Junkyard Being Run Out by "Progress"

[DransportGarage]

This will bring a tear to your eye. This guy has already crushed 300 cars...

http://ksltv.com/394241/utahs-classi...way-new-homes/

[vintovka]

Here in coastal southern OR we have lost almost all our scrap yards. Between laws and the Chinese dropping the demand for scrap metal the industry appears dead. Leave car guys in the cold when parts shopping and seriously impacts selection and prices.

[Hubscrub]

Sad, can't say what I'm thinking.

[Erics51chevy]

Wow that is very upsetting. Im a half a$$ hoarder for truck parts and im about to drive down from PA

[G&R's57GMC]

Our local vintage wreaking yard was shut down by a fishermans group . It was the same story invest 2 million and pave the property to continue operating or shut down .
They spent close to a million on legal fees fighting it and were still forced out of business.

[vintovka]

Theres a worst case that may kill almost all old yards. Has to do with EPA coming in an doing soil samples for oils, toxics and heavy metals. One such yard was faced with a cleanup costing 100+ times the value of the land. I have done environmental engineering for 4 decades and was asked for advice by owner. My suggestion abandon it and move to a non extradition country.

[mr48chev]

Bad thing is that just about every time a yard like that closes out and has a sale they want higher than swap meet prices for what they have. They tend to be stuck on what it might bring at a swap meet rather than selling for a reasonable profit above scrap price.

If they posted a sign that said scrap price was XXX a ton and they were selling for XXX + 50% and sales tax loaded on your rig with a bill of sale. most guys would be pulling out the cash.

Back in the 70's I and a lot of others bought a lot of engine parts and scrap iron pieces from a big scrap yard in Waco Tx that sold everything by the pound. Sometimes I hauled a pickup load of scrap in took it across the scales, weighed out, parked the truck and dug though their for sale yard and finding something I needed or wanted and paid for it with what they paid me for my load.

[Fred n' Ethel]

So what about the "clunker laws" and that OBonehead "cash for clunkers" program ?
Many I've spoken to claim that did more damage to the supply of vintage parts than anything ... including the epa asses.
The local scrap dealer was authorized to pay $1k for any vehicle you delivered. running or not. I know of several folks that inherited estates (farms) with quite a few barn find type vehicles.... all of them went straight to the crusher for a brisk payday.The dumbass taxpayer (me) footed the bill. The crusher/shreader ran 7 days a week for quite a while back then. Yea, the epa is likely behind it all, get em off the road ... any means necessary. My local junkyard crushed out the entire 100 acres a few years ago ... for whatever reason. It was a mainstay for the community for many decades.

[OrrieG]

Might be taking a road trip...

[zenchal26]

Worse part is when the close and have to sell out the "big" company that bought the land for cheap because it was contaminated wont have to clean it up they will just build on top of it.

[mr48chev]

Reading the story I see that the gent that owns the yard is 73 and at the age where he wouldn't turn around and invest in another piece of land that was more off the beaten path and start over. I just hope he sells the good stuff to guys who offer an honest price for it and sells it rather than holding out for "what they should go for' and ends up crushing them. For some reason most yard owners will crush rather than selling for a reasonable profit because they only want to sell at what they see as full price.

[vintovka]

Originally Posted by zenchal26

Worse part is when the close and have to sell out the "big" company that bought the land for cheap because it was contaminated wont have to clean it up they will just build on top of it.

Due to CAL EPAs draconian mandates, junk yards, auto repair shops, former gas stations ect are actually a liability that keeps on taking. The only saving grace is that the agency is so inept they cannot enforce even a small percentage of the regulations they produce on a daily basis. What they do well is ruin property values, the landowners lives and raise prices on everything automotive. Did you know CA gas can now be a whopping $1/gallon higher than across the OR border?

[Rickysnickers]

Originally Posted by vintovka

Did you know CA gas can now be a whopping $1/gallon higher than across the OR border?

Yes, we do....angry face!

[vintovka]

Originally Posted by Rickysnickers

Yes, we do....angry face!

With up to a third higher fuel costs EVERYTHING in CA costs more. The state "tax takers" are very happy as that means 30% more sales tax paid. Everything there already is up at least 10% due to existing sales tax. And then there's the special fees (wood, paint, oil etc) on top of that. All Businesses including lowly junk yards can't keep going at this rate. BTW i'm waiting for the jerk lawyer in a wheelchair to sue yards like PICK N PULL over handicap accessibility issues.

[whitedog76]

I may be the minority, but I'm not necessarily offended by this. I will admit, I hate seeing good classics go to the crusher. I'm sure there has been more than one instance where a particular model has been crushed and chipped into extinction. But, such is life. Nothing lasts forever.

I can't speak for this yard, but in my experience going to similar yards, the "good stuff," can be far and few between. At this point, most of the vehicles have been drug around, stacked, molested, and left to the elements for 30-40 years. In the article it states that the owner has a building of his person vehicles. Again, in my experience, most of the operators of these yards are collectors/hoarders themselves. They cherry pick what they want, leave the rest to die.

From a business perspective, the owner probably only sells the occassional $10 knob, maybe $50 piece of trim. He MIGHT be able to pay his real estate tax every year.

When you look at how some of the modern yards operate, they don't have the massive amount acreage. They pull off the rebuildable and reusable parts, put the rest in the U-pull, leave it there for a few weeks, then crush it. Seems like good business in my book.

[vintovka]

I can't see many new yards being made. The same laws that are killing old yards are killing new ones before they even get a permit. One idea is to construct new yards with either a total concrete layer or a double layer leach-ate collection along with a water runoff collection system. Some want both. They also want expensive inspection and monitoring programs. The land then gets a permanent disclosure of its former use which is a sale killer on top. No lender would ever touch them. BTW they want the same for industrial and residential auto repair shops so heads up. Enjoy the yards that are left while you can.

[TKCR]

Wish I was closer, I would like to see what could be found and saved.

[UmmYeahOk]

Haven’t ever been to a real classic salvage yard. The ones around here, which actually are pretty far because they can only be located in poorer areas, opening business when the land was still cheap, or on the outskirts, which, again, tend to be poor areas with cheap land. What these yards carry is rather sad. I’ve owned the same car for 20 years. I have been told by the same yards that they don’t carry anything for my car because it was either “too new” or “too old.” In other words, a car that they made over a million of, could not be found at any local salvage yard because it wasn’t in the sweet spot for its age, which apparently is 10-20 years old. Of course, when my vehicle fell into that age, those cars couldn’t be touched because of that cash for clunkers/gas guzzler rule where they weren’t allowed to sell the parts, only scrap them. That, and who wants a 10-20 year old car? The blue book on those were so low, that it simply was more profitable to scrap them for metal. After all, something that common, an owner could easily buy aftermarket reproductions. And why fix up such a car anyway? It’s not new nor is it a classic. Why are you still driving it? What’s wrong with you?!?

But the sad thing is this sort of car culture actually helps the environment. We reuse and recycle by buying salvage or remanufactured parts. I don’t know if that counters the effects of emissions, but at least the pollution that goes into recycling the metal/crushing/melting as well as the environmental impact of manufacturing a brand new car can be avoided by keeping older vehicles running.

As for the article, sounds like what’s happening where I live. People from all over are moving here. They either 1) don’t like who their neighbors are, who’ve been there for decades (THEN WHY ON EARTH DID YOU MOVE RIGHT NEXT DOOR?!?) or love their rural neighbors, because the horses, or other livestock are quaint, only now the elderly ranch farmers can no longer afford the property taxes on land surrounded by the million dollar homes these people moved into.

[paulspickupparts]

Originally Posted by mr48chev

Bad thing is that just about every time a yard like that closes out and has a sale they want higher than swap meet prices for what they have. They tend to be stuck on what it might bring at a swap meet rather than selling for a reasonable profit above scrap price.

If they posted a sign that said scrap price was XXX a ton and they were selling for XXX + 50% and sales tax loaded on your rig with a bill of sale. most guys would be pulling out the cash.

Back in the 70's I and a lot of others bought a lot of engine parts and scrap iron pieces from a big scrap yard in Waco Tx that sold everything by the pound. Sometimes I hauled a pickup load of scrap in took it across the scales, weighed out, parked the truck and dug though their for sale yard and finding something I needed or wanted and paid for it with what they paid me for my load.

Swap meet prices are dirt cheap . You could never run a yard at swap meet prices. Huge liability insurance policy , $1200-1500 per month(1 person x 2 for wife inclusion) for Obumacare (Afordable Care Act, Should have been named unafordable care act) . Workmans comp for emplayees social security witholding for you and your employess . Incorporatation or LLC fees. Federal Tax and State income Tax. Self employment tax. Vehicle insurance . Forklift , building , taxes etc. I personally knew a yard owner that did not insure his buildings but had a 1 million dollar general liablility policy( 20 years ago ) in case someone tripped over their shoe laces and hit their head on a car door.

Iron prices again have hit a high again and good stuff is being crushed. During the previous high iron prices I personally saw a farmer drive a really clean 58-59 Chevy Farm truck( 261 engine) across the scale for scrap. I asked him why he did not try to sell it to some one who could use it . His response was " I did , had it advertised for $800. One guy call me and offered me $400 without looking at it. Second caller came and looked at it and said the tires were weather checked and the box was weathered . Offered $600 farmer declined ." So............. he drove to the salvage yard . He showed me the check $865 in scrap.
He also told me that the salvage yard never mentioned the weather checked tires or the box. Said he would never deal with the lowballers again.

Question...
Does a swap meeter pay income tax, social security, workmans comp, property tax , liability tax, self imployment tax , health care premium for themselves and employees , buy equipment , etc
Do they guarantee the part
Do they have a money back guarantee
Do they work 60-80 hours a week
Do they feed a family off their swap meet parts income.
Do they have their regular meeting with the epa guy.

Don't cry when the crusher is runnning. It is supply and demand. Most buy the Chineesie stuff . All about supply and demand and unfortunately right now the scrap dealer pays more than the car hobby guy.

[UmmYeahOk]

While you make a great point in that swap meets are cheaper to run...

Does a swap meeter pay income tax, self imployment tax

Probably doesn’t, but like with selling on eBay and garage/yard sales, you are legally supposed to. Pretty much most, if not all swap meets are cash only places. Even all of the salvage yards are cash only. Why on earth would a business with a store front, be cash only? No paper trail maybe? Difficult to audit someone who you can’t track.

I remember once, in 110 degrees, pulling a part inside a vehicle only to be told cash only. I was directed to the gas station next door that had an ATM (with crazy fees) I was so dehydrated that I ended up buying a drink and resting there inside the AC for half an hour before returning to the car. ...I did not buy the part, because, screw them! That was 10 years ago, and they’re still in business.

health care premium for themselves and employees

If their employees are family members they probably do, even if they also are paid under the table, if at all. You can pay below minimum, even work a kid longer hours (15 max in my state) if they’re a family member.

Do they guarantee the part
Do they have a money back guarantee

Does anyone? These are used parts with questionable history. Some yards have a no return policy. Probably to protect themselves from someone trying to return their own busted part after buying the working one. 15 years ago, again, during insane triple digits temperatures, I stumbled into one covered in sweat, dehydrated, wanting an AC compressor as mine had seized. I had very little money at the time, so I was hoping to get a deal on a used one. It was almost as expensive as a remanufactured one off eBay that not only was guaranteed to work, but came with some sort of warranty. Even if their part had worked, it probably had more mileage than mine, and might had fail soon.

I don’t know if it was because they saw that I was in a serious life threatening need of a compressor, and/or saw that I was a young woman and stereotyped me, but such a high price, cash only, no warranty, no returns... ...yes that yard is still in business 15 years after that.

Do they work 60-80 hours a week

We don’t know. The last swap meet I was at, it lasted from Thursday to Sunday, starting at 7pm. Some people start and end at different times, some even have a 9-5 shift. I imagine on the weekends though, they are there much longer. Some people even sleep there. Let’s say they were there for 8 hours those 4 days, that’s 32 hours. They also have to load up and drive there. That can be 1-3 hours one way depending on where they are coming.

Now then, let’s just say that’s 35 hours for that one week (they may not do something like that everyweek), I noticed that many would set up a board with pictures of various vehicles and prices. They may have inherited land from an automotive hoarder, or... ...fixing up old cars is their hobby. Thing is, if you make money from a hobby, it’s still income, it’s still a business. Just because you love what you do for a living, does not mean it’s not work. ...even if you don’t even sell a single thing at that meet, it doesn’t mean it’s not work. You can be extremely passionate about an engine rebuild, but I doubt anyone here wouldn’t consider that work. It’s very possible to pull off those insane hours if it’s something like that.

So they may not work 60-80 hours a week at a swap meet, but they still may work that amount total in various related activities, or even unrelated, as they have to acquire some kind of steady income somehow.

Do they feed a family off their swap meet parts income.

If you sell just one $30 part, then take your family to McDonald’s on the way home with that cash, then yes, you just did. You may not earn a living wage at a swap meet. You may not earn one from owning a salvage yard. But odds are pretty good that those two groups may actually be the same person trying to supplement their income. Restoring an old truck to sell and have extra parts? Swap meet. Have a scrap yard that no one can get to, but you can go to them? Swap meet. I saw one guy there with a trailer full of car doors. Why would someone have all those? He clearly didn’t want to crush them. He knew his market would most likely be there.

In conclusion, it’s cheaper to sell at a swap meet than at a salvage yard, just as it is to sell on eBay or Etsy rather than buy/run a brick and mortar boutique, but the real reason failing/closing salvage yards still sell higher than swap meets (rather than opting to just crush it) is because they’re attach to the object. I knew a guy who once ran a shop, with a bunch of junked vehicles in the back. When asked how much he wanted for the hood of one... ...which had rust holes all in it, and obvious bondo chipping off... ...he wanted nearly as much as what I paid for my own car. Price was firm too. I had a 2nd gen hood on a 1st gen car and he had a 1st gen hood on a 2nd gen car. He wasn’t interested in a discount with a trade. Then one day the shops sign was gone, along with every single obscure car that was back there. Very sad too, as these were vehicles I had never in my life seen before, as they were all orphaned before I was even born. The car with the hood... ...was the real reason I bought mine in the first place. I didn’t even know what on earth it even was until I saw his junked parts car. His generation is dying, and with it, so are the cars. Very depressing.

Where was I? Oh, yeah. ...so if not simply in love with possessions they’re probably hoarding, maybe failing junk yards run like bankrupt retail stores. You’re in debt. Can’t pay your employees, bills, and such... ...so sell off what you have as fast as you can. But really, you’re being liquidated, and some completely different company is doing that for you. So your business remains open months longer than it should, selling above competitors, even with a pathetic discount.

Theory #3 - money laundering. You’re not going to pay such an insane price on a part like that. ...but someone who needs to funnel money through a “legitimate” business would. ��

PS - Didn’t realized I typed all that. I apologize, and am thankful if you or anyone else even made it halfway through

[jkk]

Man that is a bad deal

[mr48chev]

Well I have never been to a yard that would take a personal check and only lately have I been to any that would take a card. Not being prepared with the cash in pocket is just plain foolish.

As far as long time yards going out of business my friend's yard that I have been going to since I was a teenager and it was run by his grandfather then his father and now by him may be on the slide of going out of business unless his son in law takes over and runs it. The owner has bad health issues and can't run the wrecker and or even go out in the yard. About all he can do is quote a price on something you want. He treats me great but I have given him dozens of junkers over the years when they weren't worth figuring out how to haul them the 25 miles to the scrap yard that paid something for them. If his son in law doesn't take it over I doubt that anyone else would come in and buy it and run it although wrecking yards tend to do pretty well here. That may be the case more often than not for the wrecking yards that primarily have old stuff or stuff that they get for the impound fees. The big places buy late model cars from the insurance auctions that they make more money on then rigs that they towed out of peoples yards for pocket change or rigs that they got for the impound fees.

[joedoh]

not to mention you usually get a better deal with cash, no idea why (truthfully though, everyone knows why).

there was a guy in oregon? a few years ago who was closing his yard and crushing something like 4 square miles of cars and trucks, verified from aerial photos. we figured at the scrap price per ton and the density that he would make something like 2-2.5 MILLION dollars. hard to turn down that kind of scratch. $200 per car right now folds easier than $2000 per car over 10 years.

[vintovka]

Might add that here is S coast Oregon you must now PAY $ to get rid of scrap metal at dumps and transfer stations. Starting to see scrap piles and junk cars building up in rural areas along with stuff like vehicles and trailers just abandoned by the road. Abandoned vehicles take weeks for county to remove.

[paulspickupparts]

Originally Posted by vintovka

Might add that here is S coast Oregon you must now PAY $ to get rid of scrap metal at dumps and transfer stations. Starting to see scrap piles and junk cars building up in rural areas along with stuff like vehicles and trailers just abandoned by the road. Abandoned vehicles take weeks for county to remove.

Really . Maybe you should call Rusty . He will either pay you or pick them up for free.

https://www.rustysautosalvage.com/oregon/brookings.html

Kind of weird our salvage prices are hovering near $200 a ton and its worth nothing in Oregon . Hmmm.