Junkyard/salvage yard future reference methodology

[nehuge]

So who here is really adept in the knowledge of how the salvage/junkyards work?
I've only had a couple around here that I went to that were "chains", like a Pick-N-Pull, etc.

I'm gonna sound like a sissy bi%ch for my following naive rant lol:


Seems like if it's some "one off" called D&C Imports or FTO Auto Group or Larry's Salvage, etc that a lot of them don't let you pull your own parts.

So how does this work? Seems like I've sat on hold just for them to ask me what part I'm looking for and what it goes on and I'm like well "it depends". For W124 could be like 1987 through 1995, and they want me to specify a certain year and model to me that narrows down too much their potential "hits". Then they say "we'll do research and call you back when we find one". Like they're going to look it up one year at a time, and then get a phone call or get someone walking up to their counter. It's like, uh, okay, I coulda just done Ebay then. I mean what, do they have it in their yard and they're going to pull it off the car to bring to the front office to sell me? How do I know they even know how to? I mean most of us here know how to tear apart and reassemble our cars, I can't expect them to know how to do so without breaking something or taking forever. Like the triangular trim piece on the front inside of the front doors with it's one hook, one peg other large peg that press it in, I mean who knows that without just cranking it off of there and snapping everything?

Do most of the yards belong to some national database? Or do most even bother, they figure if you're local you'll just call about it and everyone else nationally just never knows about its existence. If I think about it, if there's a W124 that just showed up, and I took both front doors, it isn't as if they know or even ask what it came off of. It's not like they're going to update their inventory database with "1994 E500, 2 of 4 doors remaining". I just don't get it. I mean their picture of the car in the yard (if they have one) is the first day they got it in mostly intact. How do I know if it hasn't been there for 11 months, and is a skeleton by now, especially if I can't see it? Or see the condition of the parts?

I can google salvage or wrecking or whatever, and a lot of the sites have a dropdown menu that make you choose the type of part you are looking for and the model. Well, it could be a part that works across a ton of models, so I look it up thirty nine ways? Is there an average number of days they keep the car before it is crushed, or do they just let it sit until it has nothing left of it and they just write it off?

Of the websites I did see, I put my zip code distance from the yard in question set to "unlimited", and what does pop up are lots and lots of cars. How do I know that door or that whatever is still on it? Either way, it seems like there are so many cars out there in salvage yards it really makes me sad. If only I had Powerball, I'd buy property and buy up all the W124's nationally as they come up and have a gigantic parts collection, already removed from the car, like a warehouse and inventoried. Have like 6,400 door panels and 1,000 pieces of glass, etc LOL. Hate to see them get crushed.

Let's discuss!

 

[bclifton]

There are 6 larger salvage yards in my area and 5 of them are on row52.com. The other (U Pull & Pay) has their own website / inventory. Nobody at the yard is keeping a per car inventory for parts, though. Once the car has a decent amount of stuff pulled they crush it for scrap value. They're buying these cars for super cheap - like $200 - $800. I would guestimate the cars I watch usually only last about 8 or 9 weeks, some a lot less if they're in bad shape.

The places I've seen that inventory individual parts will actively pull all the parts themselves and store in a shed (selling all the cores to rebuilders, etc), and then list on eBay / add to their system. They might keep track of what year it came from but the actual car is gone / crushed.

Watching the cars and hitting the yards can be a lot of fun, if that's your thing... and then you know instantly (once you get there). I hate seeing the classics crushed, so I try to strip as many locally as I can. I grab W126, W124, and R129 parts - clean them up / rebuilt them if needed / resell for a fair price on eBay. Usually the pieces like that triangle piece you're describing are toast... but sometimes you get really lucky. I've found some really great stuff over the years

Before hitting yards I used to watch Craigslist and buy any cheap W126 I would see (like sub $500). I have a large enough yard that I can store 3 or 4 cars without an issue and take time pulling parts / inventorying. I got a 1987 300SDL without the engine for $100 and did great parting that out... but it didn't have a title and I had to quarter the car with a Sawzall. Going to the yards is a lot easier

 

[gsxr]

@bclifton covered a lot of the main points.

Chains or larger yards may have their own inventory system, which may or may not be searchable online. But the sole-proprietor Bob's Bait and Truck Parts... probably not. And yeah, they want to know a year/make/model because they have some generic interchange program (Hollander?) that's accurate about half the time, except when it isn't. The Boise area chain (5 yards total) will show a year/make and body class (E-class, M-class, etc) but nothing else. They just got their vehicle inventory on the internet about 5 years ago, prior to that, you had to go there in person and they would print out a list of all Mercedes with the row number so you could find them. Or you could call and ask, but they don't want to read off a dozen year/models for you via phone.

Best case, you can try to get Bob's Bait to tell you what Mercedes they have in the yard - if any. Then you can figure out if they have any car that is useful to you. Depending on their inventory system, it MIGHT have some info as to what condition it's in, or what major parts are sold or damaged. As Brian said, sometimes they will keep the big stuff (engine, transmission) and scrap the rest. If they don't have details on what's left, they MIGHT let you go into the yard and look at the carcass. Many of these full-service yards are reluctant to do this, or may want an employee to go with you. Doesn't hurt to ask, be really nice, bring a box of donuts or something if you really want to butter them up. You'll know pretty quick if they are going to be difficult and unhelpful.

A good number of larger yards will list their inventory on car-part.com which is a gold mine when you are looking for something specific. Sounds like you may have already found this. Unfortunately, the quality of information varies widely, as it depends how much info each yard uploads. Some yards will post a VIN and a dozen photos of the car, plus condition (grade) of body parts, miles on the car, stuff like that. Other yards will have almost zero information and often wrong models will show in the results, for example when searching for R129 SL500 parts, they may show a bunch of S500 parts, because S and SL are the same, right? You can usually figure this out in the results. And, some yards are helpful, others are a PITA, some refuse to give the VIN of the donor so you can't check if it has ASR or not, etc etc.

Fun stuff.

 

[TerryA]

I think LKQ owns all of the yards in SoCal. Probably 10+ or so. I’ve never actually counted them. They list their inventory on each yard’s site and the date it’s available. To see what’s available you can type in Mercedes and they all pop up w/ about 5 poorly taken pics but they give you an idea of the condition.

The downside to LKQ here is if you’re not there on the first day the car is available there’s not much left. So if you’re really after a specific part you need to check their inventories each night and arrive the next day if you want a chance at it.

Not many 124s either but one hell of a lot of year 2,000 and above Mercedes cars. Seems like each yard has at least 20 of them. Going thru a lot of Mercedes inventory last night there was 2-E55s and 1-500SL and 1-SL500 and a gazillion C-Class.

 

[gerryvz]

In Houston and Maryland, I have only frequented the LKQ Pick-Your-Part yards. This is because they have a decent web site that details new cars coming in and current inventory, and is searchable. And also because LKQ maintained three yards in the Houston area, and six yards (now four) in the Baltimore area. It is nice to be able to go in and grab whatever you need. You just have to get to any new car coming in within a day or two, to be able to get the "good stuff" like CAN computers, MAF, ETA, EZL, and stuff like that. Other parts are usually always still on the cars.

The problem is that the LKQ yards here (except the two furthest away from me) tend to rotate out the cars in less than a month, so you have to be quick on the draw. Sometimes a car is in the yard for two or three weeks before it is gone. The yards that are further out will have them for a couple or even three months.

My experience with the non-U-pull-it yards that pull the parts themselves and then warehouse and sell them, is that they tend to be VERY expensive and overcharge for the parts. That said, LKQ has doubled or even tripled their prices over the past few years from what they were say in 2018 or 2019. CAN computers that used to be $30-40 are now $100, for example. Simple plastic parts that used to be $5.00 are now $15.00. Stuff like that.

Plus, MBs from the 1990s have become MUCH more difficult to find over the past 3-4 years, because the "sweet spot" has moved on. Newer MBs are rotating in and there are fewer of the older cars on the road / being wrecked. So now, 90% of the cars coming in to LKQ yards here are in the 2000-2012 range. Five and 10 years ago, 126s and 124s were very very common. I can remember when I lived in Houston when W210 and W163 (MLs) were just starting to come into the yards. Now 210s and 211s, and the 202s and 203s and even 220s, are the bread and butter of the MBs you find in the yards. I'm lucky to see 1 or two 126s or 124s per month in all of the Baltimore LKQ yards nowadays.

Fortunately for me, since I've been doing this for so long, I was able to hit the "sweet spot" of the 126 and 124s coming into the yards, so I have been able to harvest good stuff over many years. Most of it I will never use, so I will continue to sell things off with regularity, so that things can go to folks who need them.

Which reminds me...I have SEVEN LH MAFs in my basement - I need to test them and offer them for sale here. A lot of money tied up in MAFs that I should let go.

 

[gsxr]

Plus, MBs from the 1990s have become MUCH more difficult to find over the past 3-4 years, because the "sweet spot" has moved on. Newer MBs are rotating in and there are fewer of the older cars on the road / being wrecked. So now, 90% of the cars coming in to LKQ yards here are in the 2000-2012 range. Five and 10 years ago, 126s and 124s were very very common. I can remember when I lived in Houston when W210 and W163 (MLs) were just starting to come into the yards. Now 210s and 211s, and the 202s and 203s and even 220s, are the bread and butter of the MBs you find in the yards. I'm lucky to see 1 or two 126s or 124s per month in all of the Baltimore LKQ yards nowadays.

Same deal at the Boise self-service yards. 5-7 years ago, there was a pretty steady stream of 124's, 201's, and some 140's. Now those are very scarce and there are a zillion 2000+ model years. Lots of 2000's vintage M-class and C-class, fewer E-class and S-class. Might only get a couple of M119.97x cars per year now across 4 different yards in 2 counties.

Fortunately for me, since I've been doing this for so long, I was able to hit the "sweet spot" of the 126 and 124s coming into the yards, so I have been able to harvest good stuff over many years. Most of it I will never use, so I will continue to sell things off with regularity, so that things can go to folks who need them.

Same here... I was able to pick up a decent number of spares. And, I was able to snag some items to re-sell to pay for the hoard items. That ship has sailed, now I'd have to try and buy a complete parts car via salvage auction and bypass the junkyard entirely. Not worth the effort unless something dropped in my lap locally, as cost to transport from out of state is prohibitive.

 

[nehuge]

Last time I was out I saw three W140 coupes and was just shaking my head......

 

[nehuge]

Last time I was out I saw three W140 coupes and was just shaking my head......

Out at the yard that is......no V12 ones though heh

 

[sheward]

Same experienced here in Atlanta. I'll no longer drive more than a short distance to any yard unless I'm looking for a NLA unicorn. Too much wasted time. Independent yards sometimes look up prices on Ebay believing that's representative. It's not.

There are very few 124s showing up here these days.

 

[gerryvz]

Out at the yard that is......no V12 ones though heh

I have only ever seen TWO V12 W140s in the yards -- one a 140 coupe, one a sedan, both in Houston.

 

[maw1124]

The only yard I’ve ever been to is the one my friend owned, which I helped him buy then sell. I learned a lot about the business, most of what’s been covered above. Most use car-part.com and eBay. If they aren’t on those, they’re likely not worth dealing with. These guys generally know what’s worth keeping off a car. No, your plastic trim piece off a 30 year old MB isn’t worth keeping for them (but headlights probably are, for obvious reasons). Specialty guys like those here will get those trim parts if they can before the car is scrapped, clean them up, eBay them, etc. There are some great specialty Audi and MB sellers on eBay, with good quality and prices. Autohubshop for MB, WolfAutoParts for Audi. That crappy pulldown menu is a car-part back end software that their vendors use, so whether you’re on car-part or their website it works the same -- poorly.

For these reasons, for cars this old, your best source is here and after that ebay. @bclifton you should post your eBay page. I don’t mind paying forum members (here and elsewhere) for parts because I understand the market well enough to know they are the best source and that the parts and knowing eyes and hands don’t just magically show up at the same place and time. @gerryvz is a great example for this. Good luck buying a seat adjuster or an LCD temp display for a W124 on eBay, but I’ve bought a few from Gerry, for whatever his price was which was never enough to think twice about.

maw

 

[bclifton]

For these reasons, for cars this old, your best source is here and after that ebay. @bclifton you should post your eBay page. I don’t mind paying forum members (here and elsewhere) for parts because I understand the market well enough to know they are the best source and that the parts and knowing eyes and hands don’t just magically show up at the same place and time. @gerryvz is a great example for this. Good luck buying a seat adjuster or an LCD temp display for a W124 on eBay, but I’ve bought a few from Gerry, for whatever his price was which was never enough to think twice about.

maw

Sure thing - my eBay page is here:
bsclifton on eBay

Lots of stuff not listed (yet)... let me know if you're looking for something in particular. I pull a lot of cores and sell direct to the rebuilders, so there's a decent amount that never makes it to eBay. The special stuff I try to share here or w/ enthusiasts directly first.

I watch the local yards like a hawk - if there's something good enough, I'll take time off work I'm still waiting for a diesel with an OM603 to show up so I can grab parts. Mostly the cars arriving are unexciting "pedestrian" models. I have seen a 400E once and a few SL600 (R129). But usually 300E/E320/E300D (W124), 420SEL/560SEL (W126), SL500 (R129). Sometimes I'll grab W140 parts - there's a great market for those.

Some pics from my adventures last year (2022)




And then me in the usual winter outfit lol

Summers it's way too hot - just shorts and a white cotton shirt with a massive straw sombrero

 

[Stevester 500E]

Ditto what Gerry said.
I look at it this way, with parts going NLA, what else can you do....

 

[Stevester 500E]

Just going by gut feel (jingling the change in your pockets pre and post LKQ entrance). Prices have easily doubled on most items, if not tripled. Price of admission here in Socal seemed to from 3 bucks to 5 bucks overnight.

 

[LWB250]

LKQ was the only real "pick 'n pull" when I was in Tampa, FL, but it stunk. I say that because there were what I would refer to as "yard rats" who would be there all the time, waiting for new cars to come into the yard, of which they would immediately strip of anything of value.

I went there twice in a couple of years, and both times a car that had been there for one day according to their web site looked like the plate at a chicken wing eating contest when it was over. Nothing but a pile of bones.

From what I could glean from the locals, these "yard rats" strip stuff the minute it shows up and then list the parts on eBay.

For that matter, I found some parts on eBay for my W215 that were sold by a recycler in Tampa who bought complete cars then methodically stripped them down, cataloging the parts and storing them on shelves inside a building. He had fair prices and a money-back guarantee on electrical parts.

Dan