What's my van worth? How scrap, salvage and trade prices actually work

When you ask “what’s my van worth?”, there isn’t one answer. There are three markets that might buy your van, each pricing it on completely different logic. Getting the wrong market is the most common reason people feel undervalued.

The scrap market

Scrap pricing is the floor. It’s based on the weight of the vehicle and what the metals market is paying for steel, aluminium, and catalytic converter metals on that specific day.

In 2024–2025, scrap prices for a typical large van (Ford Transit, Mercedes Sprinter) ranged from roughly £200 to £500 depending on the precious metals market, mainly platinum, palladium, and rhodium content in the catalytic converter. Vans with larger engines tend to have more valuable catalysts.

Scrap is the right market when: the van is structurally unsound, has a seized engine, has a rotted chassis, or is otherwise impossible to run or break for parts economically. If it’s worth more stripped, it’s not really scrap.

Scrap pricing ignores: age, brand, mileage, cosmetic condition, interior, service history, and remaining useful life.

The salvage market

Salvage sits above scrap. A salvage buyer isn’t melting the van, they’re breaking it for parts, or selling it to a repairer who will. The price reflects the value of what’s inside: working engines, gearboxes, front axles, alternators, ECUs, seats, body panels, doors.

A Ford Transit Mk8 with a blown head gasket is worth more for salvage than for scrap because the gearbox, rear axle, dashboard, and body panels are all intact and saleable. A Mercedes Sprinter with a seized engine but a clean OM651 block is worth more stripped than crushed.

Salvage prices vary considerably by make, model, and which components are intact, but typically land 50–150% above scrap for a van in mixed condition.

Salvage is the right market when: the van has a specific mechanical failure but the rest of it is intact. It’s also the right market for high-mileage vans that don’t justify retail prep costs.

Salvage pricing is driven by: parts demand for that specific model, the condition of the expensive components (engine, gearbox, axles), and whether the parts market is currently oversupplied.

The trade/used market

Used pricing is what a dealer or private buyer might pay for a van they intend to run, not crush or break. This is determined by the standard used vehicle market: age, mileage, service history, MOT status, condition, spec.

Trade is always less than private sale price, because the buyer needs margin to pay for prep, holding costs, warranty exposure, and their own profit. A van that would sell privately for £8,000 might achieve £5,500–£6,500 in trade.

Used/trade is the right market when: the van is mechanically sound, has a reasonable service history, is under about 150,000 miles, and doesn’t have prohibitive repair requirements. Essentially: if someone would want to buy it to use it.

Which market applies to my van?

The honest answer: often more than one, which is why a good offer should check all three.

When you enter your reg with us, we price against both the salvage network and the used market simultaneously. If your van has salvage value that exceeds what the used market would pay (net of prep costs), the salvage price wins. If it’s a runner with genuine trade value, that comes back higher.

You see one number, the best of the three markets as they stand today.

The catch with online valuation tools

Generic online valuations (Glass’s, CAP, Auto Trader estimate tools) are calibrated to the retail and trade used market. They assume the van is driveable, MOT’d, and in reasonable order. If your van doesn’t meet those assumptions, those tools will massively overvalue it against what you’ll actually be offered by a dealer or buyer.

Equally, scrap-only calculators undervalue any van with intact, saleable components. Knowing which tool to apply to which van is the expertise, and it’s why an instant offer from a buyer who operates across all three markets is often more accurate than a manual valuation.