Question on starting a Brand- Specific you-pull-it yard.

Hi, Everybody! What's the Hive's thoughts or experiences with running a small yard with only a certain make/model of Car? I have entertaining the idea of starting a Mustang only salvage yard/you pull it business. Any info is much appreciated.

Limiting your self to one make seems like a decent idea, but a hard way to make money. Limiting to one make and model seems like a great way to go out of business.

In reply to chada75:

I have no experience, but on top of all the PITA requirements for owning/operating a yard, you're essentially reducing your customer base significantly, in exchange for presumably drawing in a more dedicated & hard-core group from further away...so in essence something of a tourist-destination. So I'd say you'd need to find something more than just the cars & parts to draw in/occupy your patrons.

An idea was mentioned on here a while back of combining a junkyard with a roadhouse-style bar/restaurant. Maybe not that exactly, but something different.

I think it could be ok if you were willing to pull parts yourself and sell online, but as a strictly "U-pull" type yard, I think you'd struggle to get adequate traffic.

In reply to STM317:

This. One make and model auto dismantlers that sell online do very well, though packaging and shipping can be a pain. As a pick and pull it will do poorly.

I would have to see the business plan.

How big of a lot. What are the cost to prepare and maintain the lot? Everything from mortgage to permits to taxes to weed-control goes in this bucket.

What does the surrounding population look like and what is your budget for attracting clients and sellers from far and wide?

What does the competition look like and what are you doing that they dont?

What do you figure is the average cost of a car you buy? What do you figure the average sale of components and scrap will be per car? I figure since you are marque specific, the cost per car is going to be more than a regular yard and you will incur more transportation cost per unit.

What is your anticipated number of hours labour per car by the time it goes to the crusher If you note, the staff at any junkyard seems to spend a lot of time jawing with the customer by the time they collect any of his money. YOU are paying for that time.

How many people need to eat off this plate? Just you and the family or will there be staff?

What does it cost to get rid of all the yucky stuff that comes with old car dismemberment?

What happens at the end of the game if you decide to sell the land? I would want an enviro assessment if I were a potential buyer.

Since all scrapyards are ultimately in the metal recycling business above all else, who will buy and crush the final carcass? At what price ( This price changes daily and can make the difference between profit and loss)

If you really WANT to do this, then I would suggest that you start organically. Buy a few cars and start parting them out. No need to register a company just yet, but learn how to set up the books for one and do entries. Pay attention to where the time and money really goes, be brutal at this accounting so you can understand where you make and lose $$$. Count your time on the phone with buyers and sellers, count your time with clients during their visit, your time on the computer, your time pulling cars apart, your time packing and shipping parts, your time picking up inventory, your time getting rid of the carcasses, your time doing the accounting, your time cleaning the shop and tools.

The only one make yard ive seen survive here is one thats all air cooled vw. The sandrail guys are his best customers and he pulls alot of small parts to sell online before allowing people to pull parts off them.

I think with the "Mustang eats crowd" meme thing you could make most of your money just by purchasing surplus mannequins and having a YouTube channel of your cars entering the yard through a crowd of them.

A few Corvette shops do a good job on the recycling, but as stated previous, they have a very strong online presence and offer new (overstock maybe) parts and used as well. They also have full warranties, ship clean good parts, and are as professional as you would expect someone charging a premium for premium parts to be. I bought a used trans from Corvette Recycling and it was a simple as could be, even seamless online ordering, let me ship to work via freight to save on handling, etc.

A smart person who knows what aftermarket parts and desirable parts are worth can make a premium on pulling and selling used aftermarket parts. Don't be a mush and pull gauges by cutting wiringbreak up sets of wheels or shocks, etc. Carefully pull everything, label, tag, make sure its pulled complete with all pertinent hardware.

I looked into buying a few wrecked Corvettes to part out, I don't know how the recycling yards make any money. A complete running and driving C5 is under $12k, a wrecked one is $4-7k, motor is worth 2k-2500, trans is worth maybe $1500, $500 for a desirable rear end to free for a 2.73 1 rib rear end, some interior stuff is worth a few hundo, body panels a few hundo each unless they are super rare. Seemed like a whole lot of dicking around to make $500. Unless you got a car with a ton of nice aftermarket stuff on it, good luck.

The only place I've seen it work if in Sun Valley, CA and very specific online assisted sales type places. Sun Valley has so many junk yards it is like a dealership row with probably hundreds of junkyards in one place.

I like the mustang mowing down crowds of mannequins YouTube idea, but I think it would be a little short lived unless you could really keep some fresh ideas rolling through.

There are both Saturn and vw exclusive yards near me. The vw lot sells online and seems to do much better, but starr Saturn has managed to survive a while.I I think it really comes down to your specific niche and area.

With parts bin engineering being what it is, I doubt I'd limit myself to a model instead of just a make. Even if my 'primary' target was owners of a single make.

NoHome reminds us all of all the points that were brought up a couple weeks ago in a similar thread.

It seems to me that the only way to turn a real profit with a junkyard is for it to be a front for illicit activities and you need a way to launder money. Of course for that it seems ideal!!

The way I see it, you'll either have to be in a massive urban area or make it an online store. Brand-specific yards do fine in places like L.A. but they fail even in seemingly large markets like Atlanta, Austin, and Chicago. It takes a very large population (and a significant proportion of DIY car folk) to make it work. Even in L.A. (a huge car enthusiast area) I have seen some specialty lots go under.

The brand makes a big difference. A Dodge or Ford truck yard might turn a buck in Nashville, but not Portland. Vice versa, a Prius yard might make a go of it in Portland but not Nashville.

Only way I see of making it work is to make it a owner-pull yard and be willing to ship everything. Then sharpen up your marketing skills to get the word out to a national audience.

Also keep in mind that an owner-pull yard with minimal staff is a relatively expensive insurance bill. A U-pull yard (even with signed waivers) the insurance is ridiculous. People sue right past the waiver and often win, proving negligence. Plus you'll have a much higher level of shrink; idiots cutting radiator supports for a radiator, pulling an intake and leaving the ports open to rust, pulling an oil pan and letting the crank exposed, leaving doors open to destroy interiors, taking a tranny dipstick and leaving the hole open to the elements. You'll need a staff who just goes around and checks every car every day or realize that you'll have tons of dashboards, transmissions, engines, and electronics become worthless liabilities.

Step 1- buy tow truck

Step 2- hang out near Mustang week, cars and coffee, and amateur car shows

Step 3 - profit

*Could also supplement by buying ambulance and hanging out at the same spots

Any place where the clients pull the parts needs to make bank on the scrap metal weight first, and gravy on whatever parts get bought. Curtis nailed this when he mentions the collateral damage that people create when they pull a part. Not to mention that a lot of people are just born shiny happy people and are gonna wreck and steal stuff.

Where are you located? When I lived in the rust belt so much of my time was used up because every bolt had to be loosened up with the flame wrench and the even bigger flame hammer.

Maybe expand it to be all the other cars that share parts, like all Fox Body cars, Cougars, get in with companys like Maximum Motorsports, Start a parts swapping message board.

I know a guy who did this: http://mikesmiataparts.com/

I visited him early on when he just acquired his first couple of parts vehicles. He just spent his time buying wrecked, flooded, salvaged, whatever Miatas and taking them apart. Obviously he made enough money to build a website and continue doing it. At the time when I was visiting him I think he had entered early retirement, but I'm honestly not quite sure.

Honestly, while Mustangs would be more fun I think I would give GM 3800-equipped sedans a better chance of specialization that would survive. Pick them up for pennies, and every third one can get put back on the road and sold as a running car. Ten $600 cars to buy, three $2000 cars sold, and what you got for parts only has to cover intake manifold gaskets and your time.

The Saturn and VW specific ones probably work the same way. Unfortunately for Mustangs, they are all going to have similar crowd damage, so you can't take parts from one to fix the others.

I like the idea of a brand/ model specific yard but not a U-Pull. Miata, Fiero and the like and especially Mustang oughta do okay. Internet sales FTW.

I think figuring out and getting cheaper shipping rates via a UPS/Fed-Ex account, or mastering something like U-Ship as a way of getting parts to customers across the USA would be a selling point.

There has often been parts that I've wanted that were only a state away, and paying an extra $150 for shipping wouldn't bother me, but its figuring out the logistics of those types of shipments that is difficult, especially if a seller doesn't want to put it on a pallet and drop it off.

In reply to fasted58:

I was also leaning towards Miatas as well.