What Do I Do with Old Car Parts? Options, Proper Disposal, and More

Did you know that 86% of a vehicle’s material content is recycled, reused, or used for energy recovery? In fact, automotive recycling plays a crucial role in reducing air and water pollution.

Of course, it all starts with old and used vehicle parts. If you have some in your garage, you can recycle them or even earn money. Don’t know what to do with old parts? Lucky for you, you have options.

What to Do With Old Car Parts

You can do a lot with old car parts that could contribute to the environment and even make you money. Common ones include recycling, donating, selling, upcycling, and disposing.

Recycle

Recycling converts waste materials into new materials or objects and is something you can do with used car parts. While you can’t recycle all the parts and materials, a lot of vehicle components are recyclable, such as the following:

• Batteries
• Belts
• Carpets
• Mats
• Metals
• Oil filters
• Rubber hoses
• Tires
• Transmissions
• Wheels
• Windshields

If you’re unsure how to recycle these parts, you can always approach junkyards. They usually prefer whole cars, but some will gladly take bits and pieces. There are also recycling plants and other salvage yards that will pay you for parts that can be reused or remade.

Recycling parts saves energy and preserves our natural resources, as the old components can be used to create new products.

For example, you can use metal over and over again to serve the same function. This limits the need for mining. Similarly, tires can help make roads or create more tires at retread facilities, and so on.

Donate

Donating old car parts, or the car itself, is another option if you don’t care much about making a few extra bucks. There are tons of charity car donation programs all over the country.

For example, Wheels For Wishes is an organization that accepts vehicle donations and gives the proceeds to Make-A-Wish to help grant wishes to kids facing critical illness. There are other organizations that take in vehicle donations, so it’s best to ask around.

Pros

An advantage to donating your car is the help with paperwork. Donating the vehicle to large charities will likely mean someone assisting you with the paperwork. This makes the process easier and smoother compared to selling a car to a private party.

The donation is also deductible from your taxable income.

Cons

Unfortunately, the process of donating your car or its parts can be tedious, and not everyone benefits from it.

Besides the fact you’re not getting money from the donation, a drawback to donating a car is that it may not help charities as much as you’d like. They’ll mainly use it for transportation or sell the vehicle to raise money.

Similarly, most charities will likely reject the donation of just the parts. There’s a slim chance they’ll find anything to do with it, so it might be better to sell it and make money to give to charity instead.

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Sell

As mentioned, selling the used parts is the best way to make money and even make a difference if you’re willing to donate to charity. There are two ways you can go about selling the parts: in-person or online.

In-Person

Selling it in person has many advantages, but the main one is the physical interaction with the customer. You’re more hands-on and can physically demonstrate the quality and functionality of the parts to the customer to boost trust and confidence in your goods.

One disadvantage to this method, however, is the limited audience. Because you’re selling it in person, the only people who will know about it are family, friends, and locals in the area. You likely won’t reach as many potential buyers if you do it the traditional way.

Online

The other method is by selling used parts online. You can use social media or websites to post the part for sale. One advantage to opting for the more modern way of selling is the convenience and larger audience.

You don’t need to be in person if someone inquires about the part, as you can leave a general description in the post. Plus, it’s online, so more potential customers can look at the product.

Upcycle

Upcycling transforms waste materials or unwanted products into new items of higher quality or value. This reduces waste, promotes sustainability, and encourages creative reuse.

It’s similar to recycling, but the main difference is the process and outcome. When you recycle something, you break the material down and process it into new products.

In upcycling, the material remains untouched. For example, an old briefcase can be upcycled into a unique bathroom cabinet if you mount it on the wall.

There are endless ways to upcycle old auto parts. The only thing stopping you is your imagination. If you’re running out of ideas, there is a ton of inspiration on the internet, or you can even turn it into a fun afternoon hang-out with friends to see how you can upcycle the parts.

Dispose

If none of the options above are appealing, you can always dispose of the car or parts. Just make sure you do it the right way.

The first thing to do is to look for recyclable components, like batteries, tires, and other metal parts. You can separate them from the trash so that someone else can recycle them into something useful. As mentioned, recycling is beneficial to the environment as it conserves valuable resources.

The next thing you want to do is to safely dispose of hazardous materials like oil, antifreeze, and brake fluid. These are dangerous to the environment if not handled properly. You can talk to your local environmental authorities for guidance on where and how to properly dispose of the materials.

Most towns have designated collection points or facilities designed to handle hazardous waste, so talking to an official should be your top priority.