What Makes It Profitable?

Auto recyclers looking to expand profit-levels often consider adding self-service options to their full-service business model. There are ways to be successful when in the right mind-set. By Caryn Smith

A But does it?

Many full-service auto recyclers are left only to wonder how do they combine the two? While some have achieved a good amount of success having both business models, they will admit it was through a lot of trial and error. First, and foremost, you must know your marketplace and demographics to your specific location. Without support from a viable retail/walk-in community, it will be a wasted effort. And you must have the business founda- tion laid and be ready to run a second location; this is not just an add-on option to your primary facility. “One of the biggest mistakes I have seen through the

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utomotive recyclers are always looking for ways to improve and diversify. With ideas as logical as selling cores, adding scrap metal crushing operations, broad- ening the kinds of parts sold – aftermarket and recy- cled, and participation in

buying groups, one idea that would make the most sense is adding self-service auto recycling to the full-service model.

years, all too often, is when a full-service recycling oper- ation feels they can take leftover inventory and put it in a separate section and let people ‘pick them off,’” says Herb Lieberman, recently retired as LKQ’s intra- and inter-industry liaison, and an auto recycler who wit- nessed 62-years of industry evolution. “It works to a small degree, but not as well if one purposely stocks for a self-service operation. It is two different customers, two different types of operations, for two different year/model vehicles, with two very different geographic needs,” says Lieberman. “In the current landscape of shrinking margins, many auto recyclers are looking to diversify, and that is a good thing, but mixing full-service and self-service, in my opinion, may not be the best idea for everyone.” Ultimately, it is important to do your own research.

Entrée into Self-Service Located in western New York, Wilbert’s U-Pull It of

Williamson opened in 2013, and Wilbert’s U-Pull It of Bath opened in 2018, both as a part of the Wilbert’s Inc. family-owned operations, founded in 1952 by the late Arthur Wilbert. Wilbert’s Inc. is a third-generation, full-service facility in Webster, NY in Monroe County,

Automotive Recycling

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