For many people, a trip to the salvage yard is like a day in an amusement park for a child. The salvage yard can be a great place to find deals on the parts you need for your vehicle, saving you some money over new parts. It can also be a place to find parts you can no longer buy new and have had a hard time locating.

U-Pick Salvage Yards

 A trip to the local salvage yard for most people is an attempt to find a part for their car or truck at a lower price than they can get the part new. Parts like starter motors, alternators, and blower motors for the heating and cooling system in your car are readily available and often at far below retail prices. 

It is vital that you know what you need when you head to the salvage yard because the parts may not be indexed anywhere for you to look up, especially in a u-pick yard. Often searching these yards means looking for a car that is the same as your car and checking it to see if it has the right part. 

The salvage yard operator will often arrange the cars by make and model and send you out to the area that cars like yours are located, but they may not know what is left on the vehicle if the vehicle has been in the yard for a while. 

Closed Salvage Yards

Some salvage yards sell the parts they have on hand over a counter as an auto parts dealer would. They have closed yards to keep people out of the yard, reducing their insurance costs and the likelihood of theft from the cars in the yard. 

The cost of the parts from these salvage yards is not typically a lot higher than the u-pick yards, but sometimes they charge a little more because they are removing the parts for you. It can also be more convenient to buy parts from a closed salvage yard because all you need to do is pick the part up at the desk when you arrive at the yard. 

You can also typically call these salvage yards ahead of time to make sure they have the part. It also allows them time to pull the part off a car for you if they need to and make sure it is ready when you arrive at the salvage yard. 

Both salvage yard models can save the customer a lot of money and offer responsible reuse of the car parts.

To learn more, reach out to a local auto salvage yard.