Wrecking yard

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Old cars rusting away Old cars.jpg
Old cars rusting away
A breaker's yard in the UK, showing cars stacked on metal frames to make it easier to find and remove usable parts. Scrap yard 22l3.JPG
A breaker's yard in the UK, showing cars stacked on metal frames to make it easier to find and remove usable parts.
Crushed cars stored at a scrapyard Auto scrapyard 1.jpg
Crushed cars stored at a scrapyard

A wrecking yard (Australian, New Zealand, and Canadian English), scrapyard (Irish, British and New Zealand English) or junkyard (American English) is the location of a business in dismantling where wrecked or decommissioned vehicles are brought, their usable parts are sold for use in operating vehicles, while the unusable metal parts, known as scrap metal parts, are sold to metal-recycling companies. Other terms include wreck yard, wrecker's yard, salvage yard, breaker's yard, dismantler and scrapheap. In the United Kingdom, car salvage yards are known as car breakers, while motorcycle salvage yards are known as bike breakers. In Australia, they are often referred to as 'Wreckers'.

Contents

Types of wreck yards

The most common type of wreck yards are automobile wreck yards, but junkyards for motorcycles, bicycles, trucks, buses, small airplanes and boats or trains exist too.

Scrapyard

A scrapyard is a recycling center that buys and sells scrap metal. Scrapyards are effectively a scrap metal brokerage. [1] Scrapyards typically buy any base metal; for example, iron, steel, stainless steel, brass, copper, aluminum, zinc, nickel, and lead would all be found at a modern-day scrapyard. Scrapyards will often buy electronics, appliances, and metal vehicles. Scrapyards will sell their accumulations of metals either to refineries or larger scrap brokers. Metal theft is committed so thieves can sell stolen copper or other stolen valuable metals to scrapyards. [2]

Operation

When an automobile is severely damaged, has malfunctioned beyond repair, or is not worth the repair, the owner may sell it to a junkyard. In some cases, when the car has become disabled in a place where derelict cars are not allowed to be left, the car owner will pay the wrecker to haul the car away. Salvage yards also buy most of the wrecked, derelict, and abandoned vehicles that are sold at auction from police impound storage lots, and often buy vehicles from insurance tow yards as well. The salvage yard offer car removal services, allowing individuals to dispose of their old, non-functional vehicles responsibly, will usually tow the vehicle from the location of its purchase to the yard, but occasionally vehicles are driven in. At the salvage yard, the automobiles are typically arranged in rows, often stacked on top of one another. Some yards keep inventories in their offices, as to the usable parts in each car, as well as the car's location in the yard. Many yards have computerized inventory systems. About 75% of any given vehicle can be recycled and used for other goods.

In recent years it is becoming increasingly common to use satellite part finder services to contact multiple salvage yards from a single source. In the 20th century, these were call centres that charged a premium rate for calls and compiled a facsimile that was sent to various salvage yards so they could respond directly if the part was in stock. Many of these are now Web-based with requests for parts being e-mailed instantly.

A "you pull it" junkyard in the United States Auto scrapyard 2.jpg
A "you pull it" junkyard in the United States
Loading a barge in New York Newtown scrap crane jeh.JPG
Loading a barge in New York

Often parts for which there is high demand are removed from cars and brought to the salvage yard's warehouse. Then a customer who asks for a specific part can obtain it immediately, without having to wait for the salvage yard employees to remove that part. Some salvage yards expect customers to remove the part themselves (known as "self-service yards"), or allow this at a substantially reduced price compared to having the junkyard's staff remove it. This style of the yard is often referred to as a "You Pull It" yard. [3]

However, it is more common for a customer to call in and inquire whether the specific item they need is available. If the yard has the requested item, the customer is usually instructed to leave a deposit and to come to pick up the part at a later time. The part is usually installed by the customer or agent ("the customer's mechanic"); however, some salvage yards also provide installation services.

The parts usually dismantled from automobiles are generally any that can be resold such as the light assemblies (commonly known as just "lights", e.g. headlights, blinkers, taillights), seats, parts of the exhaust system, mirrors, hubcaps, etc. Late-model vehicles will often have entire halves or portions of the body removed and stored on shelves as inventory. Other major parts such as the engine and transmission are often removed and sold, usually to auto-parts companies that will rebuild the part and resell it with a warranty, or will sell the components as-is in used condition, either with or without warranty. Other, usually very large, junkyards will rebuild and sell such parts themselves. Unbroken windshields and windows may also be removed intact and resold to car owners needing replacements. Some salvage yards will sell damaged or wrecked, but repairable vehicles to amateur car builders, or older vehicles to collectors, who will restore ("rebuild") the car for their own use or entertainment, or sometimes for resale. These people are known as "rebuilders".

Once vehicles in a wrecking yard do not have more usable parts, the hulks are usually sold to a scrap-metal processor, who will usually crush the bodies on-site at the yard's premises using a mobile baling press, shredder, or flattener, with final disposal occurring within a hammer mill which smashes the vehicle remains into fist-sized chunks. These chunks are then sold by multiple tons for further processing and recycling.

See also

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

Ernest Frank Guelph Cox (1883–1959) was a British engineer, with knowledge in electrical and mechanical engineering, which he notably deployed in marine salvage. Between 1924 and 1931 his Cox & Danks Shipbreaking Co. successfully raised 35 ships of the German Imperial Navy High Seas Fleet that had been scuttled at Gutter Sound, Scapa Flow, in 1919. A tough but caring employer, after a series of fatalities and accidents to his employees, Cox sold his marine salvaging business to the Alloa Shipbreaking Company in 1932. He remained a consultant to the British Admiralty throughout his remaining career, and retired in the early 1950s after selling his profitable scrap metal business to Metal Industries Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ship breaking</span> Disposal process to get parts or scrap

Ship breaking is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships either as a source of parts, which can be sold for re-use, or for the extraction of raw materials, chiefly scrap. Modern ships have a lifespan of 25 to 30 years before corrosion, metal fatigue and a lack of parts render them uneconomical to operate. Ship-breaking allows the materials from the ship, especially steel, to be recycled and made into new products. This lowers the demand for mined iron ore and reduces energy use in the steelmaking process. Fixtures and other equipment on board the vessels can also be reused. While ship-breaking is sustainable, there are concerns about its use by poorer countries without stringent environmental legislation. It is also labour-intensive, and considered one of the world's most dangerous industries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scrap</span> Recyclable materials left over from manufactured products after their use

Scrap consists of recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap can have monetary value, especially recovered metals, and non-metallic materials are also recovered for recycling. Once collected, the materials are sorted into types – typically metal scrap will be crushed, shredded, and sorted using mechanical processes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">C F Booth</span> English scrap metal and recycling business

C F Booth Ltd is a family-owned scrap metal and recycling business based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vehicle title branding</span> Permanent designation indicating a vehicle has been "written off"

Vehicle title branding is the use of a permanent designation on a vehicle's title, registration or permit documents to indicate that a vehicle has been written off due to collision, fire or flood damage or has been sold for scrap.

Victory Auto Wreckers was an auto salvage yard in Bensenville, Illinois, near Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. It is well known in the Chicago area for its former television commercial, in which a young man struggles with a car door that has just detached from its hinges. The commercial aired with limited changes from 1985 to 2015, making it the subject of frequent discussion in the local media. The Chicago Sun-Times once described the advertisement as "an indelible commercial image known to almost any television viewer."

In North America, a salvage title is a form of vehicle title branding, which notes that the vehicle has been damaged and/or deemed a total loss by an insurance company that paid a claim on it. The criteria for determining when a salvage title is issued differ considerably by each state, province or territory. In a minority of states and Canadian provinces, regulations require a salvage title for stolen or vandalized vehicles which are not recovered by police within 21 days. In such cases insurance companies declare a vehicle total loss and pay off the previous owner; but, in others, it is issued only for losses due to damage. Under some circumstances, a salvage title denotation may be removed or replaced with a Rebuilt Salvage designation; and cars imported to, or exported from, the United States may be issued a clean title regardless of history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Total loss</span> Situation where a damaged propertys salvage or repair cost exceeds its insured value

In insurance claims, a total loss or write-off is a situation where the lost value, repair cost or salvage cost of a damaged property exceeds its insured value, and simply replacing the old property with a new equivalent is more cost-effective.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Radius Recycling</span> American metal manufacturing and recycling company

Radius Recycling, Inc., previously known as Schnitzer Steel Industries, Inc., is a steel manufacturing and scrap metal recycling company headquartered in Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1906, the publicly traded company is a component Russell 2000 Index with approximately 3,500 employees. In 2023, the company adopted its current name and a new NASDAQ symbol of RDUS.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Conservation and restoration of road vehicles</span>

Conservation and restoration of road vehicles is the process of restoring a vehicle back to its original working condition. Vehicles, whether partially scrapped or completely totaled, are typically restored to maintain their roadworthiness or to preserve those with antique status for use as showpieces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Second-hand shop</span> Shop which sells used goods

A second-hand shop is a shop which sells used goods.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vehicle impoundment</span> Legal process of restricting access to a vehicle for an amount of time

Vehicle impoundment is the legal process of placing a vehicle into an impoundment lot or tow yard, which is a holding place for cars until they are placed back in the control of the owner, recycled for their metal, stripped of their parts at a wrecking yard or auctioned off for the benefit of the impounding agency.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Auto auction</span> Selling auto vehicle

Auto auctions are a method of selling vehicles based on an auction system. Auto auctions can be found in most countries and are usually exclusive to licensed automobile dealers. In a few countries, such as Japan, auto auctions are well known and used by most residents.

Mayapuri is an industrial locality in the West Delhi district of Delhi, India. It used to be a major hub of heavy metal and small-scale industries, but following government sanctions, most of the heavy metal industries moved out. The place is now a combination of light metal factories, scrap markets, and automobile service stations. In 2010, a major radiation accident took place in the scrap yards of Mayapuri.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vehicle recycling</span> Dismantling of vehicles for spare parts

Vehicle recycling or automobile scrapping is the dismantling of vehicles for spare parts. At the end of their useful life, vehicles have value as a source of spare parts and this has created a vehicle dismantling industry. The industry has various names for its business outlets including wrecking yard, auto dismantling yard, car spare parts supplier, and recently, auto or vehicle recycling. Vehicle recycling has always occurred to some degree but in recent years manufacturers have become involved in the process. A car crusher is often used to reduce the size of scrapped vehicles for simplified transportation to a steel mill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Car crusher</span> Industrial device used to reduce size of cars

A car crusher is an industrial device used to reduce the dimensions of derelict (depreciated) cars prior to transport for recycling.

Pull-A-Part, LLC is a United States chain of automotive recycling yards where customers bring their own tools and remove parts out of used vehicles. As of July 2017 there are 25 locations in 12 states.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Decrepit car</span> Run down automobile

A decrepit car is a car that is often old and damaged and is in a barely functional state. There are many slang terms used to describe such cars, such as beater, clunker, chod, flivver, hooptie/hoopty, jalopy, old banger, but the most popular being junk car.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Staten Island boat graveyard</span> Marine scrapyard in Staten Island, New York

The Staten Island boat graveyard is a marine scrapyard located in the Arthur Kill in Rossville, near the Fresh Kills Landfill, on the West Shore of Staten Island, New York City. It is known by many other names including the Witte Marine Scrap Yard, the Arthur Kill Boat Yard, and the Tugboat Graveyard. Its official name as of 2014 is the Donjon Iron and Metal Scrap Processing Facility.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Automobile graveyard</span> Place where abandoned or discarded vehicles are present

An automobile graveyard or car cemetery is a place in which decrepit road vehicles reside while waiting to be destroyed or recycled or are left abandoned and decaying.

References

  1. Archived September 10, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  2. "Wrecked but Not Worthless: Uncovering the Salvage Value of Your Vehicle". Wreckery.com.au. 4 January 2023. Retrieved 2023-01-04.
  3. Burgos, Erwin (February 2, 2023). "You Pull It". You Pull It. Retrieved 2023-02-02.

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