Five things we will not buy.
This page exists because the complaint we get most is not about price. It is about somebody driving forty minutes and being turned away at the gate. Every one of these has somewhere else to go and we will give you the number rather than shrug.
- 01
Swollen, cracked or leaking cases
Acid in the back of a car is a problem for you and a spill in the yard is a problem for us. There is no price at which this is worth it.
Instead · The county household hazardous waste day takes them free, four Saturdays a year. We will tell you the next date.
- 02
Lithium — anything from a tool pack to an EV module
Different chemistry, different fire risk, and we are not permitted for it. A lithium cell in a lead pile is how a scrap yard burns down.
Instead · Two permitted lithium handlers take these locally. We keep both numbers by the phone and will give you either.
- 03
Batteries with the terminals cut off
Cut posts mean the lead has already been taken and we are buying a case of plastic and acid. It also usually means the battery was not yours.
Instead · Nothing we can do with it. The hazardous waste day again.
- 04
Anything you cannot say where it came from
We are a licensed handler and we log every purchase over four units with a name and a plate. That is the licence, not a preference.
Instead · Bring identification and it takes an extra ninety seconds.
- 05
Sealed units out of a UPS or alarm panel, in ones and twos
We take them, and we will not pay for them — the weight is too low to be worth the paperwork on a single unit.
Instead · Drop them free any time and they go into the pallet. Over about thirty we will pay by the pound like anything else.
There is a sixth we get asked about and it is not a refusal: we will test anything, free, whether or not you are buying or selling. About a third of the time the battery is fine and the problem is the alternator, and you are better off knowing that in the yard than in a parts shop.