Article By Justin Woodcock - 1-Oct-2009
The Used Car Parts industry has traditionally had somewhat of an image problem - the barbed wire fence, the junkyard dog, the crusher turning cars into blocks of metal that always seemed to appear in a certain type of 1980s US detective TV drama as a veiled threat to an unwitting victim. But the simple fact of the matter is that in some circumstances, a used car part can be more suitable for the purpose of getting your car back on the road than a new one.
For example, let's say I own a Volkswagen Beetle. I've had it for years, it does the school-run with the wife, the car practically knows the way to the school by itself. We take the Beetle on holiday too, but it has gone well past its' warranty, and it has 100,000 miles on the clock. I know / hope that I can get another 2 or 3 years of active service from the car, but the gearbox has blown up, making a glorious crunching / metal on metal noise and giving me a performance of 0 to, well, 0 in a very long time. At this point in your cars' life a quality used car part can make more economic sense than buying a new one.
By looking at a cross-section of UK used car parts suppliers, and lists of them are available from organizations such as the MVDA or BVSF, or in the USA from the Automotive Recyclers Association or state associations such as FADRA, I can see that there are companies who specialize in reconditioning engines and gearboxes, some companies have contracts with insurance companies to recycle often low mileage cars that have been involved in crashes and have been written off as economically un-repairable. In the event of an accidental bump or scrape, there are companies who specialize in body parts who can help too. Some deal specifically in certain brands, such as German cars like Audi, VW, or BMW, or Japanese / Asian cars, as often manufacturers will use parts from other manufacturers when building their cars.
Anyway, I digress - When I'm looking for my used gearbox, I'm looking for a part that has done, ideally, fewer miles than my car, and that comes from a car maybe a couple of years younger than my own. Obviously I'll let the recycler know the engine size of my vehicle, and whether it is a petrol or diesel car, as the more information the recycler has available, the quicker he can match a part to my requirements. If I can find one, I should probably get a part number, sometimes they are easily found, sometimes not. Ideally I will find a part that will last for the lifespan of my beloved Beetle, and not cost me more than the trade-in value of my vehicle.
Often, used car parts are between 50 and 75% cheaper than their new counterparts, so it can be argued that they provide a pragmatic and cheap solution to keeping your car on the road. As well as this, there is a CO2 saving to be made when choosing used / repaired parts over new or OEM parts, so in a small way you're making a carbon saving too.