Scrapyards......WTF are they thinking????

[bezzabsa]

The parts i got for £20, would have cost the wrong side of £50 on eblag, as i actually contemplated buying them from there...

The lower dash panel was between £15 and £25, and most were missing the little cubby box...

Not many scrappers left, but I'll keep trying to keep them going!!

[sierraman]

I’m sure your £20 spend once in a passing of Halleys Comet will keep that scrapyard away from compulsory purchase or redevelopment into a Barrett estate. 🤣

[stuboy]

i not been to a scrappy in years

[Isaac Hunt]

A good old school scrappy that allows you to rummage and remove is great if they have a good stock cars.

the last major component I had out of our old school yard was a Rover 25 gearbox.  The forklift driver just dragged the car out for me and tipped it on its side, easiest gearbox removal I've ever done.

i remember years ago at a different yard, I phoned about a gearbox for a car I'd seen on the pile.  The response was so strange and convoluted I was left wondering if I'd dialled the local,supermarket or something.   In the end I just said to the geezer "tell you what mate, just fuck off" to which I got a response, so I repeated "I said just fuck off mate" put the phone down 'click' and never went back there ever again.  That was 30 years ago mind.  I think they did fuck off as well, went bust I think, not surprised, all I asked was how much for the gearbox and would you take the car off the top,of the pile.   

i got my gearbox a couple of days later from a private guy who was dismantling his car, he'd had an off in it.  In fact I had the gearbox, prop,  back axle and a rake of stuff for peanuts.  I had to take it out myself though.  I piled my engine crane into an old MK3 Cortina Estate, went round and hoisted the lot out on his drive, then piled it all into the MK3 Cortina, it was a bit low on the rear suspension mind you with all the weight in it.

 

[DavidB]

I went to my not-so-local scrapyard in North Wales as I needed a boost solenoid and steering wheel squib for my Roadster. I needed a few other menial bits for my SJ.
I don't mind paying ebay value for bits, but I got about four bulbs I needed instead of going to Halfords/ECP - Squib and bulbs £40. I just said "40 quid?", and he explained I had bulbs and they're worth that in shop. I just said how much for the squib and he said £25. I must have given him a couple of grand in money for parts so far, even held my tongue for bits he wanted top dollar on but I needed them at the time - not going back again.

[Fraz]

@dome and I enjoy a wander round u pullit occasionally when I’m over his way. 
 

haven’t been recently due to covid but I’m looking forward to the next trip 

 

£1 entry, can have a wander. Everything’s laid out well and you can pick loads of bits up for pennies 

[Faker]

So..... this might deserve a thread of its own... but here goes! 

There are a number of Scrap yards in N.I. that are not stockpiling old cars or breakers any longer. Where yards had rows of cars being picked bare.... there’s now a void where shells used to rest...

Catalytic converters are removed, battery too.. maybe a panel or two... and a couple of lights.. then the shells are weighed in. Yards don’t hold on or retain anything anymore..

Now here’s the pickle.. the used parts supply for older vehicles in and around the ten years of age mark, are going  to vanish in the not too distant future (in Northern Ireland anyway) and believed to be driven or at least subsidised by the Government with high scrap metal recycling pricing. Boosting the price of scrap metal forces yards to weigh in scrap cars. Saves the gov actually having to reinstate any form of scrappage scheme.

Need a gearbox for your B6 Passat.... good luck there aren’t any in the breakers.... without a parts supply the Passat needing a box is also now scrap without finding a cost effective replacement (only an example). It’ll end up in the yard as a cost effective replacement no longer exists and a reconditioned item outweighs the value of the car...

I recently bought a bonnet for a Yaris at a yard I used for a while. The place was empty. Rows and rows of panels where there used to be rows of cars..

The yard owner himself stated that used car parts supply or shell picking is a thing of the past for his yard... he’s now a recycle business. No need to stack vehicles any longer.. He’s of the opinion that older vehicles over ten years old on the road will become obsolete. 

I find myself in a position where I’m buying up stuff I’m interested in so I have my own independent parts supply...

discuss...

[Markeh]

The yards round here still seemed alright the last time I went to them, although at least one (forgot the name but it was in Kirkby-in-Ashfield) has gone now. We still have Albert Looms in Derby and Ray's in Rainworth, last frequented in 2018 when I needed a new alloy for my Megane after an unfortunate pothole incident.

The old yard in Kirkby let me have a load of bits for free, probably because I'd been honest and not pocketed them (little plastic covers and a book pack). Think the most I've ever paid for a scrapyard part was £15 for the Renault alloy.

Was hoping to have an excuse to go scrapyard hunting for bits for the Meriva but annoyingly it doesn't need anything!

[bezzabsa]

On 9/3/2021 at 8:48 PM, sierraman said:

I’m sure your £20 spend once in a passing of Halleys Comet will keep that scrapyard away from compulsory purchase or redevelopment into a Barrett estate. 🤣

he employs about 6 guys and is open 6 days a week, so I think hes doing OK... another is Mainline salvage near Wolvo...BUT parts are removed for you, but hes still cheap and sells some wonderful chod too

[sierraman]

A lot of these breakers are competing with eBay, you’ve more consumer rights in theory with eBay as well so naturally people head there.

[bub2006]

9 hours ago, Markeh said:

The yards round here still seemed alright the last time I went to them, although at least one (forgot the name but it was in Kirkby-in-Ashfield) has gone now. We still have Albert Looms in Derby and Ray's in Rainworth, last frequented in 2018 when I needed a new alloy for my Megane after an unfortunate pothole incident.

The old yard in Kirkby let me have a load of bits for free, probably because I'd been honest and not pocketed them (little plastic covers and a book pack). Think the most I've ever paid for a scrapyard part was £15 for the Renault alloy.

Was hoping to have an excuse to go scrapyard hunting for bits for the Meriva but annoyingly it doesn't need anything!

I've not had much luck at renner rays as we call him.  Ring up,ask for a car in stock and usually get met with come and look yourself,I don't know what cars we've got. We go down and find they haven't got car at all, It's not exactly a big yard!

Looms in derby and podders are where I usually go though. I live about 10 mins from j28 just outside of Alfreton but grew up in Sutton in Ashfield. Can't remember the scrappy in Kirkby but can remember caunts just off quarrydale Road in Sutton and another on birchwood Lane South Normanton. Both are now housing estates. 

In derby there used to be loads,before ring road was built Looms was a fair bit smaller amd I think one of the big ones was called journeys end. There's also Vale Road in Mansfield Woodhouse and Pinxton breakers but not been to Pinxton in ages,unsure if it's actually still open.

 

[DaveDorson]

to be honest, I think much of the issue is the sort of person who'd traditionally spend their time trawling scrap yards now doesn't bother, so why keep a load of stuff laying around that you can convert into money quicker and for less effort?

[sierraman]

I do miss clambering over moss covered Mondeo Mk2s thinking this Ghia wood fascia could be mine for £15 if I’ve got the torx bit with me. Back then a trip to the breakers to pick up a few extras was the done thing, but cars now have got all the bells and whistles anyway. 

[Datsuncog]

It's probably a bit of a chicken-and-egg question: is there less demand for used parts from breakers these days, so they don't keep wrecks for long anymore, or do DIY motorists not bother with traditional breakers because they don't seem to stock whatever's needed, instead going to eBay or buying pattern parts from halfway round the world?

Thinking back to the local yards of my childhood, "going to the scrapyard" seemed to be a fairly regular event for anyone running second-hand cars, to get cheap-ish parts for whatever BL, Ford or Vauxhall heap you were currently driving. There were at least three in my hometown, and I can recall my father trying to get a fuel tank sender unit out of a Marina, and also going up with a neighbour for an alternator for his Princess. It was cheaper than new parts from a motor factor, and likely 'good enough' for a car that might well find itself in said yard in six month's time anyway. Later, I helped friends 'upgrade' their assorted bangers by pulling bits from higher spec models to bolt into their pov spec Novas and the like.

I don't think I've successfully acquired much from a scrappie in the past twenty years; the last thing I recall buying was a door mirror for my Mk2 Fiesta from Penfold's yard off the A370 outside Bristol; that must have been around 2002. But enquiries since have usually been met with baffled denial - after a botched theft attempt on my Polo breadvan in 2010, I tried to get a new steering column - the breaker I contacted seemed confused, claiming that they hadn't even seen a Polo for years - nah mate, nah, nothing like that here - before I'd even mentioned what generation of Polo it was. Yet they were the yard claiming to be VW specialists, breaking all models...

Regardless, I guess the money in scrap only comes from the metal recycling these days, and not in selling two grommets and a sidelight bulb to giffers like myself... I can understand why, but it's still a sad loss.

[busmansholiday]

Have a few pics from one of the Barnsley scrappies I used a month or so ago.

[sierraman]

We had a breakers in our village but the guy was so impossible to deal with nobody went. The big one a few miles away now just does scrap metal, I think at one point they were about to be compulsorily purchased due to HS2. That’s gone out the window now though. There’s still others but the prices are haywire. It’s an expensive business to set up plus you’ve constant harassment from the Police and competition from people that have paid some scallys £500 to rob Golf R to break that it’s difficult to operate legitimately. 

[bangernomics]

Last time I went to one was about 10 years ago, new albeit shite stuff is clean and delivered direct to your door for less than most breakers ask.

Last purchase was a fan resistor for a mk5 transit £10-15?. Lasted for about a week and died. Bought a new one from transitspares on eBay for £25. Van was weighed in two years later with it still fitted.

I do miss lunchtime visits to car transplants up the road from malbank 6th form.

[Rusty Pelican]

Bought this in 91 for £50 in a scrappers , scrappers  still there but no more rummaging , they get the parts off for you . there were dozens around here in the 80s , now however i think theres three left 
PS , Van still lives on  

[Jack D]

Here are a few photos from my local self serve scrap yard.  For me it’s a fun day out.  Arriving with only a pry bar and a sledge hammer saying you’re getting a blower motor or wiring loom is a sport worth trying.  
 

 

I am always surprised at how nice some of the cars that find their way in there are.  
 

[sierraman]

Nearly all of them will have had some expensive mechanical or electrical fault, the Mk3 Mondeo on the pile there, a £700 DMF or a failed set injectors/Pump. The Rolls is interesting, probably deteriorated in the hands of someone who couldnt afford to run it.

[beko1987]

Around me I don't have many scrapyard. We have ASM who are an auto recycle and tbh were handy when we had the Zafira (a whole set of vectra alloys with good tyres were cheaper than finding a new 18" penta and a tyre for it) but I've had zero luck with anything I've ever owned.

They have a cutoff of 2010ish too I've noticed, anything older and the parts never appear on the website. 

[sierraman]

Space is money, a 2003 Focus is unlikely to yield much profit in parts so usually they’ll get drained and bailed straight away. The ones I used to use used to keep a few really old ones, a few MGB, Granada and a Mk1 Mondeo Si as they’d be able to charge a fortune on whatever they sold off it to an enthusiast. 

[Timewaster]

4 hours ago, sierraman said:

We had a breakers in our village but the guy was so impossible to deal with nobody went.

This is the same as our local scrappy. 

He is still there but I think they just drain and bail nowadays. 

I was in his yard once when a guy was stripping a pinto engine on the floor outside. He took the cam out and put it on the ground. 

The boss walks over and says "WHAT THE F ARE YOU DOING??" 

the guy looks up and says "you told me to check it" 

"Check it, not Fkin strip it!, put that back!" 

So the guy picked up the cam off the dirt and plonked it back in place and started to bolt the carriers back in. 

Meanwhile, the mini hub I wanted was cut off the donor with a gas axe, melting the ball joint rubbers, the wheel bearing seals and cv boot and distorting everything. 

Then he charged me more than he paid for the whole donor car. 

And when I worked in the motor factor he was always trying to cadge parts catalogues off us and got the arse when we wouldn't give them to him. 

[louiepj]

Here are a few photos from my local self serve scrap yard.  For me it’s a fun day out.  Arriving with only a pry bar and a sledge hammer saying you’re getting a blower motor or wiring loom is a sport worth trying.  
 






 
I am always surprised at how nice some of the cars that find their way in there are.  
 

Where is this?
Do they take holiday bookings?
As that looks like a good few days fun.

Sent from my SM-A526B using Tapatalk

[Andyrew]

Cant say id blame them for bailing shit quicker these days, 

Think of the dregs thats flogging a sub 500 quid appears to bring out, now think what its like to trying to sell a part from that car.

Just imagine Getting told its cheaper on ebay blah blah, dealing with complete tight arses, having people shouting the wrong name for a part at you repeatedly as they dont speak english. People who want secondhand brake pads and spark plugs, phone calls asking if you have a wing in stock thats the same colour as their nans jazz you have never seen. Day in day out.

Bollocks to that

Id bail them quick too, probably chuck myself in there aswell after a few months of that shit. 

 

 

[St.Jude]

On 9/2/2021 at 9:10 PM, bezzabsa said:

Walks into 1st one.....Any Corsa C's in m9???

No Mate we frag em as soon as we get em in...no call for parts!!!

Was this at Carmas in Kiddie? Got told a similar thing when I was after a subframe for the RAV4.

Generally though, the scrappers in and around Saltley can't do enough for you if you need a part.

[bezzabsa]

7 minutes ago, St.Jude said:

Was this at Carmas in Kiddie? Got told a similar thing when I was after a subframe for the RAV4.

Generally though, the scrappers in and around Saltley can't do enough for you if you need a part.

no this was over Greets Green

[Jack D]

40 minutes ago, louiepj said:

Where is this?
Do they take holiday bookings?
As that looks like a good few days fun.

Sent from my SM-A526B using Tapatalk
 

It’s in Devizes, Wiltshire.  

[Jack D]

Here are a few more from last year.  Spent a long  day labouring under the bonnet of an E46.

 

[rainagain]

I quite like u-pull-it at Inverkeithing. The majority of the staff are alright and the online price list makes things easy. They can be a bit mental with prices when you try to buy something not listed online.
 

Years ago I used the cluster of scrappies in Kirkcaldy. They could really take this piss. You’d ask how much for something and they’d say take it off first. Then they’d have you by the short and curlys after you’ve just sweated for two hours removing something. My mate was buying some bits for his mini (this was back in the day when they were just a cheap old car) and asked if they would throw in a bit or carpet from the top of the dash. They wanted £30 extra for it, he said no so the guy just launched it out the door into a puddle, very strange negotiating tactic. 
 

TBH now a days I use eBay or buy new. Often ebay is cheaper and you’ve got some come back if it’s a pile of shit.