3 ms·

I don't get why the article is treating this as an exciting new business. It's as old as automobiles are -- every town has a junkyard or two that buys junked ca

by ng12 7y ago

I don't get why the article is treating this as an exciting new business. It's as old as automobiles are -- every town has a junkyard or two that buys junked cars for a pittance. If you've had the displeasure of trying to keep a 15 year old junker running on a limited budget you may have even gone to one of these yards to source some parts. What's the innovation here? He has an online platform? He may be really good at running his junkyards but the article does a terrible job accounting for his success.

rb808 7y ago
Just as old as breaking down stolen cars too.
jjeaff 7y ago
Individuals are not using copart to find parts in any significant number. Copart is the defacto standard for most every mechanics shop and body shop in the country. When a car is being repaired, they can generally lookup available parts and prices using whatever software they use for generating quotes. They can choose from new oem parts, aftermarket parts, or salvage parts. The salvage parts will come from Copart's network. In other words, when you get you gender bender repaired, there is a good chance that you insurance company is requiring that the shop try to use salvage parts first.
- tmh88j 7y ago
  >When a car is being repaired, they can generally lookup available parts and prices using whatever software they use for generating quotes. They can choose from new oem parts, aftermarket parts, or salvage parts. The salvage parts will come from Copart's network. You can call any junkyard and do the same from my experiance. Copart's advantage is a large inventory.
  - jjeaff 7y ago
    If I'm not mistaken, many of those junkyards are part of Copart's network as well.
- jdeibele 7y ago
  "gender bender repaired" Auto-correct strikes again.
  - trepanne 7y ago
    I just assumed s/he was a Cockney.
tmh88j 7y ago
>I don't get why the article is treating this as an exciting new business.....What's the innovation here? He has an online platform? This would be a good question to ask someone who runs an automotive restoration/fabrication shop. From what I've seen they have a pretty great bidding system as far as online auctions go, but beyond that I'm just as uncertain as you.
WalterBright 7y ago
> trying to keep a 15 year old junker running on a limited budget My daily driver is 30 years old. My weekly driver is nearly 50 years old. 15 is a new car!
- mdorazio 7y ago
  It's awesome that you're able to maintain your cars well enough to keep them going that long, but obviously yours are not even close to a normal use case. 200k miles or 12-15 years is average [1] longevity. [1] https://www.aarp.org/auto/trends-lifestyle/info-2018/how-long-do-cars-last.html https://www.aarp.org/auto/trends-lifestyle/info-2018/how-lon...
  - WalterBright 7y ago
    > It's awesome that you're able to maintain your cars well enough to keep them going that long, I actually do very little. I'm pretty easy on my cars. A mechanic once told me he couldn't believe how little wear there was on the clutch for the miles. (I habitually approximate the right engine speed before letting the clutch out.) Also, most car mechanical failures come from neglecting lubricating things.
- ng12 7y ago
  I take it you don't live in New England! Most cars start struggling at 10 years.
- megablast 7y ago
  Wow, all that pollution, you must be so proud.
Lordarminius 7y ago
>every town has a junkyard or two that buys junked cars for a pittance.... This guy became a billionaire doing the same thing as other guys in 'every town'. I think that's the point
tmh88j 7y ago
>I don't get why the article is treating this as an exciting new business....What's the innovation here? He has an online platform? He may be really good at running his junkyards but the article does a terrible job accounting for his success. I already responded to you in this thread with my anecdotal thoughts, but curiosity got the better of me so I took a look at their wikipedia page. Granted I don't have another point of reference, but it seems that the founder of Copoart was ahead of the curve in his field and saw the benefits of investing in technology/internet presence early in the game. Ebay was only around for 3 years by the time he introduced online auctions. So, maybe not innovative in the grand scheme of things, but certainly for his industry. From wikipedia: Willis Johnson began developing Copart's information technology in the 1990s. The first main step in this process was the creation of the Copart Auction System (CAS) in 1997, which was designed to unify and support the growing business as well as allow Copart facilities and sellers to access information, generate reports, and increase operating efficiencies. The next step came in 1998 with Copart's introduction of internet bidding—a departure from the industry standard of local physical auctions. As Internet bidding grew in popularity, Copart developed its online auction platform, VB2, which it implemented in 2003. VB2 technology opened the sales process to registered buyers (members) and sellers worldwide. In fiscal year 2004 in North America and fiscal year 2008 in the U.K., Copart discontinued all live auctions and began remarketing vehicles through VB2. Copart now sells more than one million vehicles each year through VB2 technology. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copart https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copart
- ng12 7y ago
  This is what the article should have been elaborating on instead of discussing the fundamentals of the junkyard business.

by ng12 7y ago

rb808 7y ago

Just as old as breaking down stolen cars too.

jjeaff 7y ago

Individuals are not using copart to find parts in any significant number. Copart is the defacto standard for most every mechanics shop and body shop in the country. When a car is being repaired, they can generally lookup available parts and prices using whatever software they use for generating quotes. They can choose from new oem parts, aftermarket parts, or salvage parts. The salvage parts will come from Copart's network. In other words, when you get you gender bender repaired, there is a good chance that you insurance company is requiring that the shop try to use salvage parts first.

tmh88j 7y ago
>When a car is being repaired, they can generally lookup available parts and prices using whatever software they use for generating quotes. They can choose from new oem parts, aftermarket parts, or salvage parts. The salvage parts will come from Copart's network. You can call any junkyard and do the same from my experiance. Copart's advantage is a large inventory.
- jjeaff 7y ago
  If I'm not mistaken, many of those junkyards are part of Copart's network as well.
jdeibele 7y ago
"gender bender repaired" Auto-correct strikes again.
- trepanne 7y ago
  I just assumed s/he was a Cockney.

tmh88j 7y ago

>I don't get why the article is treating this as an exciting new business.....What's the innovation here? He has an online platform? This would be a good question to ask someone who runs an automotive restoration/fabrication shop. From what I've seen they have a pretty great bidding system as far as online auctions go, but beyond that I'm just as uncertain as you.

WalterBright 7y ago

> trying to keep a 15 year old junker running on a limited budget My daily driver is 30 years old. My weekly driver is nearly 50 years old. 15 is a new car!

mdorazio 7y ago
It's awesome that you're able to maintain your cars well enough to keep them going that long, but obviously yours are not even close to a normal use case. 200k miles or 12-15 years is average [1] longevity. [1] https://www.aarp.org/auto/trends-lifestyle/info-2018/how-long-do-cars-last.html https://www.aarp.org/auto/trends-lifestyle/info-2018/how-lon...
- WalterBright 7y ago
  > It's awesome that you're able to maintain your cars well enough to keep them going that long, I actually do very little. I'm pretty easy on my cars. A mechanic once told me he couldn't believe how little wear there was on the clutch for the miles. (I habitually approximate the right engine speed before letting the clutch out.) Also, most car mechanical failures come from neglecting lubricating things.
ng12 7y ago
I take it you don't live in New England! Most cars start struggling at 10 years.
megablast 7y ago
Wow, all that pollution, you must be so proud.

Lordarminius 7y ago

>every town has a junkyard or two that buys junked cars for a pittance.... This guy became a billionaire doing the same thing as other guys in 'every town'. I think that's the point

tmh88j 7y ago

>I don't get why the article is treating this as an exciting new business....What's the innovation here? He has an online platform? He may be really good at running his junkyards but the article does a terrible job accounting for his success. I already responded to you in this thread with my anecdotal thoughts, but curiosity got the better of me so I took a look at their wikipedia page. Granted I don't have another point of reference, but it seems that the founder of Copoart was ahead of the curve in his field and saw the benefits of investing in technology/internet presence early in the game. Ebay was only around for 3 years by the time he introduced online auctions. So, maybe not innovative in the grand scheme of things, but certainly for his industry. From wikipedia: Willis Johnson began developing Copart's information technology in the 1990s. The first main step in this process was the creation of the Copart Auction System (CAS) in 1997, which was designed to unify and support the growing business as well as allow Copart facilities and sellers to access information, generate reports, and increase operating efficiencies. The next step came in 1998 with Copart's introduction of internet bidding—a departure from the industry standard of local physical auctions. As Internet bidding grew in popularity, Copart developed its online auction platform, VB2, which it implemented in 2003. VB2 technology opened the sales process to registered buyers (members) and sellers worldwide. In fiscal year 2004 in North America and fiscal year 2008 in the U.K., Copart discontinued all live auctions and began remarketing vehicles through VB2. Copart now sells more than one million vehicles each year through VB2 technology. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copart https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copart

ng12 7y ago
This is what the article should have been elaborating on instead of discussing the fundamentals of the junkyard business.