No more pick-your-part?

I was watching Top Gear the other day. They had a little entertainment contest where the three guys went off and  bought a car each. They could only spend 100 pounds. It had to be a running car with all tax (registration) and inspection up to date. the two are linked apparently in England. sounds like fun.

One guy got an old Audi. Another got a Vectra something or other (not sold in the U.S.). The last got an old Volvo station wagon (estate car). They ran all three for a road trip for mileage. They ran around the track. They counted all the electronics that didn't work. Then, they crashed them in to a wall and the drivers couldn't suffer any broken bones. The Volvo driver broke his thumb and lost the points. The one who ended up with the most points won.

The Volvo guy was at zero points going in to the tally. The last challenge was you get a point for every pound you spent under 100. The Vectra had 75 points at the end I believe. The Audi had 85 or so points when all was said and done. The Volvo guy, that had 0 points, only spent one pound on his car. That one fact won him the contest. He smiled from ear to ear.

The reason he was able to get the car for a single pound from a dealer was due to the recycling effort in England. Old cars have to be disassembled and disposed of with as little waist as possible. It costs a dealer 150 pounds or so to do this. If you walk on a lot and say "I'll give you a quid for that." you might just drive off the lot in a heap that will last to the end of the block.

This all made me think about the pick-your-part places. There must be zero market for used parts still on the car. I bet they can say they are recycling if the parts are logged and set on a shelf somewhere. Just piling the cars up and telling people to watch their step as they dig through the twisted metal. Keeping inventory of used parts costs money. The pick-your-part places just comb the yard periodically and shift the useless hulks to the scrapyard next door. One down side to recycling.