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| - Great prices, assuming (1) You have the time to dismantle a wrecked or dead car and (2) You know exactly what you are getting into
I got into a major fender bender a few weeks ago. Not wanting to deal with overpriced shipping costs for new parts from the internet (hint: Online stores almost double the amount of money you are paying!), one of my friends told me about this place which I never heard of.
On my first day and one and a half hour trying to locate a dead 2001 Corolla to salvage for parts, I pulled out a used hood latch that I needed from a 1996 Camry. I already knew off the top of my head that it is going to fit, basing it on the diagrams I googled for a new one online.
I thought it was difficult to locate the cars though. After 45 minutes of walking around the Toyota Section, whatever '01 Corolla that remained must have been picked clean. There was no paint markers on the dirt, or signs sticking out that would label the correct lane that the Corolla was supposed to be sitting in. Also I noticed some car hoods were held up solely by the dismantled valve covers left behind from other customers who went through it.
I also found it interesting to examine how many different ways a car can end up inoperable. There was this one particular dead Toyota that looked like (from the smashed windshield) it ran someone over. Something heavy mashed the right part of the windshield and bounced off in some sort of accident. If anyone wanted to start off as a automotive technician, they should be a regular (paying customer) of Pic-A-Part. They only charged me a $1 "cover" to walk through the gates.
Since it took me two hours to get through multiple traffic jams today, I plan on returning soon to look for a compatible hood, radiator support, left headlight assembly, and left turn signal lamp, since I only paid $11 dollars plus tax for a fully functional hood latch. That is already one steal of a deal! Online stores attempted to charge me as much as $29 before shipping and tax.
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