What to Remove From Your Car Before the Tow Truck Arrives
Once you’ve booked a pickup, it’s easy to think the only thing left to do is wait for the tow truck. But a scrapped car usually leaves the driveway for good the same day it’s picked up, so anything left inside or attached to it is gone with it. Here’s what’s worth five minutes to check first.
Personal Belongings — the Obvious Ones and the Easy-to-Forget Ones
Glove box contents, center console clutter, and anything under the seats are the obvious sweep. The ones people actually forget are the small stuff that isn’t visible from the driver’s seat: a garage door opener clipped to a visor, a parking pass or condo fob in the door pocket, a toll transponder for the Port Mann or Golden Ears Bridge stuck to the windshield, and a spare key tucked in a wheel well or magnetic box. None of those are replaceable in five minutes once the car’s gone.
License Plates
Plates belong to you, not the vehicle, under ICBC’s system — they need to come off before pickup so you can deal with them through your Autoplan broker. We’ve covered the full process, including what happens if you’re getting a replacement vehicle, in our guide to license plates when scrapping a car in BC.
Aftermarket Parts and Accessories Worth Pulling
If you put money into the car, some of it can come back out. Aftermarket stereos, subwoofers and amps, roof racks, bike or ski racks, dash cams, and better-than-stock wheels or rims are all things you can remove and sell separately or reuse on your next vehicle — a scrap valuation is based on the vehicle as a whole, not a part-by-part breakdown, so pulling a part you know has resale value before pickup is usually worth more to you than leaving it in place. The same goes for a decent spare tire, a roof box, or a hitch-mounted cargo carrier.
Anything Connected to an App or Account
Beyond the digital data on built-in infotainment systems (covered in our guide to wiping your car’s personal data), check for aftermarket add-ons tied to an account: a plug-in GPS tracker, a Bluetooth OBD-II dongle for insurance telematics or a diagnostics app, or a dash cam that syncs to a phone app. These are easy to physically miss because they’re small and tucked out of sight near the dashboard or under the seat, and if they’re subscription-based, you’ll want to cancel or transfer that separately too.
Registration and Insurance Paperwork
You’ll want your registration and insurance documents on hand for the paperwork side of the pickup anyway, so don’t leave them in the glove box as an afterthought. Bring them out with you before the truck arrives rather than digging for them while the driver waits.
The Five-Minute Walkthrough
Before pickup day: check the glove box, console, and door pockets; look for a garage remote, parking pass, or toll transponder; pull the plates; decide if any aftermarket parts are worth removing; and grab your registration and insurance paperwork. It’s a short list, but every item on it is something you can’t easily get back once the car’s off the property.