Ive found the weirdest junkyard ,heres a few of their rules ,you cant open and enter a car ,you can only inspect around a car with helpers around ,bring the parts up to the counter after theyve been pulled for you ,then the guy will give you a price ,Im sure their were a few others I didnt get to because I wasnt interested in most of the parts after the price was given ,this was not the price I was given on the first visit.I can sell them on ebay is what I was told ,I said yeah ,its ebay til you sell them.It had a good interior but this 300cd was not a garage princess by any means.Just out of curiousity I asked him if I bought the whole car what would he want for this totaled 300cd, he says $1400 and towing charges but couldnt give me a range for the tow ,he doesnt handle that side of the business ,but owns a yard.I thanked the guy at the counter for the $70 worth of parts , 2 door panels and 2 hrs later due to the guy going back to his toll chest for tools 100 yrds away.

Yes junkyards are not what they used to be. They vary as to which ones will let you walk around the yard and search for what you need and as to how user friendly they are. It is getting harder and harder to find a good deal at one. I know a yard that had an 85 300sd but I think they only had it about 1 month before it was crushed and gone the owner told me with the EPA all over him he cannot keep cars long. I felt bad thinking about all those good parts I could of used. I guess your best bet would be to get a place in a remote area and start your own.

I believe it is the level of person that frequent these yards, that is the reason for the rules. I have seen some things that I would be pissed about, if I owned the yard. People stealing all kinds of parts, dismantling way more than they need to, breaking lots of good parts to get 1 small part, etc. When somebody isn't standing there watching, it's crazy what some folks will do in the yards. It ruins it for the rest of us.

I also consider a lot of yards very unsafe. The yards near me take the wheels off the cars, and set the cars up on a set of scrap wheels, just sitting on top of them. I am not getting under those cars to pull parts. Also I believe a young kid was killed near me while trying to pull an engine with one of their shady rolling gantry cranes, I think it tipped over on him(not positive though).

Lots of "yards" here have the stuff already stripped for you - there is often only counter service. I'm sure it is a "we don't trust you" situation...

...and to be honest I could imagine a lot of damage gets done by people removing the parts they want

__________________
1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

That sounds whack. Most of the yards around here let you wander in and out for free and pull parts yourself... they can also pull them for you if you want, but it's by no means mandatory.

Lots of people try to rip off yards so they can resell the parts on eBay or in classifieds. Lots of people pocket small parts. Lots of people promote those "good ideas" on forums like this. You can thank them for the rules and higher prices the next time you see them.

-Rog

I have a couple good "lord of the flies" type junkyards around me. One closed due to pissing off the EPA too many times. The other one stacks cars two high, has no rules, doesn't care about anything. It's amazing. I can roll in with a generator and demo saw, or an oxy/acetylene torch set. They never know what they have and the more you buy the better deal the guy gives you. Yards like that are becoming increasingly rare, it's a shame.

Our PnP pulls the wheels and puts the cars up on sets of 2 wheels welded into a stand sort of deal - VERY stable. Shake the car HARD if you're worried about going under it - believe me, the yard has already done that so THEY know it's safe to go under. Always wise to check in that manner.

I make it a point to show the counter guys every nut, bolt, and screw I take from a car when I strip a part. I can wander the PnP as well as another conventional yard here as they know my face and know I won't take ANYTHING they don't know about. Strict honesty pays off - they'll often tell me "No Charge" for some little gizmo that they were going to crush anyway.

The trick is to be friendly and honest and develop a connection with the yard. They want your business and they want you to tell others to use them, too, so if you make it possible for them they'll trust you and treat you right.

We moved here 11 years ago so I had to start over making these relationships. Back in MI I could walk into pretty much any yard in our area with nothing more than a wave of the hand to let them know I was there (they need to know you're there for safety reasons). Same deal - absolute honesty. Mom told you "Honesty is the best policy" and she was right.

Some yards won't let me in or treat me like I treat them - I don't use them and keep my $$ in my wallet. They evidently don't need me and I ABSOLUTELY don't need them.

Dan

Yea, I always bring boxes of collateral damage to the counter. Usually they don't charge for nuts, bolts, little brackets, etc.

Junkyards aren't inherently safe, like any time you work on a car, it's only as safe as you make it. Dropping a car on yourself is just a stupid whether you're in your driveway, working on a shop lift, the side of the highway, or a junkyard. Don't do stupid things and you won't get squished.

Sounds like a good way for the yard owner to run his business, to me.
OTOH, as a customer, I would hate to invest the time pulling the parts, without having any idea of what their cost would be.

I'm glad my junkyard isn't stupid like that... I walk in, pay a dollar, print out the cars and row numbers, and take my toolbox in. I cut, rip, break, and smash whatever I need to in order to get the part I want off the car. Nobody watches me, nobody patrols the yard. I like it that way. Your yard sounds like it's run by micro managing Big Brother.

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'84 190D 2.2 5MT (Red/Palomino) Current car. Love it!
'85 190D 2.2 Auto *Cali* (Blue/Blue) *sold*
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I have two yards like that within a few miles of me. It's a huge blessing.
If it turns customers off, then it's probably not a way to run his business. I can see that if he primarily does business over the internet and just lets people in on the side, then maybe it makes sense because he's more interested in protecting all the stuff he wants to sell.

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"Senior Luna, your sense of humor is still loco... but we love it, anyway." -rickymay ____ "Your sense of humor is still loco... " -MBeige ____ "Señor Luna, your sense of humor is quite järjetön" -Delibes

1982 300SD -- 211k, Texas car, tranny issues ____ 1979 240D 4-speed 234k -- turbo and tuned IP, third world taxi hot rod

2 Samuel 12:13: "David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die."

Unless you knew their business plan P & L, you're just guessing whether a business is profitable. The yard with the parts helpers sounds like the right way to run a tight ship. That's just not gonna fly with the gypsy-mentality of bull in the china shop diyer. I'm certain they could not care less about that though. The yard with the helpers creates a safer, orderly, and much more of a profitable inventory control environment. Less cowboyed and damaged collateral parts too. By springing the prices on you @ check out they are really in the cat bird seat with that biz model. The huge, haphazard yards are going to appeal to the BFers especially. No right or wrong here, just go to what you're comfortable with.

Ding, ding, ding !

We have a winner here! Exactly correct.......

Actually, I'm kind of surprised that my fellow PnP customers for the most part seem to use reasonable care when removing parts. PnP has zero yard help but hoods are almost always but back on after taking whatever, glass is rarely broken, etc. They do have some guys who make their living by pulling stuff for you for a "tip" (I never know what to pay those guys and I think they can't set a price without changing their business status) but the parts removers don't seem to be any better or worse at keeping up the yard. Guess what I'm saying is that I don't see any deliberate lack of care.

The non-PnP yard that I have access to lets me wander and find what I want then they'll pull it unless it's something I can grab with a screwdriver. They are a bit higher priced than PnP but not outrageous and for things like engines it's probably a wash unless you do all the work yourself (I'm too old for that!).

The guy who won't give prices - he's a control freak and won't get a penny from me. If NO ONE gave him a penny he'd climb off his high horse and change his ways or go under. I have NO use for that kind of crap. If he doesn't know what he wants for his stuff he has no business being in business (Dad was a realtor - the first thing you learn is how to price a house to sell but still do OK on it. Then you advertise the price so people can decide if they're interested.)

Dan