Salvage yard business???

[teeitup]

Well I'm thinking about getting into the Salvage yard business. I might have my driving range business sold and looking into something I LOVE to do. I'm trying to buy a yard now. Does anyone know how hard it is to do this. I mean with the local, state, and EPA LAWS. I would love to buy one established but I might try to start a new one. What I'm getting at is, it might be more of a pain to do than its worth. Thanks for your time!!

[71402BB]

Cool sounds like a great idea! What are your plans? do you plan on doin late models antuqes? just curious as to what your plans are....

[teeitup]

It depends on if I get a yard bought. If I start a new one I going to deal in trucks mostly older hopefully.

[1-PU70]

Pickup Truck Parts is for sale in Florida. Its in Ellenton or Palmetto. Good luck. Gary

[gmcnorton]

PICK UP A COPY OF LOCATOR MAG...THERE ARE ALWAYS YARDS FOR SALE INT THERE..AS FAR A BUYING TRY TO BUY AN ESTABLISHED YARD...NEW YARD HAVE ALL NEW EPA REGULATION THAT SOMETINES YOU CAN AVOID JUST MY TWO CENTS

[Fred T]

I've been told that here in Sedgwick county new salvage licenses are not being issued. Don't know if that's county or state law. I would be looking to buy an existing yard.

[ChopTop]

Yards are kinda touchy. If you do buy a yard, more than likely if it is resonably priced it will need serious upgrades. Certain precautions have to be made to keep out of trouble. Things like, gas tanks, all oil - tranny-engine-differential, needs to be removed as well as any coolant, and all freon needs to be removed as well before they go in the yard. The places where you remove these items will need to be clean, have good drains and catch-alls so as not to leak into the environment. You will also have to make sure all run-off is clean during rains, and no contaminants enter local watersupplies, ie-streams, ditches, lakes, or ground water. Contrary to popular belief, all that oil will follow that water straight down throught the dirt. There is an awful lot of Concrete and filter systems involved in a modern self service yard. If you make it to where no-one gets blown up or crushed, and your yard is clean the EPA will be pleased. No doubt there is an awful lot of money to be made in the used parts business.

[bobs409]

Also check on how much insurance will be. A guy that owns a yard near me said it's getting expensive! I think he said he pays $8,000 a year and that's just him! If you plan on having helpers, it would be more.

I'd check everything out thoroughly before commiting. With the tree huggers out there, it could be tough. Who knows what will happen in the future too.

Good luck-I hope all works out.

[C10 - C90 Bill]

Kind of like what ChopTop said, Buying an established yard may be buying established trouble. My suggestion would be to start your own new place from scratch IF, (1) Your local town or county will allow it, (2) Can you get the land cheap enough, (3) Are there still enough old truck pickings in the area, (4) If it's mainly a stop by businesss would your location be reasonably accessible to your customers. If you are able to start one, keeping your yard extremely clean should keep the EPA away. And unless you have lots of money, keep your overhead low. If you ship out parts, set up an effecient packing system and give out accurate part desciptions or pictures to your customers. If done right and with reasonable luck, you can have a profitable business.

[umrebelsfan]

You'll never find financing except owner financing. You should have an environmental audit done on the yard by an engineer. Call a lawyer in to limit liability, etc. etc. etc.

Just don't do it. I'd venture to say owning a known wh*rehouse would be easier and would attract less regulation.

But if you do decide to ignore my advice, don't cheap out on professional help. EPA superfund liability is forever, if you are in the chain of title, whether you created the problem or not, you will be liable.

Of course this assumes you are trying to do a little mom and pop operation, which IMHO cannot be done profitably and reasonably. If you are talking about a large scale dismantler and have the funds and apptitude for such a business, I think it could be very lucrative because higher regs mean less competition.

There are a multitude of reasons the traditional scrap yards are dieing out. Most deal with bottom line issues, environmental problems are forever, most folks don't have the DIY apptitude modern cars take to fix, insurance is a b*tch, cities hate you (read your local ordinances sometimes), in short it is a headache intensive occupation.

Let this be your guide, call two bankers you know. Tell them you want to buy a piece of real estate and put 25% down. Ask them if they would be interested. Then tell them you will use it for a salvage yard. Wait for the dial tone.

[Huck]

My uncle owned a wrecking yard for 40 years --but before the EPA was created. In those days there were only a few manufacturers and a few models. Scrap metal was high as was the demand. Now, you really got to do some homework. My local scrap yard has over 3,000 vehicles. He pays a max of $100. for things like BMW's. He can make a lot of money but and this is a big BUTTTTT---the liability and EPA stuff is critical. the scrap value of steel is less then $12. a ton and current cars do not have a lot of steel like 20-30 years ago. How many manufacturers of cars and trucks are out there and how many models are there. You got to be computerized like crazy with very knowledgeable people to pull the right parts (avoiding things like air bags going off). If you think that focusing on just old trucks is the way to go cause it's fun, you have a very limited source and market. How many turcks can you find an buy for parting out TODAY~~~?? I Have another friend who specialized in just GM trucks---specialization is a good approach ---trucks, GM, foreign, Jap, German, etc. But you probably need to be in a major population area to get enough vehicles from insurance companies and auctions to build your base. Probably the best thing to do would be to work for a scrap yard for a while to get a feel for it. I have found that whenever I took a fun hobby and turned it into a business, it was never a fun hobby again and I wound up not liking the business~~~. Just my .02---shoot a note to GORDO, he used to work in a yard and forgets more then I lean. Best of luck with whatever you decide~~~~Huck

[Longhorn Man]

This is something I almost did while I was in Tx. You need to go above and beyond what the EPA requires. I know in Tx, the only things required to be removed, is the battery, coolant, and freon. If you do it like that, your asking for trouble when some one yanks out the tranny.
I would not start off with a specialty yard myself. The Citations and escorts are still coming in, and they are prime crush weight. Here it is going for 25 a ton, 45 a ton for rotors. If you star off with a small market, you will have a hard time getting up and going.
I have come up with some very good ideas on running a yard, and since I am never going to do it, I can pass them on to you. I always thought an entry fee sucks. I refuse to enter such a yard, as do many of you. That would turn away quite a bit of local buisness. However, if you advertise that you have $30 thursdays, people will come. As for $30 thursdays, you pay $30 to enter the yard, and what ever you can carry out (excludes short blocka and larger, and also trannys) would be had for the yard entry fee. More likely than not, people will enter the yard and just come out with $20 to $30 worth of stuff, but what this will do, is increase traffic, which will increase revinue, and also speed up the strippng of that Capriece out there that you have wanted to crush for so long. That in turn will create more room, and create a decent turn over rate with out crushing valuable parts.
Also, if you plan on doing any mechaical repairs, you could try do work out some kind of agreement to where you do $X of work pro-bono for a cement mixing company, but in return, they will dump all there exess concreate in your yard. Free (sorta) pavement!

[bouncytruck]

My parents have an Auto Parts Store for sale in Oregon. It is an independent store (API out of Portland is the distributor). It is a lot cleaner than the salvage yard business and you still get to play with cars all day. Over half of the building is my dad's personal shop where he is building his channeled '35 dodge.

[teeitup]

THANKS Everyone! My deal fell through on the Driving Range but I'm still thinking about the salvage yard business.