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Buying a ‘twin’ car from the scrapyard
Buying a complete vehicle as scrap parts rarely makes sense as a pure contingency. It can be good sense if a major component on your car already needs replacing.
I have a middle-aged car in good condition, and have found the same (unusual) model in near scrap condition for sale at a very low price. Is it worth buying for spare parts? YR
Maybe. You have many factors to consider:
Do you have a place to store it; what will it cost to get it there; is the price low enough to cover that and not stress your current cash flow; how long do you plan to keep your current car?
Bear in mind that the parts most likely to wear out on your own car are the parts most likely to be already worn out on the spare – especially as it is the same make and model.
Buying a complete vehicle as scrap parts rarely makes sense as a pure contingency. It can be good sense if a major component on your car already needs replacing (e.g. a differential or gearbox, or major body parts after an accident) and the junk car has the part(s) you already and definitely need in working order. It can make even more sense if the model is rare and many of its parts are not locally available.
It can be a comfort to have a “contingency” stock of many items – even obscure things like window-winding mechanisms, dashboard trim elements and a hundred other etcetera.
I recognise that if you have a rare model of some age that it might be much loved. That could considerably increase the merits of a scrap “twin”.