Wrecking yard
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A wrecking yard, auto salvage yard or breakers yard, (sometimes also known as a junkyard), is the location of an auto dismantling business where wrecked or decommissioned vehicles (most commonly automobiles, but junkyards for motorcycles, bicycles, small planes and boats exist too) 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.
In the United Kingdom car salvage yards are known as car breakers, while motorcycle salvage yards are known as bike breakers.
Many salvage yards operate on a local level — when an automobile is severely damaged, is malfunctioning beyond repair, or not worth the repair, the owner may sell it to a junkyard. The salvage yard will usually tow the vehicle from its location to the yard. At the salvage yard the automobiles are typically arranged in rows, often stacked on top of one another. Inventories are kept in the office, as to the usable parts in each car, as well as the car's location in the yard. Most yards have computerized inventory systems.
In recent years it has become more common for people to use satellite part finder services to contact multiple salvage yards from a single source. In the early days these were call centres that charge a premium rate for calls and compiled a facsimile that was sent to the various salvage yards so they could respond directly if the part was in stock. Many of these are now web based with the requests for parts being e-mailed instantly.
Often parts for which there is high demand are removed from cars and brought to the salvage yard's warehouse. Then when a customer asks for a specific part, he can get it immediately, without having to wait for the salvage yard employees to remove that part. Some salvage yards will however make you remove the part yourself. However, it is more common for a customer to call in and inquire whether the specific item he needs is available. If the yard has the requested item the customer is usually asked to leave a deposit, and to come to pick up the part at a later time. The part is typically installed by the customer or his agent ("his mechanic"), however some salvage yards also provide installation services. Other salvage yards allow customers to remove parts themselves, often at a substantially reduced price compared to having the junkyard's staff remove it. This style of yard is often referred to as a "You Pull It" yard.
The parts typically dismantled from automobiles are any small and easily removable items, such as the light cages (commonly known as just "lights", e.g. headlights, blinkers, taillights), seats, parts of the exhaust system, mirrors etc. However, in many instances major parts such as the engine and transmission are removed and sold, usually to auto parts companies who will rebuild that part and resell it. Other, usually very large, junkyards will rebuild and sell such parts themselves. Some salvage yards will keep older cars in good body condition and sell them to amateur car builders and collectors, who will restore ("rebuild") the car for their own entertainment. These cars are known as "rebuilders."
Once vehicles in a wrecking yard have no 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 or flattener, with final disposal occurring within a hammer mill which literally smashes the vehicle remains into fist sized chunks.
[edit] Stolen cars
Criminals sometimes take stolen cars to a yard to be taken apart. These operations are known as chop shops. The car's parts are sold as their origin may not be obvious at the point of sale. The value of the parts can be greater than the value of the car itself. This is even more prolific with motorcycles due to the high cost of replacement parts.
