Several weeks ago I shared Matildaben’s question about junkyards.
Should I get a car part at a junkyard/salvage yard/auto recycler, and how do I go about it? I need a side mirror assembly for a 1998 Nissan Sentra. Should I get it at a junkyard?
Both AskMetafilter readers and Get Rich Slowly readers told her, “Yes, go to a junkyard. It’s worth it.” Matildaben wrote the following update:
I went to Nix Auto Wrecking in Ballard, which I found using the car-part.com. We didn’t get a chance to go into the junkyard itself — the helpful employee, Matt, went back himself and took the mirror off the car, to which it was still attached. We waited about 20 minutes for him to do this. I took some photos of the lobby and areas accessible therefrom. The mirror cost about $60.
I have a repair guide I bought off eBay when I first got the car, and there was a short paragraph on how to replace the mirror. There’s a little black plastic cover on the inside of the door that I was able to snap off, and the mirror is attached by three screws and the electricals are attached by one connector. I was able to get two of the screws off myself, but was not physically strong enough to get the third screw or the electrical connector. I tried to get a friend to come over to help out but no one was available. My mechanic said they could do the replacement for about $75 but I wanted to do it myself since it seems so straightforward.
Ultimately, I drove to a local gas station that has a service center that was open on weekends and a guy there did it for me in five minutes. He didn’t write up a bill for the service, but I tipped him $20.
I love businesses like that — those that do little things for free. I tend to be very loyal to such places.
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That’s great, I love going to the junkyard… well… that’s not exactly correct, I don’t really enjoy being there, they are kinda seedy. But, what I do enjoy is saving 80% off the cost of new parts in many cases.
My previous car was a 1996 Neon, and I went through 4 junkyard starters at $50 a pop. A reconditioned starter costs $350, and only has a 1-year guarantee, so I think buying the 4 starters over a period of 4 years was a much better use of my dime.
Plus, most of the repairs are actually quite easy to do if you have the time to devote.
NG
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Fantastic. I had a 94 Ford Escort and the radiator died on me, so I went to my local junk yard and got a new one for $74.00 exactly and replaced it the same day.
Had I gone to the shop to have it done, they told me it would have cost me at least $500.00 so the next time you’re thinking about replacing a part on a popular car, think twice.
You just might save a lot of money!
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Interesting to see this first thing Monday! I just spent four hours this morning visiting a junkyard for a driver’s door window and replacing it. I also picked up a mirror – I was planing on epoxying the old one back onto the mounts, but have seen epoxy not last long enough on a car.
The junkyard experience was a little more interesting. My wife called around last week to see 1) if anyone had what we needed and 2) how much it was going to cost. She price the whole door and just the window, since I did not know if the dent was too deep to allow a window back in. A nearby place had what we wanted, so this morning I stopped in. They took me out back, showed me the window, which was already removed, and then showed me a few mirrors that should work, which were still attached to the various cars sporting them.
I chose one, we went back inside with the window, and while I payed he removed the mirror and brought it back.
It was quite a bit more straightforward than I expected. The screws holding the door panel were easy to locate and remove, the foam was fairly easy to pull away from the door, and the window went in easily.
The mirror was even quicker. It’s a dark maroon on my black car, so it’s not terribly noticeable.
A lot of time was spent drilling and re-tapping a hole for a bolt I broke off. It held the outside handle to the door, and since I needed to pound a dent out near the handle I removed it.
Now I feel very comfortable removing door trim – something I’ve always been reluctant to do.
Going to the junkyard was a first for me as well, and the experience was good. Interestingly the parts dealer has a car crusher, and they sell videos sporting the car crusher (Over 1 hour of crushing, they exclaim) with the requisite dozen bikini clad women. I didn’t realize car crushing required such scantily clad skills, but it’s just one more thing I suppose I’ve yet to learn about the auto world. For those whose curiosity is great, search for “aachen auto”.
-Adam
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Another place to look for parts is eBay. I found a replacement mirror for my car and paid $5.00 for it, vs. the $168.00 replacement part. It cost more to ship it than it did to purchase it, but about $27.00 and 1/2 hour or so later, I was back in business.
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[...] who previously shared her story about buying a part at the junkyard, dropped me a line the other day to say, “I paid off my car loan today!” I got my [...]
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Glad to hear Matildaben is a satisfied customer of Car-Part.com
We aim to please (and save people money!)
-pc
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Hi there, I do not pick up cars or electronics at the junkyard but recently i went there as a result of a lost bet and came across a very good looking shredder,
The things that people throw out, it seemed to be in pristine condition but was not working, so i picked it up and took it to a nearby electronics shop, and it seemed to be just a little repair, this happened quite a few months ago and even today as I hear the sound that the shredder makes, I cannot help but smile. Every now and then, I do make a point to visit the junkyard and who knows, I may well find the ‘diamond in the rough’ after all.
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