Semi Truck Scrap Price Today: Per Ton, Plus the Parts Worth More

A tractor shell weighs 15,000 to 20,000 pounds and prices at the ferrous rate, so the per-ton figure does most of the work. But a diesel particulate filter is worth $20 to $700 to a precious metals recycler against $0.50 to $3.00 at a scrap yard, and aluminium semi wheels are their own premium grade.

The floor, and why it is only a floor

A heavy tractor is a lot of steel. Fifteen to twenty thousand pounds of it, priced at the ferrous rate, which puts the semi truck scrap value well above anything a car reaches.

That figure is a floor rather than an answer, in exactly the way the per-ton page describes for cars. The difference on a semi is that the items sitting above the floor are individually larger and there are more of them.

Condition matters less than people assume. A blown engine does not erase the value of the transmission, rear ends, hood, doors, wheels, electronics or interior. A buyer worth dealing with looks at the whole truck rather than at whether it starts.

Today's rates

The big three: wheels, DPF, converter, starting with the widest gap

This is the number to remember from this page.

Since 2007, new heavy-duty on-road diesel trucks sold in North America have carried diesel particulate filters and diesel oxidation catalysts to meet emissions rules. Both contain platinum group metals.

A failed DPF or DOC is typically worth $20 to $700 at a precious metals recycler, priced on estimated PGM content, the part number and spot metal prices at the time.

The same part sold to a scrap metal company brings $0.50 to $3.00. Sent to landfill, you pay the waste company to take it.

That is a gap approaching two hundred times on one component, decided entirely by which phone number you call. Specialist recyclers maintain part number databases and quote in writing, usually within a business day, so there is no reason to guess.

The muffler page covers how to tell exhaust components apart, and the catalytic converter hub explains the code-based pricing that applies to DPFs too.

Aluminum semi wheels scrap is a different grade entirely

The second big item, and the alloy detail is what most sellers miss.

Car wheels are typically 356 alloy. Semi wheels are 6061, and yards price them separately because the silicon and magnesium content differs. Clean truck and semi wheels were quoted at $0.65 to $0.83 per pound across a survey of 22 yards, with a national average near $0.72, and individual yards at $0.90.

On a ten-wheel tractor that is several hundred pounds of premium aluminium, which is why the preparation advice is worth following.

Forged 6061 wheels are heavy, so a small per-pound deduction takes a large bite out of the total. Buyers expect them stripped: tyres off, lead weights removed, steel valve stems out, plastic caps gone. One yard's tip is to run a hammer or pry bar around the inner bead lip before arriving.

Chrome plating and plastic cladding count as contaminants because they must be removed during smelting, so a chromed wheel grades below a plain one. The wheel weights page covers what to do with the weights you pull off, which are worth separating rather than binning.

Column B: pull these first

Beyond the big two, a tractor carries more non-ferrous than a car by a wide margin.

• Aluminium fuel tanks, often a pair, drained and among the easiest aluminium on the truck to remove.
• The fifth wheel assembly, heavy steel with a fifth wheel scrap weight in the hundreds of pounds, and a used part with its own market.
• Batteries, typically a bank of four rather than one, so a semi truck battery bank scrap sale is four times a car's.
• Steel bumpers and the hood, which on many trucks is fibreglass and worth nothing as metal but something as a part.
• The engine, where a diesel engine core value can be substantial even after failure, on the same logic the core page sets out.
• Rear ends and the transmission, both with core markets, as the differential and transmission pages describe.

Whole or stripped

The same paradox applies as on cars, and it needs stating carefully.

A truck missing its engine, transmission, wheels, catalytic components or batteries is worth less than a complete one, because whole-vehicle buyers price completeness. Yet separating the DPF and the wheels genuinely increases your total.

The resolution is that some items are worth more separately and some are not, and the line falls where a specialist buyer exists. The DPF has one. The wheels have one. The frame rails do not.

So the sequence that works: pull the DPF and the wheels, check core value on the engine, transmission and rear ends, and sell the rest as a complete unit rather than picking it apart.

What a tractor weighs, by configuration

What you have changes the floor substantially.

Day cabs are the lightest tractors and the day cab scrap weight sits at the bottom of the range. Sleepers add cab structure and weight. Heavy vocational trucks and multi-axle configurations run heavier again, with the extra axles adding both steel and wheels.

Trailers are a separate transaction. A trailer scrap price per ton runs on the same ferrous rate but the aluminium content varies enormously between a flatbed, a dry van and a reefer.

Titles, liens and DOT paperwork

Heavier vehicles bring heavier administration, and it is worth resolving before a truck moves.

Title and lien position matter more on commercial equipment than on cars, because financed tractors frequently carry a lien long after they stop earning. A buyer cannot complete a purchase against an unreleased lien, and towing access affects the deal too, since a non-running tractor needs equipment a car does not.

Be honest about what is missing. Buyers price on completeness, and a surprise at collection costs more than a disclosure at quote.

Semi truck prices around the world

Steel and aluminium settle in US dollars, so the metal in a tractor is worth the same everywhere. Currency and local buyer depth are what change.

Treat these as a metal-value anchor rather than a local quote. DPF recycling in particular depends on whether specialist PGM processors operate in your market.

Questions people actually ask

"Is a non-running semi worth scrapping?"

Yes. A non-running tractor still holds steel, aluminium, batteries, wheels, axles, wiring and usable components. The engine failing does not remove the value of everything bolted around it.

"What is the 18 wheeler scrap value compared to a car?"

Several times higher on weight alone, since a tractor runs 15,000 to 20,000 pounds against 3,000 for a saloon. The non-ferrous items widen the gap further.

"Should I sell the DPF separately?"

Almost always. The difference between a PGM recycler and a scrap yard on that one part can exceed the value of several tons of steel.

Common mistakes

• Selling a DPF or DOC to a scrap metal company at $0.50 to $3.00 when a PGM recycler pays $20 to $700.
• Paying a waste company to dispose of emissions components that have real recycling value.
• Bringing semi wheels with tyres, lead weights or valve stems still fitted, which downgrades heavy items to dirty pricing.
• Treating semi wheels as the same grade as car wheels, when 6061 and 356 price differently.
• Stripping a truck past the point where a specialist buyer exists, which lowers the whole-vehicle offer without adding value.
• Moving a financed tractor before the lien is released.
• Assuming a blown engine means the truck is worth only its weight.

Figures on this page are indicative buyer references rather than futures-linked rates. Metal rows for aluminium and steel are computed from the site's tracked benchmarks; DPF and wheel figures are published market references. DPF values depend on part number and PGM spot prices at the time of settlement.

Frequently asked questions