hey i just found out something yesterday it maybe old news for some of you if this is o/t or may start a shit storm please delete i work for aplace called certi-fit we sell body parts nothing else only thing old in the whole place is some 64-66 stang parts and 67-72 chevy truck parts but anyway my boss was telling me about a chinese company called LLC or maybe it was LLCQ well anyway this company is HUGE they bought out keystone parts acouple years back and they are going around buying up as many places as they can including junkyards they just keep offering cash until the yard owner cant say no they bought out a huge yard in wilmington ohio then closed its doors the same day they still bring in cars but they dont sell anything to anyone the cars all just get sent straight to china he said they own about 90 % of the junkyards over here this is not good news for us but its soo far gone now theres isnt much that can be done about it just thought id pass this on so you know why you cant find a junkyard anymore soo if you see something remotely old on atrailer heading to a scrapyard if you have the ways and means buy it or try cause it will come back as a hybrid prius or something worse if ya dont
^ ^ ^ What they said. ^ ^ ^ I think they're trying to monopolize the industry which will be bad for the old car hobby. They won't want to deal with old iron just scrap it!
LKQ bought keystone. And merged with a wheel company, radiator company, and body shop supplies company. SOB they have a nice facility In Cleveland. Body shop supplies - tools, consumables paint, Body parts (like keystone had and some of keystone employees too) Wheels - OEM and aftermarket Radiators great prices and can get anything if you give them a part #. And junkyard parts - you order it they get it there Delivery on everything Its huge !!!!
It is true- LKQ is buying many of the mom and pop salvage yards. They still do sell to commercial accounts, but not sure about individuals. At the height of the scrap steel prices several years ago, a Chinese company bought Cliff's towing in Dunnigan, 20 miles south of here, and paved the entire property, and brought in crushers, their own trucks, etc. as theie plan was to bypass Schnitzer steel and cut out the middle man for shipping to China directly. The owner of this yard came to mine and wanted me to sign a contract to wholesale metal to him exclusively, but he did not seem to understand I had a good working relationship with another scrap yard, that would sell me any old car that would come in. The Chinese guy was unwilling to make any arrangement like this, so I had nothing to do with them. ---John
I would be willing to bet. That more and more will be crushed. Pretty soon the EPA and others will be trying to keep old cars off the road.
China, don't like it, never will. I wouldn't sell them the time of day. I guess money just don't mean that much to me.
LKQ has opened a u pull it style yard here in Charlotte NC. Going up against Pull a Part. I would assume they will be doing similiar things in other markets.
Seems they are already doing that, just by the high fuel prices, and zoning ordinaces that prohibit keeping even parts cars in your yard. I'd be more worried about safety regs keeping us of the road.
There are other reasons for fuel being high. But some zoning I understand. I had a neighbor once with a back yard full of chevetts. Every mouse in town an every snake lived in that yard. They will do it by emissions. And say any vehicle over so many years old can't be driven.
We're holding them out of san diego and the tijuana market. Certi-fit has a place right by us and hurts a lot of our businesses.
Soon all yards will be owned by big corporations. They will be the only ones that can afford the fees that will be added every year due to more regulations. I run a landfill and every year they come up with more regulations. And charge you more money. Mom and pop places won't be able to afford it.
yeah its LKQ after a whole week of part numbers running through my head letters get mixed up in my mind among other things lol
Even the yards that are smaller are still preventing anyone from pulling parts themselves these days. Too many liabilities. LKQ is not shipping everything to China. LKQ is an American company, which has expanded into Canada and currently Taiwan. LKQ is similar to an investment company, which is every other big company in corporate America. They buy smaller companies as an investment into their own company. It's a sad reality. No mom and pop business will compete with that. So it's not just LKQ. 31Vicki with a hemi is correct.... I just got a mirror for my wife's blazer for $16 shipped to my door, via speedee delivery, in two days, from a warehouse in Minneapolis.
I just bought an OT hood for a customer. He wanted a cheap job just to get the car back on the road so his kids could bang it up again. They had the hood and headlight, cheap. I was surprised, they took over one of the largest yard in the area.
LKQ is OK, not the greatest thing in the world. Salesman stopped by to see me not long ago, you should have seen the stack of business cards he left me, for reps of all the different divisions they have. Confusing. The good part of them getting into the salvage yard side of things is that they will ship stuff that you couldn't get locally, without big shipping charges. I tried Certi-fit a few times, very poor quality and bad customer service. LKQ does have some decent quality stuff. Got a restoration catalog, too.
i think pull a part and now lKQ hope to be the walmarts of used parts, although LKQ is looking more at full service shipping, either way on the east coast they are taking over all the market. PaP is not a bad thing.......although they have started to up prices rules now that they have killed all the other yards. I hope the LKQ u pull it will help with the beast of PaP.
Not that this thread is about certa-fit or quality of overseas parts - but ... Just to see the difference , I got a set of 50.00 fenders from sorta fit and a set of 140.00 capa fenfers from keystone. Side by side comparison. Well worth the difference if you're looking for quality parts. Not worth it if you are patching up a bomb. The capa s were about 3lbs heavier, made a big difference in surface strength and straightness. No oil cans. The inside bracing was finished well, no burs, or shrink wrinkles. They fit much better out of the box but still needed minor tweaking. The E coating was a bit thicker , blocked well and ready to paint.
the capa parts are fit to the car before they are shipped thats why they cost a little bit more certi fit does have capa parts i know cause im allways grabbing them off the rack and have to take em back cause the customer doesnt want to pay the higher price for the "QUALITY" part its funny many of the parts the "box" thier in weighs more then the part itself and its funny how many parts come in dented and twisted
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