Can You Scrap a Car With a Broken Odometer in Canada?
Scrapping a car is often a wiser option than selling it privately when it reaches the end of its life. Usually, scrap cars without their main parts are widely accepted by scrapyards and recycling centers, but many sellers may be confused if a car doesn’t have an odometer.
In this guide, we will explore whether this issue affects the value of the car, raises legal issues or complicates the scrapping process.
Can You Scrap a Car With a Broken Odometer?
Yes, you can scrap a car with a broken or missing odometer, because scrapping a vehicle is treated differently from selling it privately. When a car is sold for scrap, it’s typically dismantled or recycled, so mileage is less relevant. On the other hand, when it’s sold privately as a used car, mileage directly affects the payouts and has legal implications.
Although you can scrap a car with a broken odometer, when getting the quote, you should still honestly inform the buyer that the odometer is not working or is missing, which protects you from any future disputes or legal issues.
Legal Tip
It’s always recommended to never tamper with or misrepresent odometer readings during the ownership transfer, as the Weights and Measures Act strictly prohibits doing so. This means you can have a broken odometer, but you cannot knowingly alter or fake mileage.
Province-by-Province Overview
For your convenience, we have created a table that shows whether scrapping a car without an odometer has any issues:
| Province | Impact |
|---|---|
| Ontario | None |
| British Columbia | None |
| Alberta | None |
| Quebec | None |
| Manitoba and Saskatchewan | None |
| Atlantic Provinces | Minor |
How to Scrap a Car Without an Odometer?
A junk car with a missing or non-working odometer can be sold for scrap using the same process as a scrap car with all its parts intact. However, to save yourself from legal issues, you can take the following steps into action:
- In rare cases, if the buyer insists on knowing the odometer reading, you can present a maintenance receipt or obtain a CARFAX Canada report to get the last known reading.
- During the paperwork, you may have the right to skip to writing the odometer reading, or you can write in the milage filed field “Unknown.”
Affect on Scrap Value
The odometer can affect the value when selling a car privately because mileage is considered to have little impact on overall value. If a car is sold for scrap its typically doesn’t affect the value of a car. The following are the main factors buyers look for in a scrap car that drives its value:
- The weight of the vehicle in metal.
- Buyers look to see whether the salvageable parts (such as the engine or catalytic converter) are intact.
- Overall condition of the vehicle or the condition of its parts.
In short, scrap dealers value a scrap car mainly based on metal and parts, but not mileage. So a car with missing electronics, like an odometer, rarely significantly reduces your scrap price.
The Bottom Line
In conclusion, we can say that a broken or missing odometer is one of the least common issues one can face while scrapping a car in Canada. It is because typically buyers don’t care about the mileage, what they look for is auto parts and the weight of the vehicle in metal.
If you are ready to sell your scrap car, whether it has an odometer or not, contact Schmidt’s Auto Recycling now. We will get rid of your unwanted or unroadworthy car while paying you top cash.
