Owning a car can be a pricey business. Of course, there are the daily outgoings like petrol and the yearly money drains of insurance, MOT and tax. But we're usually prepared for those. It's the occasional expenses that can knock you off your roost - the cost of breakdowns, repair and spare parts can really add up.
You can save money on spare and replacement car parts by using salvaged car parts. Salvaged car parts are a savvy way to repair your car with quality spare parts while protecting the environment.
Salvaged car parts are quality spare auto parts which have been reclaimed and recycled from cars, bikes and other vehicles that have been taken out of use. Some salvaged car parts come from cars which have been written off by the insurance industry or failed an MOT, and some are from members of the public who sell us their unwanted cars.
Yep! Of course, salvaged car parts can come from cars which have been taken off the road, so we can understand why you may be concerned that salvaged car parts might be unsafe, or damaged in some way. However, when a car is written off, it's usually only one or two components which fail or which are damaged in any way. Even when a car is in a crash, it's very common for most of the parts to remain safely intact and perfectly usable. When a car is recycled and broken for salvage parts at a trusted breakers yard - always choose one recognised by the Department for the Environment as an Authorised Treatment Centre - unwanted vehicles are safely dismantled by trained and highly skilled mechanics, who are experts at identifying and removing good condition components suitable for reuse as salvaged car parts. A reputable scrapyard will never sell you a salvaged car part which is unsafe or not fit for purpose - your safety and quality of salvaged car parts are of utmost importance.
The best place to get salvaged car parts is from an Authorised Treatment Centre - usually a breakers yard and scrap yard which is listed by the Department for the Environment as specialists in vehicle dismantling and recycling. ATCs can identify and source the perfect salvaged car parts for you quickly and easily, and you will be pleasantly surprised at how convenient their services can be. The salvaged car parts industry has had a makeover in recent years and the modern scrap yard is a sleek operation, more akin to a catalogue shop. Many Authorised Treatment Centres maintain computerised stock lists of all the salvaged car parts currently available, and can find them for you within minutes. There's certainly no need to clamber over piles of old cars to find the salvaged car part you need.
Plenty! Brand new replacement car parts can cost a small fortune, whether you are buying them through a car repair business that will fit them for you, or sourcing and fitting them yourself.
A used car part will probably set you back around half the price of a new part, and a salvaged car part will often last as long as the same part bought new. Over the course of a car's lifespan, using salvaged car parts can help you save a significant amount.
In fact, salvaged car parts are such good value that it's sometimes worth buying a few common parts before they break down and keeping them in stock, so that when the inevitable happens, your salvaged car part is ready and waiting to be fitted. For example, windscreen wipers are notorious for snapping - who hasn't had a windscreen wiper break in a frost? A salvaged car parts dealer can supply you with a salvaged windscreen wiper for just a few quid. They're easy to fit, so be prepared by picking up a couple of salvaged spare windscreen wipers.
Salvaged car parts help protect the environment in more ways than you might think! First and foremost, if you use a salvaged car part, you are using materials that have already been acquired from the earth and shaped into the part you need. Using a salvaged car part means there's now no need for the same amount of materials to be acquired to make a new spare part. And that's not all - making spare parts takes energy, fuel, and further materials. So when you use a salvaged car part, there's no need for a manufacturer to use that energy, fuel and further materials in the manufacturing process - so using a salvaged spare part saves the manufacturing resources of using a new spare part.
And it's not just about saving resources. Using salvaged car parts supports the recycling industry, and according to European directives, up to 80% of a car can - and should - be recycled. The more of a car we can recycling by reusing its components as salvaged car parts, the less waste we have to send to landfill sites, and that's great news for the environment.