Are junkyards dying out?

[Shran]

Curious if this is a local phenomenon or a trend nationwide.

I just found out yesterday that our last remaining you-pull-it style yard closed very recently. Everything is gone, it's a scrap yard now. The one next door closed about a year ago. There actually was at least 6 of them in that same area and only one is still halfway open and one other is a Copart place now... 4 are completely closed. There were two other good yards in other parts of town that are gone... I know have exactly two yards left and neither are you-pull-it style places and I think they only have late model stuff. The three around my hometown are long gone too.

Not sure what to think. I know one of the employees at the recently closed yard and he said business has been terrible. Apparently it was hard to get decent vehicles and they were having a lot of problems with people stealing stuff (and I heard that's why the yard next door closed too.) On the other hand... most of those yards have been really run down for decades... I am sure the owners were putting the bare minimum investment in and took the first chance they could to get out since the real estate is worth way more than the business.

I'd love to start my own yard but the startup costs would be crazy high and finding the land to do it right now is a pipe dream. Hope some of y'all still have places to go... it's a sad state of affairs here.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I hardly go anymore, they rarely have anything for my old junk.

 

[Jim Oaks]

I still seem them here in Texas. I've seen some with cars all the way up to the road with no fencing. I still see vehicles on Marketplace from time to time that I'd like to buy just because the parts I'd want off of it are worth what they want for the whole vehicle.

 

[racsan]

too much liability anymore for “joe schmoe” to go get a door or whatever. Because of lack of sales most yards dont keep anything past 10-15 years old, when I had my ‘94 the oldest ranger in the ‘yard was a ‘97. Seems like now most vehicles in a yard are either heavily damaged in a accident or just rusted out beyond belief. I personally dont like the suprizes of bees & snakes that like to make a junker its home. The one “pull it yourself “ yard nearest me is a field thats a muddy rutted mess when its wet and overgrown with weeds during the growing season. Anymore Im better off sourcing used parts from fleabay.

 

[Bill]

There are plenty of yards here. The u-pull-it type yards are busy. I have found that the other yards aren't nearly as helpful as there were in the past. Also, Pick-n-pull out here is almost as expensive as buying many parts new online.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Lots have closed down over the years locally. Its a shame.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Between the EPA, Cash for Clunkers, and the fact that most yards don’t even have a chance to get anything newer than about a 2010 because of insurance and Copart and the like… yeah, they are unfortunately dying out. Doesn’t that make you want to just run out and spend $60k on a new truck?

Me neither…

 

[SenorNoob]

The local yards here got visited by the EPA and slowed WAY down. The one I got my springs from is the only one left within 40 miles. It's overgrown and backlogged with parts that haven't moved since I got my truck. We had to wade in the grass to find the rack with the springs on it. They'd been there so long the treated 4x4 posts were barely standing. It actually fell when we pulled the springs.

One junkyard/scrapyard that I liked to go to just gave up when the EPA showed up. And AFAIK they were doing everything right except they didn't have the whole place covered in fluid containment. All the big yards in Nashville are like that. Built on a man-made hill to capture every drop of liquid that comes of the lot.

There is only one scrapyard in town. It's just scrap. In a holler with the scales about to fall off into the creek. (Seriously one corner of the truck scale has no support. It can't be accurate.) They have a 2ft deep ditch either side of the scale and require you to back across it from downhill to unload. Super sketchy. I've resorted to calling the local junkies to get any scrap metal hauled off.

 

[bobbywalter]

definitely the result of planned obsolescence. but modern level of change and ability to change in mass market production is a blade with many edges


though, there are runs of vehicles....say superduty and hd rams and gm...especially the chassis cab versions of such that will hold viable for some time to come, due to holding parts runs longer than 4 years.

watching banks embrace the hybrid systems like the powerboost units we have been running my wife in since 21, for the military hummer application definitely opens up powertrain possibilities to keep me going far into the next decade.

i had been planning on running a 6r80 in my truck, now i may just freshen up the 4l80 and go into the 10 speed generator unit.... having 7200 watts on tap with electric drive gives me some nice options.

body parts may be hard....but adapting modern powertrains will likely be an option long term.

 

[gaz]

Former president Obama's Cash for Clunkers sank more than 50% of the yards that were here...seemed like a move to make gas powered automobiles disposable, subsequently obsolete, according to plan.

Prior to that evil program I had my pick from 7 very large yards, each with 7-10 of each of my vehicles. Had things been a little dry, which never happened, there were too many yards Mount Vernon to Roy to keep track of!!

 

[arse_sidewards]

"no new junkyards" (and other low margin uses) is an intentional effect of federal and state environmental policy that affects new commercial activity.

 

[superj]

we have our one pull a part that used to be called sammy's and 3 or 4 where they pull it for you. and if you go up to san antonio there are a bunch of junkyards that are going strong. i know 2 or 3 u-pull it style yards and a bunch of they pull it. there are also junkyards that are specifically for euro vehicles.

i used to go to the bmw only junkyard a bunch when i was autocrossing bmws

 

[sgtsandman]

We have several in my general area. None of them are You-Pull-It style yards, except for the one in Brighton Twp. As far as the age of the vehicles in them, they seem to have a decent range. At least when it comes to wheels. But all my junk is newer junk. So, there is that.