If you have some valuable car parts sitting around and are in need of some quick money – will a pawn shop help you? Find out the answer in this post.
Of all of the questions I get about what pawn shops do or do not take in, this is absolutely one of my favorite!
probably because I’m a car guy at heart.
I’ve worked on cars my entire life, since before I could even drive.
So obviously, when someone brings car parts into the pawn shops that I’m in, I offer to buy them in a heart beat if they are actually worth something.
That having been said, what about all of the other pawnbrokers out there?
Do pawn shops buy car parts as a general rule, or am I just a giant freak?!?
Well, the truth of the matter is that a lot of pawn shops will deal with quality car parts depending on what it is and what they might sell for on sites like eBay.
Pawn shops, for the most part, are happy to make you a loan on or offer to buy something from you that they can verify works properly and has significant resale value.
If you take a new ball bearing Garrett turbocharger into a pawn shop and they can properly identify what it is, you better believe that they will fall all over themselves to make you a loan on it or offer to buy it.
If on the other hand you bring in hubcaps from a 1977 Ford Crown Victoria, they probably won’t be so inspired.
A lot of people have asked if pawn shops buy car parts and the answer is that if the part you are talking about is close to new and valuable, then there’s no reason for a pawn shop to not take it in.
So What Are We Getting At
In order for a pawn shops to take in something like car parts, they have to be able to verify that they are really worth something and are easily resold.
Things like old, used alternators aren’t going to be really attractive to most pawnbrokers.
But new parts, that are highly sought after and in demand, are almost always going to be greeted with open arms by pawn shops who know what they are doing.
How Can You Get The Most For Car Parts At A Pawn Shop
Car parts are going to be like most of the other things that you would take into a pawn shops.
You will want to make sure that they are as clean as possible and in very good condition.
Ideally, you want your car parts to look new if possible. The reason is pretty obvious – a pawn shop will have a much easier time selling something that is new looking versus something that is covered in oil and grease.
Additionally, you will want to be sure to take some kind of documentation with you to the pawn shop when you take your car parts in.
You have to remember that not all pawnbrokers are like me and will instantly be able to identify the difference between a blow-of value and a bypass valve, or even know what they are worth.
They aren’t professional mechanics (not that I am either) and therefore, you should be prepared to explain to them what they are looking at and about how much they are worth.
At the very least, you should be able to tell them the make and model number of the part, as well as what kind of vehicle it goes to if it’s something that’s built for a specific application.
