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junkyard prices

belvedere 67

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I remember when you could go to the local junkyard, pick your own part and save a few bucks. Call me a cheep bastard if you want but boy times have changed. Last week I went to the local salvage yard to find a water pump pulley for a 318 motor. I pulled the part myself and the guy still wanted 30.00 for it. My brother in law needed a leaf spring for his Ford pickup. He checked rock auto. $120.00 delivered to his house. He called the local yard. They wanted 150.00 for a used one. He told the guy about the rock auto price for a new one and the junkyard guy got all pissed off. I understand that these guys have to make a living and I respect that but they have to understand they would sell more if it was cheaper. With the ease of buying anything at anytime on the internet its going to make me stay home and shop.
 
Haven't been to a junkyard in decades, not that they still have any 60s parts any more, but I also don't have anything new enough that warrants me going to a junkyard to look for parts.

When I was in my late teens & early 20s finding where the junkyards were (without GPS) and picking parts off of wrecks was fun times, but scrounging for parts online for our old junk is soooooo much easier.
 
I remember when you could go to the local junkyard, pick your own part and save a few bucks. Call me a cheep bastard if you want but boy times have changed. Last week I went to the local salvage yard to find a water pump pulley for a 318 motor. I pulled the part myself and the guy still wanted 30.00 for it. My brother in law needed a leaf spring for his Ford pickup. He checked rock auto. $120.00 delivered to his house. He called the local yard. They wanted 150.00 for a used one. He told the guy about the rock auto price for a new one and the junkyard guy got all pissed off. I understand that these guys have to make a living and I respect that but they have to understand they would sell more if it was cheaper. With the ease of buying anything at anytime on the internet its going to make me stay home and shop.

They are not junkyards anymore but are auto recyclers and I think their prices reflect it. Most of the time I can buy new parts for the same price as used unless you are doing a motor or trans swap.
 
Depends on where you go.

There are two I frequent on the same block.

One has substantially better prices and no cores.

The other is a major chain and charges cores on almost everything, including body parts.
They have a big pallet/bin where people toss parts they pull, then decide they don't want because the price is too high.

The prices listed by the OP are ridiculous.

Even the high priced chain would have been $30 for the whole water pump assembly and about $40-$50 for the spring.
 
I need a electrical connector/plug from a late-model LX, for my Gen-III conversion. The guys at the one yard I went to, told me it's be about 25 bucks...and I should come back after lunch. WTF? I ordered a new one for 20-bucks. Oh, and I also told them to get it, cause I'd be back after they were done eating. They're obviously making way too much money off of junk.
 
Hmmm....I must be lucky. There are two here with cars all the way back to 1920. I have bought many parts for cheap and pulled them myself.
 
I deat alot with tractor salvage yards. They are somewhat more reasonable. They know what it cost new and charge apprx. 65%

As for auto salvage yards, I mainly just sell old vehicles to them. Which they pay scrap metal prices for and then charge more than new for the pen especially they sell from it
 
This is not new. I noticed it a long time ago. These guys are wising up. Their parts are no longer arbitrarily priced. The last time I got a part, the guy looked up the price in his computer. I suspect they have a pricing data base they go to and I suspect it may be a national data base. I am sure it is still negotiable, but none the less, it ain't what it used to be.
 
I don't know it's actually wising up....as I'd also bet a whole bunch more gets scrapped. I don't bother with them, anymore. I'll buy new, before paying a high-percentage for used. If they're pricing off retail, you'd be better-off shopping for new stuff, online.
 
I went to a local yard here for the first time. They wanted to charge me a fee to go into the yard just to see if I could find what I was looking for???? I said that is ok I will find it on line.
 
I've noticed some junk yards have raised prices. I found a way to fight their prices. I use my secret weapon, Cari. I have her call and then have her go pick up the parts. They generally give her a better price. AND they will carry the damn part out to car for her so she doesn't get dirty.
Just use your wife, girlfriend, daughter, whoever to go get parts for you.
 
Seems like the yards around here kind of run their business around the price of scrap metal which makes sense. If scrap prices are way up they don't keep stuff in the yard very long and they act like they don't want to deal with you. When scrap is down it's like you are their long lost friend. Around here it's rare to see anything in a yard that's over 25 years old. I don't hit the yards near as much as I used to.
 
It's generally new parts for me. There's also little to nothing left in these places for old-car guys. 30 years ago, I made a killing of cars and parts. Now, it's all being re-popped[I'm happy about that], and is generally cheaper than refurbishing nasty old, high-priced crap.
 
I bannot remember the last time I went to a junkyard. Most of the parts I buy I get online. For old car parts I use websites like this one,and for newer car parts I buy new parts. The junkyard prices are not much cheaper if any cheaper than Rock Auto.
 
Just use your wife, girlfriend, daughter, whoever to go get parts for you.
Can't help but recall a co-worker who used that approach.
His wife ended up dumping him for the junkyard guy. :lol:
That said, you'd understand better if you knew him.
 
Bring a large pizza and a 12 pack of cold soda... eat a slice with the guys . I get a call when a old chrysler comes in . Stuff isn't free, but it is a whole lot easier supporting folks and their families when you know them by name.
 
The steering wheel with horn button, grill, and a few other parts displayed on my Bar are worth $1,000 based on insanity I've read in these parts.
 
I went to a local yard here for the first time. They wanted to charge me a fee to go into the yard just to see if I could find what I was looking for???? I said that is ok I will find it on line.
The "Pick-N-Pull" chain of junkyards in CA charge a $2 fee just to enter the yard. It is a self serve place though and the parts are often fairly priced. I find it odd that they asses a "core charge" for body parts. I grew up thinking that a CORE was a part that was repaired and resold later. That definition carries a broader meaning nowadays. They probably just want the metal back for metal weight for salvaging. Years back when China was building the Three Gorges Dam, they were buying huge amounts of steel. Metal recycling values were crazy! Local scrap yards were paying $230 a ton for steel. A few weeks ago it was in the $38 range.
 
Our chain (LKQ) just went up from $2 to $3 to enter the yard.

They do however, photo and post every car they get in, by date.

Now you can go to the site and see if any 60's or 70's cars come in, and they do!
 
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