One important thing to remember is that just because you are in a salvage store, everything is not automatically cheaper. I have found paper products, cleaning supplies and some frozen foods to be cheaper at my local Walmart.
If a particular junkyard does not happen to have the part you are looking for that day, they can make a search through a computer network especially for nearest salvage yard and locate that part in seconds.
Look out for the parts that need repairs and determine whether they are critical to the operation of the car or whether they are urgent. Critical repairs mean that you will not be able to use the vehicle if those repairs have not been done. Urgent ones mean you must have the money with you.
Are you trying to find one of those hard to find parts? There Internet is the place to be when looking for these kind of parts. All of the different parts stores have the web sites that give you the ability to be buying auto parts online. There are also a few that are an auto parts warehouse online and can sell parts at discounted prices compared to the normal stores. These kind of places are more likely to have a part you need. If the part your looking for is not in any sort of reproduction, OEM or aftermarket, then you can still by used. There are people selling many parts all of the time like eBay motors. This portion of the famous auction site is like an online swap meet where you can find almost anything that you can bolt to car. So if you can find it at the online stores try eBay Motors.
When it comes down to finding parts for specialty vehicles or luxury vehicles it can be a lot trickier. Quite often, the auto stores won't stock a particular part and they have to order it from the manufacturer. There are websites that specialize in these types of venues.
Every state and town has at least a salvage yard where useful parts of dilapidated vehicles are salvage for re-use. Most of the parts would be non-functional. But even the most dilapidated vehicles have a usable part either on the inside or on the outside.
Let us start with ease of obtaining. Obviously newer car parts will be easier to get than older ones. A friend of mine still has a 1975 Pontiac Lemans. To obtain parts for this car he has to literally go to junk yards and even online. No new car dealers keep parts beyond 10 years or so and even auto parts stores limit their inventory to cars under 20 years. A 30 year old vehicle is almost impossible to find parts for. Plus, if you can find the part, depending on where you get it, the cost could be anywhere from 20 to 100% over the original part cost. To say that late model car owners are taken advantage of would be a gross understatement.
Matter of fact, you are thinking of how to get rid of it. This is where a junk car service steps in. auto junk yards near me come buy your junk vehicle for an appropriate price, tow it to a junk yard, dismantle it, sell off useful spare parts and recycle the scrap metal. This scrap metal is then sold to construction companies, metal fabricators etc.