Have you ever gone to the junkyard...

[01rangerxl]

Have you ever gone to the junkyard and realized that some of the cars in the yard look nicer than the one you are driving?

I went to Pull-A-Part today in the Explorer...a truely hideous beast with lots of rust, ripped off trim, lots of trail rash, and dents from numerous accidents (previous owner). Walking through the yard, I saw a lot of vehicles that were "nicer" looking than mine. Lots of rust free stuff too. It was kind of weird. I think it kind of says something about how wasteful we are. I bet a lot of cars in the yard could have been fixed up and driven. Pull-A-Part generally doesn't get wrecked vehicles or insurance totals, they get cars people don't want to fix. Cars get dropped off there for stuff like blown head gaskets, and honestly I think it is wasteful. My Explorer has escaped the yard because it has the original engine, transmission, axles, etc. It hasn't needed anything expensive. Some of these cars are nice enough though that a $2000 transmission or $1500 head gasket job would be worth it. It's not my choice, but I think a lot of these cars were put out to pasture way too early.

 

[Shannow]

About 20 years ago I started noticing a trend in the quality of the shells at the wreckers.

 

[oilboy123]

Time to swap your drivetrain then.............Ha Ha

That is kinda sad and a waste.

I think a lot of people are too wastefull.

I bought a car with a bad engine for my Daughters first car. I also got one for my Father because his other vehicle was getting kinda beat. Both are still on the road.


So this is good to know.

 

[01rangerxl]

Originally Posted By: oilboy123
Time to swap your drivetrain then.............Ha Ha

I actually considered that at one point, but after inspecting the underside of the truck, I found that most of the body was very solid thanks to lots of rust proofing [censored] on it. The rockers are just a bad design. The Explorer's rust is not as bad as it looks (how often can you say that).

But yeah, I kind of wish I could have caught some of those vehicles before they went to the yard. I bet I could have had many of them running and driving in one weekend...able to pass inspection in two. Pull-A-Part only pays around $250 or so for a car too. I saw a sweet 91-94 Explorer Eddie Bauer 2 door in the yard. It was stripped clean. I REALLY wish I could have caught that one before it went into the yard. I bet it had a blown A4LD auto someone didn't want to replace. What a waste. They probably went to some chain trans shop who quoted them $2500 for a trans. That truck could have been on the road for $800 with a rebuilt A4LD off eBay and some help from friends. I would have paid more for it than the yard did.

What is really nuts are all of the Infinitis. The yard is packed with them. It is strange to come across a nice looking car with a close to perfect leather interior sitting in the junkyard.

 

[The_Jeff]

I bet a lot of those cars are trade-ins to new car dealerships.

Apparantly the wholesale auctions cost a few hundred $$$ to transport, detail, and inventory all those beaters so the local yards get called instead.

Probably a few are bank repos that idjits never maintained, and the bank doesn't want to spring for a new transmission etc.

Also the picked over carcasses are getting smooshed quickly for scrap metal, increasing the average quality of what you find intact.

Intriguing you found some explorers, that says something about the price of gas. When I started 'yarding in the 90s the inventory was almost universally cars. What old (1980) era SUVs were unwanted were modified into "woods buggies" and rolled over, smashed to bits, etc before winding up in the yards. And they'd be seriously picked over-- no axles, transmissions, etc.

 

[NYEngineer]

One junkyard out by me is full of late model SUVs. Like said above, many look like they could drive out. One aspect of this that I don't like is the amount of energy it takes to manufacture a car. The longer a vehicle stays in use, the more environmentally economical it is.

My wife is one of those people that thinks cars are disposable. We dropped my 98 Yukon off at a front end shop the other day for upper ball joints and a brake booster. The only reason we were having the work done instead of doing it myself is that I'm busy rennovating the house when I'm not at work. They wanted 900 dollars for the work. My wife calls me at work and says lets buy you a new truck. Excuse me... 900 dollars or 45,000 dollars... Let's do the math. I found time to do everything yesterday in the driveway for a grand total of 188 dollars in parts.

 

[01rangerxl]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
I bet a lot of those cars are trade-ins to new car dealerships.

Apparantly the wholesale auctions cost a few hundred $$$ to transport, detail, and inventory all those beaters so the local yards get called instead.

Probably a few are bank repos that idjits never maintained, and the bank doesn't want to spring for a new transmission etc.

Also the picked over carcasses are getting smooshed quickly for scrap metal, increasing the average quality of what you find intact.

Intriguing you found some explorers, that says something about the price of gas. When I started 'yarding in the 90s the inventory was almost universally cars. What old (1980) era SUVs were unwanted were modified into "woods buggies" and rolled over, smashed to bits, etc before winding up in the yards. And they'd be seriously picked over-- no axles, transmissions, etc.

You are probably right. I remember back around 2004 or so I got to take a look around a large dealer's fresh trade lot in the back. There were all kinds of cars back there from the mid 80s to mid 90s. Some still looked pretty nice, but many had issues. I remember they were pulling a Chevy Blazer around that sounded like it was about to throw a piston out of the block, but it wasn't quite junkyard ready IMO. I'm sure it was hauled off to one anyway.

Some dealers will occasionally sell the cars to draw people in. I remember last year either Town & Country or Hilbish Ford was advertising $50 cars. They would just slap a price of $1000 or so on a junker at the beginning of the day and keep lowering the price until someone bought it.

It was kind of strange when I first spotted Explorers and Blazers in the yards. I remember going to the junkyards with my dad as a kid in the 90s and you might see one 20 year old Suburban among a ton of cars. It is still mostly cars by far, but there were some Explorers. They get picked over very quickly. One in the yard was a Taxi...still had the thing on the roof. I didn't look at the odo, but I guess it just had so many miles that nothing was worth fixing to the taxi company. Like every other Explorer, it had been picked clean. A typical Explorer at Pull-A-Part is just a shell with an engine block, rear seat, and rear axle. They were still fixable when they came in though. I probably would have bought and fixed many of them had I caught them before they went to the yard. I think fuel economy does have something to do with it. Your average poorly maintained, beat up, 91-94 Explorer is only good for maybe 14 MPG.

 

[XS650]

Sounds like there are business opportunities here for someone with conviction and ambition.

Find a couple of those dealers that are sending nearly good trade-ins to the junkyard and offer to buy some of them for a bit more than the junkyard pays. Fix the car/truck/SUV and sell it for a big fat profit.

As long as you buy it before the junkyard gets it, it won't have a salvage title.

 

[Kestas]

I suspect some of this phenomenon has to do with the complexity of the vehicles and cost of repair. What used to cost $100 to repair a few decades ago could easily cost over $1000 now. Outside of blown engines and transmissions, I suspect some of these cars are scrapped because of electrical problems.

I once had a primo 91 Tracer with 60K junked because the motorcyclist who ran into it caused $1500 in body damage (hood, headlamp, fender, windshield). At the time, the car was for sale for $1500, so I had no interest in fixing it.

 

[ekpolk]

Originally Posted By: Kestas
I suspect some of this phenomenon has to do with the complexity of the vehicles and cost of repair. What used to cost $100 to repair a few decades ago could easily cost over $1000 now. Outside of blown engines and transmissions, I suspect some of these cars are scrapped because of electrical problems.

I once had a primo 91 Tracer with 60K junked because the motorcyclist who ran into it caused $1500 in body damage (hood, headlamp, fender, windshield). At the time, the car was for sale for $1500, so I had no interest in fixing it.


You beat me to the punch. Now that the systems inside the car are as complex as they are (emissions, fuel economy, safety, etc) cars that might have been economical to repair 20+ years ago can easily become "technical totals."

Back in 2003 when I got T-Boned in my 02 Camry, I witnessed a beautiful example of this concept in action. That Camry was a "stripper" I-4 5-spd manual I had purchased six months earlier because I knew I'd be driving a lot of miles. The collision damage as estimated at the outset was less than a grand short of the legal threshold for a total (75% of ACV, IIRC). I repeatedly begged the adjuster to just total the thing, and be done with it, but he stubbornly refused (and this was the guy with my company, the legendarily good USAA...). I specifically cautioned him that the probability of supplements to the claim was high, and these could easily result in a total. Nope, he ordered it repaired.

As soon as we powered the car up after it had been rebuilt and repainted, it showed a constant airbag light. Sure enough, the deployment of the side curtains had somehow fried the whole SRS computer. Cost: $1,900.00. Presto -- totalled. So, the insurance company bought it twice, and provided me a rental car for a month while the drama unfolded.

Anyway, sorry for the long story, but it illustrates the point well, IMO. Even on a relatively late model car, one sizeable repair item can make it more economical to "junk" the stricken car and buy another similar vehicle that does not have a problem. And if your car is older, or expensive to repair, as SUVs often are, even a minor repair may lead one to sideline an otherwise good looking car.

 

[The_Jeff]

Another thought just popped into my head, I wonder how many 4x4s used to be (and still could be) exported to sandy 3rd world locales.

Supposedly Asia gets lots of Japanese leftovers; I imagine Central America gets US surplus.

Rust and the elusive state inspection send more vehicles to the yard up here... shot struts and ball joints coupled with an oil leak, an "unfriendly" inspection station, and a $1000 repair tab to stay legal motivates parting out. States like Massachusetts that forbid private party as-is sales probably have it even worse.

Once in the yard with wheels removed and six inches of mud, the cars float on the floor pans with open windows until people say, holy cow, look at that flintstone mobile, no wonder it wound up here!

 

[ffracer]

I noticed that here also. Many are frame damaged wrecks that are repairable, but a lot are just higher mileage cars with minor damage. Great if you have a Ranger! Tons of cheap parts.

 

[Gary Allan]

I visited one semi-remote U-Pull-It and you could see the popular throw away vehicles. In the 90's there were literally fleets of Escorts. Probably timing belt mishaps ..perhaps transmissions. Tons of whatever chassis class the Pontiac 3000 (5000) or Olds counterpart were there ...as were Celebrity(ies) and whatnot. NO contemporary truck/suv stuff. Some older Cherokee/Wagoneer type stuff ..oddball leftovers of postal jeeps.

One thing that I determined in my quest for parts for my mother's car was that Consicas had to have been owned by the most conservative drivers that must have been coated in teflon. I found plenty of Berettas ..(effectively a 2 door Corsica) ..but only TWO Corsicas. Luckily the Burgundy/Cranberry color scheme was popular.

When stopping in at my BIL's house on the way to the place, I asked him if he needed anything. He wanted a minor chrome strip for the wife's Shadow. Oddly enough, I ran into what must have been a nearly BRAND NEW Shadow that had what looked like a not too serious hit. I got both tail light assemblies for $15.

Most everything there looked like it could have been driven there under its own power.

Thank goodness that I don't own a larger pole barn. I would have had so much "fine junk" added to my already sizable collection.

 

[01rangerxl]

Junked Explorers do keep older Rangers going. Pull-A-Part has some Rangers, but all were pretty obviously beat to snot or wrecked when they came in. I remember going to a different junkyard a couple years ago that would not part out Rangers that came in. I asked them if they had any 93 or newer ones and they said they were going to fix and resell them.

 

[Kestas]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
Another thought just popped into my head, I wonder how many 4x4s used to be (and still could be) exported to sandy 3rd world locales.

Supposedly Asia gets lots of Japanese leftovers; I imagine Central America gets US surplus...

I believe there is a subeconomy that exists to this effect. I heard that Mexicans and Central Americans come to the US to buy a well-worn, but solid vehicle. They bring it home, fix any issues, and make good use of it.

 

[Hootbro]

Originally Posted By: 01rangerxl
...... I remember going to a different junkyard a couple years ago that would not part out Rangers that came in. I asked them if they had any 93 or newer ones and they said they were going to fix and resell them.


Mexicans come up here and do that with most of the used compact pickups and small cars.

Seems there is a small cottage industry in Mexico were they come in to the United States in teams to buy at least one running junker with a hitch and tow a non running junker back to Mexico for sale. If you pay attention, you will see them convoying two-three at a time back to Mexico.

What little I have gathered is that new car sales in Mexico are expensive for most to begin with and heavily taxed. Once a car reaches a fixed age, the taxation is next to nothing. So they come in teams into the United State (actually legally for once) and scour mainly the border states looking for used compact pickups and compact cars to buy and tow back for fix up and resale in Mexico. Finding a 6+ year used compact truck is almost next to impossible. ♠

 

[XS650]

Originally Posted By: Hootbro


Seems there is a small cottage industry in Mexico were they come in to the United States in teams to buy at least one running junker with a hitch and tow a non running junker back to Mexico for sale. If you pay attention, you will see them convoying two-three at a time back to Mexico.



So they come in teams into the United State (actually legally for once) and scour mainly the border states looking for used compact pickups and compact cars to buy and tow back for fix up and resale in Mexico

There is a metric [censored] load of yonkes (vehicle salvage yards) on the outskirts of Juarez Mexico. Most looked at least as well organized as US salvage yards.

Our Mexican host in Mexico city said that you can easily get parts for old cars from the Juarez yonkes as far away as Mexico City. I'll bet that a lot of those cars you see heading for Mexico are being taken there for the Yonkaderos.

 

[Gary Allan]

One society's trash is another's treasure

You just need to manage to put the valuable trash in a proper indexed economy.


My wife, when she was working at a friends auto parts store while in high school, asked the one of the locals from the transportation dealer (school buses and whatnot) what happened to used school buses. He said that they go to Mexico and start some migration down the hemisphere until they get pushed up mountain roads with all the occupants walking or pushing.

 

[Cutehumor]

everyone in my immediate family knows nothing about cars except to change the oil at the local jiffy boob. they rather would trade in the vehicle if a huge repair expense occurred. to them: "why sink $4000 transmission repair, when I can buy a brand new civic for $15000?"

 

[01rangerxl]

Originally Posted By: Hootbro
Originally Posted By: 01rangerxl
...... I remember going to a different junkyard a couple years ago that would not part out Rangers that came in. I asked them if they had any 93 or newer ones and they said they were going to fix and resell them.


Mexicans come up here and do that with most of the used compact pickups and small cars.

Seems there is a small cottage industry in Mexico were they come in to the United States in teams to buy at least one running junker with a hitch and tow a non running junker back to Mexico for sale. If you pay attention, you will see them convoying two-three at a time back to Mexico.

What little I have gathered is that new car sales in Mexico are expensive for most to begin with and heavily taxed. Once a car reaches a fixed age, the taxation is next to nothing. So they come in teams into the United State (actually legally for once) and scour mainly the border states looking for used compact pickups and compact cars to buy and tow back for fix up and resale in Mexico. Finding a 6+ year used compact truck is almost next to impossible. ♠

That would explain the convoys of small pickups, minivans, and SUVs I have seen on I-85. On more than one occasion I have seen groups of three driving vehicles each with another vehicle in tow. Usually Explorers, Blazers, Rangers, Aerostars, etc. are in the pack.