Gold Location

Located between two main roads, the original Cocoa Auto Salvage main entrance was the current back of the property. “About 15 years ago, we purchased an adjoining piece of property which is now our main

business entrance,” says McMillon, expanding their footprint to about 40 acres of a highly organized and clean facility.

“The building on the property housed a medi- cal waste incinerator and was mostly burned to the ground when we acquired it. We restored it and creat- ed our sales offi ce. About 1,200 feet separates the back pad, where we store engines and transmissions, from the newer main building. In 2015, we moved disman- tling to the new main building, as well. We currently have four dismantle bays but generally only use three.” The expanded business location halfway between Jacksonville and Miami on Florida’s east coast is home to Cocoa’s two sister yards which reside on the same property – separate full-service and self-service opera- tions. “We had, since inception, been a hybrid yard allowing customers to pull their own parts from our

full-service, fully inventoried vehi- cles,” says McMillon. “We stopped allowing that in July 2015, but in April 2017 we divided the yard with fencing allowing for both a self-service and a full-service yard. This enables us to keep our inven-

tory more accurate and less damage occurs. There are not any other U-Pull-It yards in our area, with the closest in Daytona or Orlando, each about 45 min- utes away.”

Milestones Motivate Activism “Separating the full-service operation from the

U-Pull-It should have been done many years ago,” says McMillon. “It made me realize that being able to adapt as a business and industry is so important. Technology is changing quickly. We can’t stay inside our box and ignore what is going on around us lo- cally as well as worldwide – we are a global industry.” “Involvement with our state and national associa- tions has been paramount to our business sustainability and growth,” says McMillon. “I believe we have been a member of ARA and FADRA for at least 25 years.

AUTOMOTIVE RECYCLING • March-April 2018

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