When you make your first trip through the junkyard you're probably going to ask yourself, "Where did they get all these cars?"
The answer depends on what type of automotive recycler you're doing business with.
Pull-a-part yards that allow people to go out into the yard and pull parts directly from the cars buy most of their junkers and clunkers from the general public and from garages, towing companies and body shops who get stuck with cars whose owners can't afford the tow bills and/or repairs needed to get their cars back running again.
Many of the cars on pull-a-part yards come from municipal auctions where abandoned cars towed from public and private properties by municipal code enforcement officers, are stored until the lots are full and it's necessary to sell them to make room for more. Take notice of the fact that most of the cars on a pick-a-part yard are usually more than 10 years old with some being as much as 20-25 years old. Few yards keep cars older than 20-25 years old because there simply isn't a lot of demand for parts that old. But there are exceptions in that a few yards do specialize in antique automobiles.
Most of the parts sold by full-service automotive recyclers are less than 10 years old and most often come from insurance auctions where wrecked cars deemed a total loss are auctioned to the highest bidder. On many full service lots you'll never get past the parts counter as the parts you need most often are already pulled from the cars and stocked in the warehouse.
In some instances the salvage yard will make special arrangements to buy salvage directly from insurance companies through some sort of contract that allows the used parts dealer to buy all the total loss cars handled by one or more insurance companies in a geographical area. By cutting out the auction yard the insurance companies get higher prices for their wrecks and the automotive recycler pays less.
Of course, there is often some crossover as some automotive recyclers operate both types of yards. As in most things, nothing is set in stone and owners of both types of yards are free to shop for salvage anywhere they like.
In Part 4 We discuss how much you should be paying for your used parts.
