Automotive Wrecking Yards to dwindle...

...as Ebay changes History.

[pendanticist]

Sometime back, there was a thread entitled: I Know I've Been Using My Computer Too Much When... [webmasterworld.com] that listed different aspects of life that the computor has replaced.

This is not quite the same thing.

Flipping thru the TV channels Sunday, I stopped on a motorsports type show (Speed Channel) which was discussing Electronic measures used in today's automotive transmissions and how to upgrade older vehicles with the newer, more efficent adaptations.

The story itself was dealing with such things as replacing the tailstock, electronic shift connections/module and which beefier valve body assembly is the best from this particular manufacturer they were working with.

One of the items needing replacement is the stock floor shifter since the original equipement would no longer work properly.

I watched the host make a (very similar) statement:

"Now, since the old shifter assembly will not fit the transmission adaptations, you'll need to pick up a shifter for a (not sure and not germaine) '71 Ford Pinto. You can pick these up on Ebay really cheap. I think I paid like Six bucks for this one".

Well, either Ebay has greater possibilites for exponential growth that I ever imagined, or I witnessed the beginning of the end of Automotive Wrecking Yards.

[hannamyluv]

When I need a part for my car, I always hit eBayfirst. It's saved my tail more than once. A part that the mechanic quotes me at $250, I can usually pick up very cheap (like $30) used but in good shape on eBay.

Smart junk yards aren't dwindeling, they are selling on eBay. It's why you can pick up parts cheap. Where before they had to wait for months for a local person to contact them about a part they may or may not have, they can now advertise to the world exactly what their inventory is. It means they can get rid of more faster which translates to cheaper b/c they need to make $X amount a month not sell X number of parts a month.

[HughMungus]

Yeah, it is pretty interesting to watch. What's really interesting is how it affects industries that are far removed from the internet. But if I'm running wrecking yard and I have parts for sale and people are willing to pay the shipping, why not put them online? Talk about convenience (compared to the old method of getting parts).

[pendanticist]

I fully understood this Ebay concept being applied to a miriad of items. The surprise came as a result of seeing someone within the Automotive Industry speaking to Ebay's new place within that history.

In Human Developement terms, this has been a Non-Normative, Age-Graded, Historical Event for me. ;)

[hannamyluv]

Just an interesting sidenote to this conversation...

I have a friend in CA who drives a Saturn. A few weeks ago, she was rear-ended. The insurance company totaled her $8000 car. Since it was still drivable, she bought back the salvage title. Last week she bought all the parts she needed to fix the car for $350 (incl shipping) from a junk yard in MA. Couldn't find anything locally for less than a $1000.

Ain't the internet grand...

[pendanticist]

Boy! Do I hear you on those cosmetic plastic parts prices. Someone I know got this little scratch (about 3/16" deep) into the left-side rear plastic bumper at the edge where it joins the body panel and a few other very, very minor scratches on her '02 Saturn.

Insurance: $1,187.00.

Fill small gouge, feather in the top coat of paint and buff, including a new 10" orbital buffer (I really needed one anyway), all the polishes and liquids paint/hardeners I'd need plus a dozen or so pads.

$122.00.

Time to do the above (and nearly undetectable I might add)?

Less than 15 hours to make the repairs, detail the inside (while I was at it) and I put a coat of dat der good, uhmmm Daddies Carnuba Wax on it before I returned the car.