Getting the best possible deal matters for most transactions these days and getting the highest price for your old car is no different. With average UK scrap car prices making no great gains over recent months, but a wealth of stats at our fingertips, we wondered where we could find the best prices… Literally where in the country!
It turns out there are some clear areas where scrap cars are reaching the highest prices. The top-paying regions are to be found primarily in Northern Ireland, the South England and Central Scotland. It’s great that three of the home nations are represented in our top ten list, but Northern Ireland certainly takes the crown!
The real average price of scrap cars in the UK
As the original, and one of the UK’s only scrap car recycling networks with truly national coverage, we’ve been able to look at the average prices paid over the last six months across the entire country and pinpoint the highest prices for the most frequently scrapped cars.
While we specialise in scrap cars, CarTakeBack also offers higher pricing for younger used vehicles, so to give you the most accurate picture of high prices when we’re talking about true scrap cars, which will be recycled, we’ve removed the data from all cars under 10 years old. So let’s get to the headlines!
Highest prices paid in Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland shows consistent high pricing for scrap cars – taking five of the top ten spots across the UK and four of the top five regions! Enniskillen in County Fermanagh recorded the highest average price at £333, followed by Ballymena in County Antrim at £315.
County Tyrone has the highest fluctuation of average prices ranging from £221 in Castlederg to £312 in Omagh.
Suffolk leads the South of England with the highest average scrap car prices
The first English county featured in the top ten scrap car prices of cars over 10 years old is Suffolk, in third place. The price paid over this region is particularly widespread, with the lowest fee being £154 in Bungay and the highest being £442 in Bury St. Edmunds.
The next Engligh County to make the top ten is Buckinghamshire in eighth place with consistent high pricing across the region with four cities having average scrap car prices over £250, the highest being Great Missenden at £277.
Cambridgeshire takes the final spot in the top ten and has similar average high pricing with a peak for Wisbech at £386.
Scotland has two regions in the top ten of scrap prices paid
Scotland’s first entry in our list of top ten scrap car prices is Clackmannanshire at seventh, paying out an average of £257. Alloa is the highest price in that county paying out an average of £259.
Stirlingshire in ninth place, shows consistently high prices paid across the whole region, with Denny and Stirling itself paying out over £250 as an average and Larbert at £294, which would rival the very top of the chart!
So, which cars have we been discussing? It made no sense to give you average prices if we weren’t talking about the average car! In the UK, the average scrap car is 17 years old, hence only looking at the data of cars older than 10 years.
While our data is based on all the car brands we recycle (which is all of them!) We also looked at the most frequently scrapped makes. The list of top 5 car makes to be scrapped (all because they were popular models with original high sales of course!) is consistently topped by Ford, closely followed by Vauxhall. Peugeot and the Citroen take 3rd and 4th place and Volkswagen finishes off the top five car brands.
If you are worrying that your car is soon to be at the end of its days and your region isn’t in our top ten list of prices paid for scrap cars, don’t panic. Location, while clearly a key part of establishing scrap prices, isn’t the only factor considered. Size, brand and age are also important influences on scrap car prices.
We based all these findings on averages to give an accurate but overall picture, but there are still high prices to be found across the entire country. Here’s the top five highest average prices paid by town or city, wherever the region (still of cars over 10 years old). As you can see, not only are there some very high average prices paid, the geographical spread across the country is varied. You may just find your closest town or city here…
Tip: you can move this table side to side on mobile devices if required.
| English Town / City | County | Average Price |
|---|---|---|
| Bury St.Edmunds | Suffolk | £442 |
| Wisbech | Cambridgeshire | £386 |
| Rossendale | Lancashire | £378 |
| Heanor | Derbyshire | £367 |
| Boston | Lincolnshire | £321 |
Tip: you can move this table side to side on mobile devices if required.
| Welsh Town / City | County | Average Price |
|---|---|---|
| Pontypridd | Mid Glamorgan | £366 |
| Narberth | Dyfed | £254 |
| Hengoed | Mid Glamorgan | £234 |
| Llanrhystud | Dyfed | £224 |
| Port Talbort | West Glamorgan | £220 |
Tip: you can move this table side to side on mobile devices if required.
| Scottish Town / City | County | Average Price |
|---|---|---|
| Inverurie | Aberdeenshire | £365 |
| Larbert | Stirlingshire | £294 |
| Kirkcudbright | Kirkcudbrightshire | £267 |
| Alloa | Clackmannanshire | £259 |
| Musselburgh | Midlothian | £252 |
Tip: you can move this table side to side on mobile devices if required.
| Northern Ireland Town / City | County | Average Price |
|---|---|---|
| Enniskillen | County Fermanagh | £333 |
| Ballymena | County Antrim | £315 |
| Omagh | County Tyrone | £312 |
| Maghera | County Londonderry | £311 |
| Coleraine | County Londonderry | £306 |
To find out the value of your car, enter your reg and postcode in our online form. We may ask you some questions about the condition of your car to help us find you the highest value for it. You’ll see the price instantly and all CarTakeBack quotes are valid for 7 days, so if scrap metal values decrease, you’ll still get the best price for your car!
