From the moment our tow truck rolls into your driveway to the moment the steel from your old car becomes part of a new product, there are eight discrete stages — most of which most sellers never see. Here is the end-to-end walkthrough, with the actual timing and the regulatory checks at each step.
Stage 1: Pickup (Day 1, 30–60 minutes)
The driver arrives at the scheduled window — usually a 2-hour slot. Before the vehicle moves:
- Quick visual confirmation that the vehicle matches the description (year, make, model, VIN match, catalytic converter present, major parts not missing beyond what was disclosed).
- Title transfer paperwork — you sign the back of the title, we sign a bill of sale, you keep your copy.
- Cash handoff. Counted twice, in front of you.
- Plate confirmation — we verify you have removed them. We will not drive away with a plated vehicle.
- The vehicle is winched onto the tow truck and we are off your property within an hour.
If you are not home, we can do a "scheduled keyless pickup" — title and signed bill of sale left in a pre-agreed location, payment via Zelle or check beforehand, vehicle photographed by the driver on arrival. About 15% of our pickups are unattended.
Stage 2: Intake at the yard (Day 1–2)
Vehicle arrives at our Brooklyn Center yard. Within 24 hours:
- Reweighed on our certified scale (yes, every car is weighed — the math has to match the offer).
- VIN re-confirmed against title and entered into our chain-of-custody log.
- Title submitted to DVS for transfer-out filing — usually within 5 business days, well under the 10-day state requirement.
- Vehicle is staged in the inspection area for triage.
The whole intake log is auditable by MPCA and DVS at any time. We have been doing it the same way since 1988.
Stage 3: Parts triage (Day 2–7)
This is where the real decision happens: is this vehicle's value primarily in its parts, or primarily in its raw scrap?
Our inspectors check:
- Engine compression and oil condition (compression tester, dipstick check).
- Transmission function (shift through gears with a portable battery if engine cannot run).
- Drivetrain components — transfer case, differentials, axles.
- Electronic modules — ECU, BCM, ABS, infotainment (these can be worth $50 to $400 each for hard-to-find variants).
- Body panels — doors, hood, tailgate, bumper covers — checked against current parts demand in our inventory system.
- Wheels, tires, seats, mirrors, headlights, taillights.
Anything with strong used-parts demand gets tagged and pulled. Anything else stays with the body shell for the shredder stream. The triage decision is made within 5 to 7 days of intake.
Stage 4: Fluid capture and depollution (Day 3–10)
This step is required by Minnesota Pollution Control Agency rules and is non-negotiable for every licensed yard. Within 30 days of intake (we average 5 to 10), each vehicle is depolluted:
- Refrigerant recovery. EPA-certified technician evacuates R-134a or R-1234yf from the A/C system using a recovery machine. The refrigerant is reclaimed and resold to HVAC contractors. Logged by weight.
- Motor oil. Drained at the oil pan plug, captured in a closed sump. Shipped weekly to a re-refiner that produces base oil for new lubricants.
- Coolant. Drained at the radiator and engine block ports. Filtered and reclaimed.
- Transmission fluid. Pulled via dipstick or pan drop.
- Brake fluid. Bled from the master cylinder and capture lines.
- Power steering fluid. Reservoir drained.
- Windshield washer fluid. Reservoir emptied.
- Fuel. Tank punctured at the bottom drain plug or pumped out via fuel-pump access. Reclaimed or sold to a fuel reclaimer.
- Battery. Removed and shipped to a lead-acid battery recycler. Lead, plastic, and acid are all separated and reclaimed in a closed loop.
- Mercury switches. Older vehicles (pre-2003 mostly) had mercury switches in trunk and hood lights and ABS systems. These are pulled under the National Vehicle Mercury Switch Recovery Program — we have been participating since the program started in 2006.
- Airbag modules. Deployed safely or sent to a specialty processor.
Every gallon of every fluid is logged. The MPCA audits records on request.
Stage 5: Parts removal (Day 7–30)
For vehicles whose triage flagged resaleable parts, this is where labor happens. A drivetrain technician pulls the engine, transmission, and any other tagged assemblies. They are cleaned, tested where possible, photographed, listed on Car-Part.com, and inventoried in our parts management system.
For high-volume models (F-150, Civic, Camry, Silverado, Caravan), parts move quickly — often within 30 to 90 days. Lower-demand parts can sit in inventory for 6 to 12 months until the right buyer comes along.
Stage 6: Catalytic converter handling (Day 14–60)
Cats are removed, photographed, batched by serial number range (which lets the refiner identify precious-metal content), and shipped to a specialty refiner. The refiner crushes them, separates the ceramic substrate from the steel shell, and chemically extracts the palladium, rhodium, and platinum. Recovery rates are >99% of contained precious metal.
The reclaimed metal is sold back to the catalyst manufacturer, who uses it to make new converters for new vehicles. Closed loop.
Stage 7: Shredding (Day 30–90)
Once a vehicle has been depolluted and its parts pulled, the remaining shell — the body, frame, and any unworthwhile attached components — is consolidated with others into a flat-pack and shipped to the regional shredder. The Twin Cities is served by several major shredders, most notably ones in Minneapolis and Eau Claire.
At the shredder, hulks pass through a hammer mill that reduces the vehicle to fist-sized fragments. The fragmented stream then passes through:
- Magnetic separation — pulls the ferrous (steel/iron) fraction out.
- Eddy-current separation — separates aluminum and other non-ferrous metals.
- Density-based separation — sorts the remaining non-metallic fluff (auto shredder residue, ASR) for downstream handling.
The ferrous stream is the largest — about 65 to 75% by weight of the input. It is shipped directly to a steel mill (Gerdau, Nucor, or similar in the Midwest).
Stage 8: Mill melt and re-roll (Day 60–120)
At the mill, shred is fed into an electric arc furnace (EAF). EAF steelmaking from scrap uses about 70% less energy than primary steelmaking from iron ore — the carbon advantage is the main reason auto recycling is so environmentally significant.
The melted steel is cast into billets, slabs, or rebar shapes, then rolled into final products. Common end-uses for recycled auto steel:
- Rebar for construction.
- New automotive sheet steel (the loop closes).
- Appliance shells (washers, dryers, refrigerators).
- Structural steel for buildings.
- Pipe and tube.
By Day 120 from your driveway, your old Camry's steel is likely back in service somewhere as a new product. That is the closed loop of auto recycling.
The paper trail you should keep
From your end, after pickup, you should have:
- The bill of sale (signed by both parties, dated, sale price written).
- Your copy of the title transfer.
- Your DVS Report of Sale (PS2031) confirmation — proof you canceled registration.
- Your insurance cancellation letter for that vehicle.
Keep them for at least 3 years. They are the receipts that protect you if anything weird ever surfaces with the VIN downstream.
The Merritt's commitment
We have been running this process the same way since 1988 — long before electronic VIN tracking, before MPCA depollution rules, before the mercury switch program, before Car-Part.com existed as a global marketplace for used parts. The regulatory framework caught up to the way Brad was already operating; we did not have to change much.
If you want to verify what we are saying — about MPCA registration, about title filing, about the depollution chain — Brad will sit down and walk you through the records. The transparency is part of why our customer-referral rate has been the foundation of the business for nearly four decades.
Ready to start your vehicle on this journey? Call 763-533-2775 for a same-day pickup quote anywhere in the Twin Cities metro.
