When someone searches “sell my junk car” or “cash for junk cars near me” on their phone, the map results usually show up before anything else. The businesses in that map are the ones with a complete Google Business Profile, good reviews, and a location near the person searching.
It’s free, it takes an afternoon to set up, and for most junk car buyers it’s the best source of calls they’ll ever have. Here’s how to do it right.
- Use your real business name, nothing added.
- Pick a primary category that matches what you do, and add the others that also fit.
- If sellers don’t come to you, set a service area and hide your address.
- Add real photos of your trucks, your team and your yard.
- Ask every seller for a review, and answer every review.
- Answer the phone listed on the profile, every time.
Set it up
Go to business.google.com and claim or create your business. Google will verify it, usually by video, phone or mail depending on the business. Verification can take a few days, so start now.
Use your real business name
Your name on Google should be exactly the name on your trucks, your sign and your paperwork. Adding words like “Cash For Junk Cars Cleveland” to your name breaks Google’s guidelines and is one of the most common reasons junk car and towing profiles get suspended. If your real name already says what you do, good. If it doesn’t, your categories and description will do that job.
Pick your categories
Your primary category tells Google what you are. Pick the one that fits best, and add secondary categories for the rest of what you do. Search the category list for words like “junkyard”, “salvage”, “towing”, “wrecker” and “scrap” and choose the ones that honestly describe your business. Don’t add categories for things you don’t do; it brings calls you can’t help and can hurt your ranking.
Address or service area
If sellers come to your yard, show your address. If you go to them and don’t take walk-ins, set yourself up as a service-area business: hide your address and list the cities or ZIP codes you serve. Google ranks local results partly by distance, so a real address near the people you buy from helps; a P.O. box or a virtual office breaks the rules.
Hours and phone number
List hours you actually answer the phone. Put a number on the profile that rings someone, not a voicemail box. A call from Maps is a seller who wants to sell today; if they reach nobody, they tap the next business in the list.
Description and services
Write a plain description of what you buy and how it works: what kinds of cars, that pickup is free, how fast you come, how you pay. Add services such as “junk car removal”, “cash for junk cars” and “towing” so they show on your profile.
Make it look like a real business
Photos
Add real photos: your trucks with your name on them, your team, your yard, a car being loaded. Skip stock photos. People choose the business that looks real, and real photos of your trucks tell them what will pull up in their driveway.
Posts and updates
Post now and then: a car you picked up this week (no plates, no seller’s address), a change in hours, a holiday schedule. It shows the business is alive.
Reviews: the part that moves the needle
Reviews are what people read before they call, and they help where you show up on the map. Getting them is a habit, not a campaign.
- Ask every seller. At pickup, or with a text afterward. Google doesn’t allow you to ask only the customers you expect to be happy, so ask everyone.
- Make it one tap. In your profile, find “Ask for reviews” to get a short link. Text it to the seller after pickup while the experience is fresh.
- Never pay for reviews or offer anything in return for a good one. Google doesn’t allow it, and the FTC’s 2024 rule on fake reviews makes reviews bought on condition of being positive illegal.
- Answer every review, the good ones with a thank you, the bad ones calmly with what you’ll do about it. Future sellers read your replies.
A simple text after pickup works:
Thanks for selling us your Camry today, Maria. If we did right by you, would you leave us a quick review? It really helps a small business: [your review link]
Mistakes that get junk car profiles suspended
- Keywords added to the business name.
- An address you don’t actually operate from, or a P.O. box.
- Several profiles for the same business in nearby towns.
- Reviews from friends, family or anyone paid to write one.
If you’re suspended, fix the problem first, then request reinstatement from inside your profile.
Measure it
Your profile shows how many people called, asked for directions or visited your website from it. Watch calls month to month. If calls are steady but cars aren’t, the problem isn’t the profile; it’s what happens on the phone. Our phone script and missed calls guide can help.
More calls without waiting on Maps
A Google profile takes months of reviews to reach the top of the map in a busy market. Clunqr Leads sends junk car sellers in your area to you today, exclusive, with calls rung straight to your phone. Pair it with your profile: Clunqr brings volume now, and asking every seller for a review builds your profile for later. See how it works.
Clunqr Leads sends junk car sellers in your area to you and nobody else, $30 a lead, with an app that texts sellers, follows up on your offers and puts missed calls first. See how it works or apply for your area.
