Here in LA almost all of the junkyards have been legislated to one area of the city. Around Sun City and Brandford(sp?). Anyway it's this huge like 5 mile square area that includes literally several hundred junkyards. Everytime I go there they refer to "there database" or get on the radio and put a call out (***umably to "all" the "other junkyards") for any part you might want but that they don't have. How extensive is this "database"? Do they really "all" stay in contact with one another? Or are these just loose ***ociations between several here and there? Do they get kick backs for referrals like these? I'm always left wondering if "no one has that part" - just means no one they know. Or if I should keep looking. I also wonder what better deal I might have gotten if I'd walked into the place that actually had it - without whatever "kickback" might be going to the original yard that referred me. The junkyards here are incredible. I moved here from WA 10 or 15 years ago. This five mile or so area literally has more junkyards or at least as many as the entire west coast. Which isn't surprising considering just the LA basin has over 20 million people in it. I think the entire state of WA is only 3 to 4 million people for the entire state. Any help or inside information would be greatly appreciated. Anyone have access to "the database" if one really exists? Thanks, 49Lincoln
Well i'm not sure about their data bases, But here in Nm it seems like 90% of the yards with anything any of us would want..... CAN ONLY BE SOLD TO GUYS IN CALI....lol Their the only ones with money....I cant tell you the times that i've been told "in California its worth yadayada"....
i have a friend that has a junkyard. he sells most stuff for $20. a rearend will cost you $150 if you remove it. he knows about the other yards but they dont trade inventory data bases. he doesnt have a computer. we are a little behind the times here in Georgia.
There Are Differant Data Bases.local And Long Distance..as For Kickback, The Yard Buys It From The Other And Ads Too The Price That You Get It For.....unless They Are Nice And Just Tell You What Yard Has It
Depends if it's a junkyard or a "used parts recycler". The database for a junkyard is some old fart behind the counter telling you to go "300 yards up the main road, take a left to the other side of the ridge, you should see it right there." If he's been drinking you won't understand a word he said, so you just nod and wander through the yard looking for cool stuff.
Some yards are on computer inventory, others on book inventory, others on memory inventory. Years ago the "hot line" phone network just let every yard talk to every other yard in the area, as far as I know it did not involve kickbacks, just mutual referrals. If the yard you visit doesn't have the part, they put a request on the hot line, and the first yard that has the part and answers the request gets the referral.
Ya. Same way in WA. But in LA it literally is Junkyard Town. Like 500 junkyards in a five mile square area. Everybody appears connected in one way or another. It's amazing. You could get lost in all of them. Probably the largest concentration of them in the US.
My parents own a salvage yard in Omaha, NE. They used to have a "hotline" that was basically just an open phone line with a speaker hooked up. There was a fee basically to pay the phone bill otherwise there was no money involved. You'd ask for a part and if someone thought they had it they'd say their number. Since it was instant people were usually working on memory so you'd suggest the customer call first. As for "databases" my Dad used to share inventory information with other yards directly but now he's pretty much gone to two. One is directly with the interchange company and the other is www.car-part.com Anyone can get on the website one although if you're a member you can get more information. Either way there are no kickbacks involved, it is a service that is provided to the customer to help them find the part and the cost is justified as a part of doing business by the sales that are referred to you. On the other hand if you go to a yard and ask them to find it for you and order it in, they will add a mark-up for providing that service but typically if they're just sending you to another yard they're not getting anything out of it. Hope that helps.
There's still plenty of old-school yards with an old dude that just has a phone number and some business hours, if you know where to look for them, but they're slowly dissapearing.
I worked in a salvage yard ... part - time for many years ... With the " Line " you reqeust a part you want .... it is a open line and everyone on it can hear your parts request. If someone has it they will answer. Most talk in code ... the price with be George-Henry-Frank ... so the fellow standing at the counter (Buyer) will not KNOW how much the part is ... and the yard looking for the part, marks up George-Henry-Frank as much as he thinks it will stand. $$$ Big stuff is Computer listed now ... and small stuff is not really worth messing with ( freight and all ) ... Lots of people just do not understand ... The salvage yard owner is NOT going to sell you the grille out of a 2 year car when the entire front end is good ... cause he needs the grille to sell the front end. Same for the radiator or hood. He has to pay big bucks for late model salvage. With the EPA, land costs, vehicles, taxes, insurance and labor costs ... which includes Social Security and such ... he has to get a BIG Price for the stuff ... Older stuff ... different story ...
With several hundred yards here that really isn't what I'm looking for. I'm looking for "the" database to search them all. Or at least realistic answers as to what yards are actually included in each call or each yards database search. So you know where to keep looking, where to avoid cause you already been there and when to say cut your losses and quit looking. I'm not sure you guys get it...there are HUNDREDS of junkyards stuffed into a small square few miles area. Searching them could take weeks or even months. All different sizes and stuck in all these different little industrial areas. If anyone from LA responds it will be greatly appreciated.
Most of the yards that have old stuff are pretty specialized, and the other yards will know where to send you to look for it. And the ones that have the good stuff generally are NOT the ones that have the databases and such...they're the ones run by an old guy who knows in his head, what he has.
Dude, please don't take this the wrong way.........but you get on the WWW and ask how boneyards work in LA. When people try to tell you how they work you tell us we don't get it because it's different there - ok fair enough - but if it's so specialized to THAT area then you may be better off focusing your questions there. You might try picking up the phone and call a few different ones a few days or weeks apart and see if you get the same results - my guess is not likely. Simply because your are working with people who may or may not be computer organized. "oh yeah I have a muffler bearing for a '29 Es*** I just saw it as I was pulling that dodlinger rod off that Model A" On a slightly different note - I once went on line and plugged in a search for a part - it was basically "getting on the wire" for bone yards all over the country. The results were near immediate and EXPENSIVE - about a week later I was still getting responses - but by now they were greatly reduced in price. Eventually a yard in California sent me a perfect 1988 Nissan truck steering box for 40 bucks plus 12 dollars to ship. Local yards wanted 150 bucks!!!!!
i can advise NEVER to enter into one of those online parts search engines, man you get about 100 emails in an hour for ********. i was looking for a C4 transmisison, and i got places that didnt have an american car in the yard....they just spam everyone and hope to get someone whos looking for a 92 geo metro ashtray.
I think you mean Sun Valley, not Sun City??? My dad told me that back in the day they had a squawk box, or open line as it has previously been called in all the yards and they would basically network. Now it seems like most of the yards on Branford are specialized to one (or a few) makes and types. It's funny, I called one junk yard and he gave a number for 2 others. Called those, and got numbers for 3 others, etc, etc. I don't know what the story is on the kickback issue. I think they just refer each other, kind of a "junk yard code of ethics" if you will. I will agree, it is hard finding stuff around here! Brings new meaning to "a needle in a hay stack"! Good luck.
The pick a parts out here are great, good stuff for good prices. The junkyards back in WV were a ****ing joke.. if you could get anyone to help you, they'd want about $10 less than for a new part. My uncle went looking for bucket seats once, everyone wanted $75 for one, with tears in it, from a car with the window rolled down so it was moldy and half rotted. I don't know how any of them made any money, but the biggest one around was owned by millionares. I always had better luck and best prices by asking friends if they knew anyone with what I needed.
bhi, i am in central new york i have a salvage yard i inherited.i am not open to the public...and work 14 hour days...they will find you if there any dam good....then they get the parts....but the search is 1/2 the fun don't let the modern age fool you ...**** is everywhere, you just have to find it....cadillac dave
I'm with you on the fun. I love junkyards. But like canyoncountry (who's from LA) so apply puts it - sometimes it's like finding "a needle in a hay stack" here. And I don't take it personally HemiRambler - you live in Cleveland so the question wasn't really posed to you. I do think www.car-parts.com is ok. Although I have not purchased anything from them. You can actually search a database of parts with listings of actual parts and contact info. Including the distance from you. Was simply seeking some local scoop anyone might have. Otherwise it's back to driving around industrial LA from one lead to the next. Which is cool. It's really like driving thru a film set of some post industrial, third world, crime drama. lol. Thanks Guys.
Dude, that's great, but when you ***LE your post "How junkyards work(?)" that doesn't exactly suggest to us to not bother responding 'cause we don't live where you are. Again - that's what I was getting at - your audiance here is pretty much the world and it seems you are seeking info from 1% of that. And again I don't think there's anything wrong with that, but if that was your origional intent then I only suggest that you spell that out from the get go - maybe you could have avoided the posts from those of us who are clueless.
I've used http://car-part.com/ before. Good service - you can organize the results by price and proximity. Can't order through it - have to call the yards up yourself, but they'll all ship to you no problem. Never tried it for older parts, though.
Some yards are on a linked network. One I dealt with is Orion. Its a satillite uplink between junkyards. Its kind of like a message board that only JY's can access.
Dude, I'm as light as a feather. If your biggest problem is having too many junk yards then I don't feel bad for you in the slightest. Around here they are crushing them more and more. And while yes your origional post did mention LA you did not imply that the rest of us shouldn't reply. But now that you've made it crystal clear no problem. Good luck with your search
I don't begin to know how junk yards work but I can tell you that when I needed a Vovlo steering box for my shoebox a simple google search lead me to a yard on the west coast and an 800 number. Five minutes later I had ordered it and had it in less than a week. Unbelieveable. Without the web and the junkyard interconnections it would have taken a month of Sundays and a lot of time and phone calls to find one.
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