Consider this a primer for people who don’t know much about vehicles. You know how it is, right? You’re standing around the water cooler at work, and somebody mentions that there is a great sale on body parts at the local salvage yard, and you don’t have a clue what they are talking about. Well, this article is for all of you.
Body parts are basically those parts that form the shell of your vehicle. They are not the engine and they are not the drivetrain; they are, in fact, not any of the moveable parts that help your vehicle go. Think in terms of building a house. The frame, the skeleton of your home, is sort of like the body frame of a vehicle.
A quick list of body parts will help you to better understand. Included in the nomenclature of body parts are the following: hood, bumper, cowl screen, decklid, fascia, fender, front fascia, grille, quarter panel, radiator core support, rocker panel, roof rack, spoiler, trim package, trunk valance, welded assembly and other smaller piece. Of course, we can’t forget the doors, and included in any discussion about the doors we have to include the outer door handle, the inner door handle, the door control module, the door seal, door watershield, hinge, door latch, door lock, power door locks and the fuel tank.
As you might suspect, body parts are fairly expensive. Why? Simply because they are made of metals, and metals are an expense that must be passed on to the buyer of body parts. Metals mean mining and mining means cost. It’s as simple as that. When you go to buy a new door for your Toyota, you can plan on spending a couple hundred bucks in the process. The same can be said for a new trunk for your Subaru, or a new door for your Mercedes-Benz. Expensive body parts plus expensive mechanic labor equals very expensive car repair.
Or…..
You can do what millions of smart-shoppers are doing nowadays and do your car shopping at a salvage yard like All Import Auto Parts. There you can find body parts at a fraction of the cost that you would pay for new aftermarket parts. Salvage parts come with a warranty and they are every bit as serviceable as new parts. You then install them yourself, which is a fairly easy process, and you save big bucks in the process, and who doesn’t want to save money?