Pat yourself on the back and know that by you junking your car you are in actual fact earning yourself some well earned cash and at the same time helping the environment.
Inquire as to whether or not the mechanic or garage specializes in a certain type of car repair. You may find a garage specializes in brakes, transmissions, a/c, or diesel repairs. Some shops will specialize in a particular type of vehicle. While these shops will work on other systems or vehicles, you may not get the most efficient job done if your needs do not fall within their specialization. Make sure your vehicle falls within the expertise of the shop you choose.
Believe it or not there are a lot of motor home boat rental and charter in the United States and they make great places to get parts. Some recreational vehicle junkyards have motor homes that are over 30 years old and that means you can find nearly any part you need. The junkyards are well known to those RV repair shops, which will use them to get parts when they cannot find a part in the catalog they need to repair someone’s motor home or recreational vehicle.
There are two huge advantages to getting your parts from your local auto wrecking yard. First and foremost in these recessionary days is the cost, purchasing here will reduce your outlay significantly. Used parts from the auto salvage yard are even cheaper than spurious parts. So there are some good savings to be made.
As for the price of auto parts, aside from the age of the vehicle there is the make and model. In this case foreign car parts are much more expensive than domestically made cars. Most people who buy foreign cars don’t realize this or even think about it until it comes time to get their vehicle repaired. Then they get hit with the bill and their eyes pop out of their head. For example, an oil filer for a 2005 Buick Century is about $2.98. The same oil filter for a Honda CRV is $3.98. It’s basically the same filter for the Honda but it costs $1.00 more. That comes out to a 33% markup on a relatively cheap part. Imagine that same 33% markup on a part that costs $60 for the Buick. You’d be paying about $80 for the same part for the Honda.
You will have to order from a few of these sites to see whether or not you like the customer service. Keep in mind that it is good to deal with a solid customer service center that uses real people instead of automated calling robot answering machines and touch tone phone options. This is a growing concern of mine and I suggest that you pay close attention. I had to deal with companies that had horrible customer service.