Shortly after getting my driver’s license and buying my first car, my parents bought me a fairly complete toolkit. “If you’re going to have the responsibility of a car you’ll need to either pay for repairs or learn how to do them,” my father exclaimed. I quickly bought the repair manual specific to my car and was under the hood every weekend.
Years ago most junkyards would allow customers into the lots for the purpose of removing their own parts. I spent many Saturday afternoons with wrenches in hand pulling parts from scrap cars. During those years I learned a ton about how cars work and since then have become pretty good at diagnosing issues.
Two weeks ago I noticed a loud rapping noise coming from my transmission. Knowing there was an inherent problem with the transmission in my particular model it wasn’t a surprise. I called a few mechanics prior to making the decision to purchase a low mileage, used transmission.
A mechanic friend of mine introduced me to a website called car-part.com that indexes used parts based on mileage, distance, and price. I went on the free site, punched in my car information, zip code, and most importantly the part I was seeking and pulled up a ton of junkyards.
My goal was a transmission with as few miles as possible so I sorted by odometer reading. The lowest mileage I could find in a reasonable distance was in Winchendon. A phone call later and I was told another yard in their network had the part with less miles for more money. The transmission shipped from New York the next day.
Attached to the transmission was all the information about the vehicle including its VIN number. My mechanic decided to verify the mileage so he logged into Carfax and typed in the VIN. Within seconds he had a fairly complete history of the vehicle including the odometer reading when it was totaled. Unfortunately, the reading was 30,000 miles more than the parts place stated.
During the phone call to the used parts place, I could hear their representative typing away. He was chatting with the junkyard where the part originated and looking up the information on Carfax. “You’re correct,” he told me, “we’re sorry for the mistake.” To make up for their mistake I was offered some cash back and an extended warranty.
Every step of the process was handled by computers with every car itemized and inventoried. This was a huge improvement since the last time I scurried to hunt down parts. I was amazed by the detail I was able to be given about the vehicle and what parts were left from that specific vehicle.
Back when I was given my first toolkit, lots didn’t inventory parts. Instead, there might be a section with a half dozen models which the customer could pick from. Finding the part meant digging through all the cars and possibly lucking out and finding a working part.
More than the good feeling of not hearing my transmission grind as I drive, I love the idea used parts places are utilizing computers. With the transmission finally installed, all I can think about is the massive database and powerful computer systems in use by used car networks. The simple fact that dealerships can not only query their own inventory, but can also look up the same information about others in a different state is impressive enough. Now that my car’s out of the way it’s time to impress a young lady with my power window repair skills.
(Jeromy Patriquin is the President of Laptop & Computer Repair, Inc. located at 509 Main St. in Gardner. You can call him at (978) 919-8059 or visit www.LocalComputerWiz.com.)