Recently I replaced a hood and headlight on a friend's car. When I called around to the few junk yards still in the area all of them had a phone system with four tiers. If you were an insurance company push "1", if you were a body shop press "2", if you were an auto repair shop press "3", if you were looking for parts for you own car press "4". I didn't think much about it, just thought they might be setting up a priority to handle their customers. That was until I called the last one and got a real person. I asked about the parts I was looking for and the guy told me had about a half dozen cars with the parts I needed but since I was a private person he could only sell me parts off of two cars that suffered hail damage for about 2 hours. Do all junk yards do this, sell certain parts to certain people? Why would they do that, don't they want to sell as many parts as fast as they can? How would they know the parts they don't sell to a private person won't sit in their yard for the next two years? I ended up buying a new cheapie Tiawan hood and headlight.
I have never run into that. I usually buy from a yard in Malvern Ohio, Fox Auto Salvage. You can request a cost of a part online and they get back to you. So far they have never overcharged me on anything.
They are all getting toughter do to insurance regulations. Also there main stay are the body shops. For all intensive purpose they really do not want to deal with us as the body shops are their bread and butter. Gone are the days when you could bring in your own tools ;take off what you needed and pay a few bucks for them
Those days are still here, it is called U-Pull it. They have a hierarchy not just of preference but also for pricing. They will probably charge the insurance company the most, less for the body shop and whatever the feel they can get from a person off the street.
Some years ago I noticed most of the yards in my area were consolidating and no longer allowed you in their yards but in the last few years I've seem them opening up their yards again. I think it had to do with the operating model of the McJunkyards like Pik-N-Pull. I went to one to find parts for this car after I was told they had quite a few of these cars. When I got there I did find they did in deed have quite a few of these cars but the ones that did have the hood they were smashed and non had headlights. The car I was working was an older car, don't want to say what year, but there's still plenty on the road. But still old enough that the insurance company totaled the car because of just the hood and headlight. I wouldn't think the parts I was looking for would be in big demand by the auto repair industry. I'd think they'd be glad to just sell them to the next guy through the door.
The last part of your post is probably the truth. As a private person I'd be more likely to try to get them down on their price. The professionals just want the parts to get the job done and out of the shop.
The insurance co. body shops , and repair shops get what is called "insurance clean" parts meaning they need very little or no work at all besides color change..They deal with these people every day, you and I every now and then..
It's more of a preferential treatment for the steady customers that provide the biggest part of their business. Take care of the ones that pay the bills. They don't want their salesmen answering stupid questions from harry homeowner while good customers are on hold.
texasred is correct. I am an insurance damage appraiser, and we cannot quote used parts that are damaged, they need to be clean parts. And their sales people need to be trained in what I am looking for when I call in.
I can understand the phone filtering, I know that since I'm dealing with Joe's Auto Body I know it's more likely Joe is going to buy my item than John Q Public. I'd think if they had a part for sale they'd want to sell it no matter who was trying buy it. As a business owner myself I want jobs moving out the door as fast as possible, I don't care who they are as long as they have the money in hand and it can get into my hand. If I sell an item to John Q Public and Joe's body shop calls half an hour later that's the way it goes, Joe is going to have to find it some place else. But if I don't sell to John Q Public Joe's may never call me and I'm sitting with my item and no money.
Many of the yards in my area are scrap only, they won't sell to the public. Requires them to pay tax on the resale parts and have a tax certification number to sell to the public. Basically more overhead/ people in the office to track all the transactions. Our fine government at work. The sale / salvage of wrecked parts to body shops is big money and to do it well takes corporate approach, yards networked together to move inventory, computer systems to show what's in stock, storage buldings to keep parts in inventory from being damaged, enough employees to run it all, and insurance to cover their ass. Many of these yards work together or are owned by larger companies that tie into the auction / towing / insurance networks to get the wrecks vehicles either straight from the insurance co or be first at the auction line to keep inventory moving. The days of walking thru a yard are numbered
In my area ( South Carolina ) we have all tpyes of SALVAGE YARDS. As a matter of fact, I am typing this at the SALVAGE YARD I work at part-time. The yard belongs to a good friend of mine. We have NO preferrence as to who we sell to. Our phones are answered by real people all day ( 8 to 5:30 ). We do prefer to sell to professional shops But we also have a counter trade also. We will buy any automobile or truck ... depending on it,s value. A lot of the ones we buy end going to the crusher ... within 2 weeks. We have 25 acres ... but we keep the junk ... going to the crusher. .
The parts I needed were for a '03-05 car (now this post will be deleted), a car I would think most insurance companies would think too old to pay to have repaired and it's not a car that isn't sought after so most body shops wouldn't want the parts. I think it would fall into the catagory of the two weeks and off to the crusher catagory. I could be wrong, probably am.
A 03-05 car would not be crushed here ... if there were much salvage on it. We BUY anything vehicles wise. Just the other day we got a old F100 ( early 60's ) kept the 9 inch rear and some guy wanted the hood and the doors. ( NO RUST ) ... Sometimes a vehicle will go to the crusher ... just because we have 3 -4 - 5 of them already in stock. In my area ... Ford Explorers are everywhere. We have close to a dozen ... and the Pick--Part has a entire row of them. If the scrap rate X the weight of the vehicle exceeds it's real value to us ... it goes to the crusher. Room becomes a issue even with 25 acres. . Almost 6 pm ... here time to knock off and go HOME
i used to work in a yard as dismantler and driver and occasional counter/sales. We didn't have a phone filter, it was basically first come, first served. BUT, the shops did get catered to in that, if you have been doing business and paying on time for a while, then when you called in for a part, not only would we go pull it and deliver it, the individual would have to generally pull it themselves unless a large item---engine, rear axle etc. Now, if the individual got to the part first---before any shop demands, then the individual kept the part----we didn't set aside any parts or pieces for perceived future special customer demands. As far as pricing, based on reactions from shops and individual customers, i don't think anyone got a break---it was all too high.
Our local yards sell to any one who has the cash! they know whos calling because we identfy ourselves. We do a lot business so they do us right.The off the street buyer talks a different language dead givaway!!. ex. rear quater, rear clip.deck lid.The general puplic is treated fairly also they have CASH to.
My area there are all types of yards,I don't know about preferred customers,but most are only open m-f.Seems like the pros could get by with that.Working people not so much. Jack
The Jalopy Journal
