U pull ripoff
I dont think that is true
I seem to remember LKQ being around and buying out local junkyards long before that America hating muzzie came along in 2016
If I'm not mistaken, their MO is to buy old cars and strip the "valuable" parts off of it and toss it in thier warehouse to sell to bodyshops as "like kind and quality"
Then they leave the bones out in the yard for us hobbyists to pick over
A couple of thoughts:
As usual the chosen few continue to make everything about politics but no surprises there
The price of salvaged car parts is directly related to the price of steel, the availability of certain parts and the overhead of running a yard
Every removable part represents a return on the investment of a salvage yards, so decades ago if I needed a heater core and pulled out the heater box, id probably pay nothing or next to nothing for that box, not so today
Ive been in yards that if you could pull the oil from junked cars thats in the ground, you could heat a home for the next fifty years, today EPA regulations are more stringent
As a example a yard I work in has heavy dump trucks/ trailers, the EPA made the property owner put a type of drainage system all around the yard to prevent runoff from the dump bodies from polluting near by wetlands
Finally a cover charge to get into a pick and pull seems to be excessive, maybe the owner is trying to discourage the weekend window shopper who just wants to stroll about the yard, I have no other idea
When pulled my own parts from a yard, I located the part, went into the office, told the guy I found what I needed, were it was and asked how much...Dam if I was going to pull some part and walk into the office part in hand and ask how much, thats a invite to paying to much