What Florida Junkyards Pay for Cars: Scrap Math by Weight

Short answer: For a car that has only scrap value, a Florida junkyard pays by weight. At the national average of $177.58 a ton that iScrap App showed on September 29, 2026, a 3,300-pound sedan works out to about $293 and a 5,500-pound pickup to about $488. A car with a good engine, straight body panels or its catalytic converter can bring more. No Florida yard we checked publishes a price. Each one quotes by phone or by form.

Disclosure: the cash offer form on U-Pull-It.com is run by Wheelzy, which competes with the yards named here, and we may be paid when a reader sells a car through it. None of the businesses named paid for or reviewed this article. We have not sold a car to any of them ourselves, so everything here comes from public sources.

Last checked: September 29, 2026. Scrap prices are from iscrapapp.com with the dates shown. Title rules, fees and forms are from flhsmv.gov. What each yard says about buying cars is from its own website. Yard counts are from our directory.

What is scrap steel paying right now?

Price	Where	Date
$177.58 a ton	National average, complete car	Shown on September 29, 2026
$165.60 a ton	National average, crushed cars	Shown on September 29, 2026
$9.50 per hundred pounds, which is $190 a ton	Orlando, Florida, crushed cars	Reported July 29, 2026
$150 a ton	Kingsland, Georgia, just over the state line	Reported June 14, 2026

All four are from iScrap App, where yards and sellers report prices. The Orlando figure was the only Florida report we found on the car pages, and it is two months old, so treat it as a sign of the range and not as a quote.

What does that mean for your car?

The arithmetic is weight in pounds, divided by 2,000, times the price per ton. The weights below are round numbers we picked for each type. Look up your car's curb weight in the owner's manual.

Vehicle	Weight	Tons	At $177.58 a ton	At $190 a ton
Compact car	2,800 lb	1.40	1.40 x 177.58 = $249	1.40 x 190 = $266
Midsize sedan	3,300 lb	1.65	1.65 x 177.58 = $293	1.65 x 190 = $314
SUV or minivan	4,500 lb	2.25	2.25 x 177.58 = $400	2.25 x 190 = $428
Full-size pickup	5,500 lb	2.75	2.75 x 177.58 = $488	2.75 x 190 = $523

These are estimates, rounded to the dollar. They are a floor for a complete car that you deliver. Three things move the real offer. Towing comes out of it if the yard collects the car. Missing parts lower it, because a car without its engine, wheels or catalytic converter weighs less and is priced as incomplete. And parts raise it, because a yard that sells parts can earn more from a common model than from its steel.

The junk car value calculator does this sum for your model, and scrap car prices tracks the per-ton figure. Look up catalytic converter values separately.

What do Florida yards say about buying cars?

Yard	What its website says	Price published?
Budget U Pull It, Winter Garden	Buys wrecked, salvage and junk vehicles, running or not. Arranges towing. Asks for proof of ownership, such as the title, in most cases	No. Online quote or phone
Central Florida Pick & Pay, Orlando	Pays cash for unwanted vehicles, running or not. Towing available	No. Phone
U Pull It Davie, Davie	Buys junk cars. Offer by form or phone	No. Form or phone

Every one of them says it pays "top dollar". None says what that is, so the only way to know is to ask several yards on the same day.

A short video on the scrap value of a junk car from the Live Free channel, published June 2021. Prices have changed since then.

Where are the yards in Florida?

Our directory lists 321 junkyards in Florida, in 121 cities. Five cities hold 104 of them.

City	Yards in our directory
Opa-locka	30
Tampa	23
Orlando	19
Miami	19
Jacksonville	13

Near one of these you have enough buyers within a short tow to make them compete. See all Florida junkyards.

What paperwork does Florida require?

The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles says that for a sale to be legal the seller must transfer the title to the buyer.

Your situation	Form	What flhsmv.gov says
You sold the car	HSMV 82050, Notice of Sale	Florida law requires sellers to file it. It removes your registration from the car and helps you avoid liability after the sale
You lost the paper title	HSMV 82101, duplicate title	Apply before you sell. The fee list shows $75.25 for a duplicate, plus $10 for fast title where offered
No title, and the car is old and nearly worthless	HSMV 82137, Derelict Motor Vehicle Certificate	For a vehicle worth less than $1,000 and at least ten model years old, sold to a licensed salvage dealer or registered metals recycler

The derelict certificate has conditions that matter. The form states that the vehicle may never be titled again and must be dismantled or scrapped. You attach a copy of your driver license or ID. If the seller is not the owner of record, the buyer takes a thumb print. The buyer then holds the car for three business days before dismantling it, or ten calendar days if there is a lien less than three years old.

Keep your license plate. The department says plates stay with the seller and not the vehicle. Our Florida junk car rules go through each step, and selling a car with no title covers the options.

How do you get the best price?

Call three buyers on the same day and give each the same description. Have the title or the derelict form ready. Leave the car complete, and take your plate and belongings out, as our list of what to remove before scrapping a car explains. Then request a cash offer to have a number to compare against.

Common questions

U-Pull-It.com is an independent directory. We are not affiliated with the businesses named here. Hours, fees, prices and ratings come from their websites and public listings and can change, so call before you go.