 months from first stripping the car until the last few bits were gone, it's annoying having little parts lying around taking up space etc, luckily I have the space and tools etc to do it but for a standard model of such a common car it's not really financially beneficial to yourself to break it,

take ken what you can and what you think you can sell easy enough off it and weigh it in, make sure you get the cash for the cat or take it off and sell it separate

 

[jcb]

stripping is easy
you don't need a lot of tools, simple socket set and some star/spline bits.
£50 investment would do most bits, some blocks of wood, breeze blocks etc, beg borrow and steal anything else needed

space is the bit you can't buy! (unless you rent a garage for a couple of months, I did that too)
This time I used a mates yard and chucked him some cash at the end.
get yourself a tarpauline and get busy!!

when I stripped my TQS i netted over £4k and I still have some bits in the garage
admittedly I had lots of extra goodies on there and the brakes and suspension alone gave me £1500

I reckon if I added the actual 10 hour days up I spent stripping it I would have had it stripped and shell chopped up well inside a 5 day week.
£80 for a shell or £180 for a car!?!? makes no sense to me when a bit of time on ebay gets shot of switches and postables, bit of time on forums and local web sites (gumtree etc) trebles if not quadruples your money.

Strip the interior and use it as a storage unit, then get it on blocks, do brakes, suspension, drop the subframes with engine (and diff if quattro), split them, drag them out and strip.
buyers will usually be on hand to either help do anything tricky or pull big bits out and into cars (cheers Broonie etc!)

target the bits that people need and scrap the rest.
switches, trim, brakes, engines, ECU, ABS controllers, washer bottles, headlights, doors, seats if in good nick, clocks and keys, breakdown kit, bumpers, exhausts, CAT's etc etc
even if you apply £20 each to the big bits in that list you are quids in