We are all excited when a new shiny vehicle appears in our driveway, and many are interested in how cars and trucks are built and perform. It’s a different story when a vehicle is no longer roadworthy, and that old hulk is traded in, sold or hauled away. We really don’t care, as long as it disappears to somewhere, but we should: there were over twelve million new vehicles sold last year in North America. This is down from a record 17 million a few years earlier, but in the long run, these vehicles will serve their useful purpose and have to be disposed of. Unlike in the past, where old vehicles were left to sit and rust, today these vehicles still have value and that is where automobile recyclers come into play.
We used to call them wrecking yards or salvage yards. Now they are referred to as automotive recyclers, and that is an accurate description of what they do. When a vehicle enters their workplace, it is evaluated and major serviceable parts are removed from the vehicle for resale. It may be an engine, transmission or even body parts, depending on the demand of the marketplace for used parts. Think of this as the ultimate in green environmental consciousness: instead of using new materials and the cost of producing and shipping a new part, a good serviceable used part is put back on the road again.
After the good parts are used, the rest of the vehicle still has value. Bodies are crushed, shredded and sorted into different materials. Currently, over 75% of an automobile is easily recyclable, and in Europe and Japan, they are trying to regulate it so 95% can be recycled. Seventy per cent of a modern vehicle’s weight is made up of steel and cast iron, and more than 40 per cent of all new steel in North America comes from this recycled metal. Lighter metals such as aluminum, copper, zinc and magnesium make up a much smaller percentage of a vehicle’s total weight but are still a significant volume. It is much cheaper to recycle aluminum than it is to mine the ore and produce new aluminum. Not only is it environmentally sound, recycling it takes a lot less electrical energy.
Currently, about 24% of the vehicle ends up as automotive shredder residue (ASR), which includes materials such as plastics, adhesives, rubber, glass, dirt and foam. Current automotive direction is to include more plastics in vehicles to reduce weight and increase fuel economy, and auto manufacturers are helping the recycling process by marking plastic parts with the type of material they are made of so they can be sorted easier. Other parts, such as rubber, can be separated out and reused in a different form. For example, Ford is making engine gaskets out of shredded tires for several of its vehicles.
Other materials, such as glues, resins and foams may not be as easily recyclable but they can be used as fuel sources to help power recycling facilities and research is ongoing to determine how to best utilize these and other materials.
Looking at new vehicles, manufacturers are increasingly finding new ways of incorporating recycled materials into their vehicles. Bamboo, a quic- growing grass, is used by several as reinforcement in moulded underbody panels. This reduces the amount of petroleum needed to manufacture plastics. Recently, I saw how Ford’s new Focus Electric car will have seat material manufactured from recycled plastic water bottles. Not only was this a good use of a product often sent to the landfill, the seat material looked great and felt very luxurious. You would never guess it was derived from a plastic bottle!
Other Ford recycling initiatives include valve covers on the Fusion, Escape, Mustang and F150 made of 100 per cent recycled carpet. The Ecolon nylon resin made from the carpets results in a reduction of more than 430,000 gallons of oil used, not to mention the carpet that doesn’t go to the land fill. Another example is the 2012 Focus, which will have carpet and sound deadening material manufactured from used clothing.
These examples are from one manufacturer. The others are using recycled materials too, to both lower production costs and protect our environment. There is a social consciousness in the automotive industry, and recycling is one part of it.
By Jim Kerr
Autos.ca
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Lecavalier Vehicle Disassembly
Stop motion video demonstrating complete vehicle dismantling at Lecavalier Auto Parts.
Rick Mercer Report at Carcone's Auto Recycling
This isn't exactly how it happens every day - it is a comedy show after all - but it was fun to hang with Rick for the day.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Will the recession total your car?
The economy has dented your car's value, at least in the eyes of insurers. Here's why, despite fewer serious wrecks, more cars are being declared a total loss.
The roads are safer today than ever. For several reasons -- older drivers, better cars, graduated licensing for teens -- fatal accidents in the U.S. have been falling for years. In fact, the government reported this month that highway fatalities had fallen to their lowest level since 1949.
Yet we are totaling far more cars.
In 2000, about 9% of the cars appraised for repairs were judged totaled, says car insurance claims analyst CCC Information Services. In 2010, that number rose to 14%.
We're not having more wrecks. And we're not having worse wrecks.
We're having a recession.
How much is my used car worth?
"Totaled" to the average driver means a wreck with a "holy cow" amount of damage. But "totaled" to your car insurance company means simply that repairs to the car don't make financial sense. That decision hinges on the car's value, its age and the repair costs. The Great Recession has done a number on all three.
Why we're buying and insuring older cars
It all started with a recent, astronomical run-up in the price of used cars. In 2008, as the recession took hold, new-car sales plunged. Would-be buyers feared for their jobs and hung on to their old cars. Tighter credit meant many who wanted to take the plunge couldn't. And manufacturers could no longer raise the money needed to underwrite subsidized leases and rebates.
Here's what new-car sales looked like over the past five years, according to Automotive News:
16 million in 2007.
13 million in 2008.
10 million in 2009.
11.6 million in 2010.
12.2 million (estimated) this year.
The auto market is a complicated ecosystem. "About 60% of all new-vehicle sales result in a trade-in," says Susanna Gotsch, the director and industry analyst at CCC Information Services.
Since the sales meltdown, the pool of like-new used cars has shrunk. Prices for those cream puffs have risen, pushing some buyers toward models with a few more miles. Those older cars now are selling at a premium, with sticker shock rippling all the way down to clunkers that can be bought without credit.
Last year alone, the Bureau of Labor Statistics says, the price of used cars rose 12.7%.
Cars are older, smaller -- but not cheaper to repair
As people keep their old cars longer and feel less inclined to buy new ones, the average age of autos on the road has risen by more than two years, from 8.5 years old in 1995 to 10.7 years old today, says Gotsch.
The cars are smaller as well. With the sudden rise of fuel prices in 2008 (and Cash for Clunkers removing 700,000 gas guzzlers from the roads), smaller, lighter, more fuel-efficient vehicles gained market share. Today, the roads carry a growing proportion of small vehicles that suffer more extensive damage in a wreck.
The impact of a crash pushes destruction farther back through a small car, involving a larger proportion of the body, says insurance analyst Greg Horn of Mitchell International. "The bottom line is that the smaller the car, the more likely it is to be totaled," says Horn.
With roads full of older, more vulnerable cars that still use expensive-to-repair technology such as air bags, the tipping point at which a car is declared a total loss happens at lower and lower values, the experts say. If used cars weren't fetching such high prices, the problem would be even worse.
"We have seen it go from upwards of 12% with some (insurance) carriers to, say, upward of 20% of the vehicles have been totaled," says Gotsch.
The math behind your totaled car
To a stranger or an insurance company, your beloved, ultraclean 10-year-old car isn't worth much. You're probably wondering whether to keep collision and comprehensive coverage on your car insurance policy.
But say you did. Your 2002 Nissan Altima in "good" condition is worth about $3,500 in trade, according to Kelley Blue Book. And say you absent-mindedly connect with a parking-lot light pole, cracking the bumper and headlight and wrinkling the hood.
The average claim last year on cars older than seven years was $1,913, CCCIS says. Let's use that number as your damage claim. If you have rental-car reimbursement coverage, your adjuster will add an estimate for that to the total. Then he looks at what kind of salvage value the car has if sold to a parts yard.
If the total for repairs -- plus rental, any storage fees and salvage value -- is more than the pre-crash value of the car, he'll probably take title to the car and write you a check.
If the estimate of repairs exceeds your state's threshold, he'll write you a check. About half the states set a threshold, ranging from Iowa's 50% of actual cash value to Texas' 100%.
If the car simply won't be safe, he'll write you a check.
CCCIS says one in four wrecked vehicles more than 7 years old winds up a total loss.
from MSN Money
The roads are safer today than ever. For several reasons -- older drivers, better cars, graduated licensing for teens -- fatal accidents in the U.S. have been falling for years. In fact, the government reported this month that highway fatalities had fallen to their lowest level since 1949.
Yet we are totaling far more cars.
In 2000, about 9% of the cars appraised for repairs were judged totaled, says car insurance claims analyst CCC Information Services. In 2010, that number rose to 14%.
We're not having more wrecks. And we're not having worse wrecks.
We're having a recession.
How much is my used car worth?
"Totaled" to the average driver means a wreck with a "holy cow" amount of damage. But "totaled" to your car insurance company means simply that repairs to the car don't make financial sense. That decision hinges on the car's value, its age and the repair costs. The Great Recession has done a number on all three.
Why we're buying and insuring older cars
It all started with a recent, astronomical run-up in the price of used cars. In 2008, as the recession took hold, new-car sales plunged. Would-be buyers feared for their jobs and hung on to their old cars. Tighter credit meant many who wanted to take the plunge couldn't. And manufacturers could no longer raise the money needed to underwrite subsidized leases and rebates.
Here's what new-car sales looked like over the past five years, according to Automotive News:
16 million in 2007.
13 million in 2008.
10 million in 2009.
11.6 million in 2010.
12.2 million (estimated) this year.
The auto market is a complicated ecosystem. "About 60% of all new-vehicle sales result in a trade-in," says Susanna Gotsch, the director and industry analyst at CCC Information Services.
Since the sales meltdown, the pool of like-new used cars has shrunk. Prices for those cream puffs have risen, pushing some buyers toward models with a few more miles. Those older cars now are selling at a premium, with sticker shock rippling all the way down to clunkers that can be bought without credit.
Last year alone, the Bureau of Labor Statistics says, the price of used cars rose 12.7%.
Cars are older, smaller -- but not cheaper to repair
As people keep their old cars longer and feel less inclined to buy new ones, the average age of autos on the road has risen by more than two years, from 8.5 years old in 1995 to 10.7 years old today, says Gotsch.
The cars are smaller as well. With the sudden rise of fuel prices in 2008 (and Cash for Clunkers removing 700,000 gas guzzlers from the roads), smaller, lighter, more fuel-efficient vehicles gained market share. Today, the roads carry a growing proportion of small vehicles that suffer more extensive damage in a wreck.
The impact of a crash pushes destruction farther back through a small car, involving a larger proportion of the body, says insurance analyst Greg Horn of Mitchell International. "The bottom line is that the smaller the car, the more likely it is to be totaled," says Horn.
With roads full of older, more vulnerable cars that still use expensive-to-repair technology such as air bags, the tipping point at which a car is declared a total loss happens at lower and lower values, the experts say. If used cars weren't fetching such high prices, the problem would be even worse.
"We have seen it go from upwards of 12% with some (insurance) carriers to, say, upward of 20% of the vehicles have been totaled," says Gotsch.
The math behind your totaled car
To a stranger or an insurance company, your beloved, ultraclean 10-year-old car isn't worth much. You're probably wondering whether to keep collision and comprehensive coverage on your car insurance policy.
But say you did. Your 2002 Nissan Altima in "good" condition is worth about $3,500 in trade, according to Kelley Blue Book. And say you absent-mindedly connect with a parking-lot light pole, cracking the bumper and headlight and wrinkling the hood.
The average claim last year on cars older than seven years was $1,913, CCCIS says. Let's use that number as your damage claim. If you have rental-car reimbursement coverage, your adjuster will add an estimate for that to the total. Then he looks at what kind of salvage value the car has if sold to a parts yard.
If the total for repairs -- plus rental, any storage fees and salvage value -- is more than the pre-crash value of the car, he'll probably take title to the car and write you a check.
If the estimate of repairs exceeds your state's threshold, he'll write you a check. About half the states set a threshold, ranging from Iowa's 50% of actual cash value to Texas' 100%.
If the car simply won't be safe, he'll write you a check.
CCCIS says one in four wrecked vehicles more than 7 years old winds up a total loss.
from MSN Money
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Canadian study shows where old cars go in the afterlife
Neil Young once speculated on the fate of his beloved old 1948 Buick Roadmaster in the hippie-era auto elegy Long May You Run, suggesting hopefully: "Maybe the Beach Boys have got you now."
Turns out that may be true. But rather than "gettin' to the surf on time," a University of Windsor engineering professor says it's more likely the old hearse is keeping Brian Wilson's beer cold as part of his fridge.
Susan Sawyer-Beaulieu, a post-doctoral researcher in civil and environmental engineering, has spent eight years studying what happens to "end-of-life" vehicles when they are taken off the road and has determined most are stripped, shredded, sorted and resold as parts of other consumer products from appliances to lawn mowers.
"It mostly ends up in other products," she said. "Wherever steel is used in manufacturing some portion of that comes from end-of-life vehicles. Could be in appliances, construction material, could even end up in another car."
That, she said, is certainly the case when vehicles are harvested by scrap yards and auto recyclers and all the still useful components, like starters or steering columns, are stripped out, salvaged, refurbished and sold as replacement parts for other vehicles.
But Sawyer-Beaulieu's research is simply not to satisfy the curiosity of anyone who wondered, "whatever happened to old Betsy?" It has a more practical application too.
With funding provided in part from the Auto21 network and the Ontario Automotive Recyclers Association, Sawyer-Beaulieu has been compiling a meticulous assessment of what goes into an auto-dismantling facility, what gets recycled and reused and what gets shredded and ends up in a landfill.
Large automotive dismantlers can process as many as 17,000 vehicles a year. Every year 13 million vehicles reach their "end of life."
She has discovered that 80 per cent of the vehicle is recycled and reused in some way but 20 per cent still ends up in landfill. As much as 12 per cent of reusable parts are recovered even before the remaining hulks are shipped off to the shredder for metals recovery.
The goal, she said, is to find ways to recover even more of the leftovers and to cut back as much as possible on that 20 per cent still going to the landfill. Aside from the obvious environmental concerns, she said that eliminating waste also saves the industry money from tipping fees and guards them from that day when governments ban the dumping of automotive materials at landfills, as in Europe.
It is also her hope that auto jobs could be created if there is increased emphasis on recovering, reusing and recycling parts and materials. The research could be used to demonstrate there is a market for more of the materials used in automotive manufacturing and that salvaging and recycling it makes good business sense.
So what kinds of materials can be found in an end-of-life car? Steel, other ferrous and non-ferrous metals, foam, plastics, glass, residual oils and fluids, fabrics, rubber. Once those components have been separated, the remaining hulk is send to a shredder and chopped into fist-sized pieces.
"In Europe it's legislated how much must be recovered," said Sawyer-Beaulieu. "In Canada it's still a market-driven system. The industry doesn't want to be legislated because it could affect the way they do business. My research is to see how they can recover more to prevent that from being sent to landfills."
She gave the example of automotive seating assemblies. Currently, once anything usable has been stripped out, the seats are simply sent along to the shredder. She said "it would be nice" to see what further use can be made of the seats.
As vehicles become more computerized, she said, ways should be found to fully recover the electronics and circuit boards.
And what of those parts that can be salvaged whole? Sawyer Beaulieu's research shows they end up on the market as reconditioned auto parts, offered as replacements to consumers looking for inexpensive repairs.
Often the insurance industry suggests the use of these refurbished parts to clients for use in cars damaged in collisions as a way to save on repair bills. She said that newer cars, even those involved in major collisions, are valued more in the industry than even well preserved cars 15 years or older because their components are out of date.
The exception, she said, is with older vehicles that are considered classics or collectibles. Those parts are always in demand among enthusiasts hoping to stockpile replacement parts for reclamation projects.
So, perhaps there may be someone out there, maybe even a surfer girl, still saving a steering column, tail light assembly or engine part from Neil Young's old Buick, even though 90 per cent of it has been shredded. Long may you run.
By Don Lajoie, Postmedia News October 17, 2011 The Vancouver Sun
Turns out that may be true. But rather than "gettin' to the surf on time," a University of Windsor engineering professor says it's more likely the old hearse is keeping Brian Wilson's beer cold as part of his fridge.
Susan Sawyer-Beaulieu, a post-doctoral researcher in civil and environmental engineering, has spent eight years studying what happens to "end-of-life" vehicles when they are taken off the road and has determined most are stripped, shredded, sorted and resold as parts of other consumer products from appliances to lawn mowers.
"It mostly ends up in other products," she said. "Wherever steel is used in manufacturing some portion of that comes from end-of-life vehicles. Could be in appliances, construction material, could even end up in another car."
That, she said, is certainly the case when vehicles are harvested by scrap yards and auto recyclers and all the still useful components, like starters or steering columns, are stripped out, salvaged, refurbished and sold as replacement parts for other vehicles.
But Sawyer-Beaulieu's research is simply not to satisfy the curiosity of anyone who wondered, "whatever happened to old Betsy?" It has a more practical application too.
With funding provided in part from the Auto21 network and the Ontario Automotive Recyclers Association, Sawyer-Beaulieu has been compiling a meticulous assessment of what goes into an auto-dismantling facility, what gets recycled and reused and what gets shredded and ends up in a landfill.
Large automotive dismantlers can process as many as 17,000 vehicles a year. Every year 13 million vehicles reach their "end of life."
She has discovered that 80 per cent of the vehicle is recycled and reused in some way but 20 per cent still ends up in landfill. As much as 12 per cent of reusable parts are recovered even before the remaining hulks are shipped off to the shredder for metals recovery.
The goal, she said, is to find ways to recover even more of the leftovers and to cut back as much as possible on that 20 per cent still going to the landfill. Aside from the obvious environmental concerns, she said that eliminating waste also saves the industry money from tipping fees and guards them from that day when governments ban the dumping of automotive materials at landfills, as in Europe.
It is also her hope that auto jobs could be created if there is increased emphasis on recovering, reusing and recycling parts and materials. The research could be used to demonstrate there is a market for more of the materials used in automotive manufacturing and that salvaging and recycling it makes good business sense.
So what kinds of materials can be found in an end-of-life car? Steel, other ferrous and non-ferrous metals, foam, plastics, glass, residual oils and fluids, fabrics, rubber. Once those components have been separated, the remaining hulk is send to a shredder and chopped into fist-sized pieces.
"In Europe it's legislated how much must be recovered," said Sawyer-Beaulieu. "In Canada it's still a market-driven system. The industry doesn't want to be legislated because it could affect the way they do business. My research is to see how they can recover more to prevent that from being sent to landfills."
She gave the example of automotive seating assemblies. Currently, once anything usable has been stripped out, the seats are simply sent along to the shredder. She said "it would be nice" to see what further use can be made of the seats.
As vehicles become more computerized, she said, ways should be found to fully recover the electronics and circuit boards.
And what of those parts that can be salvaged whole? Sawyer Beaulieu's research shows they end up on the market as reconditioned auto parts, offered as replacements to consumers looking for inexpensive repairs.
Often the insurance industry suggests the use of these refurbished parts to clients for use in cars damaged in collisions as a way to save on repair bills. She said that newer cars, even those involved in major collisions, are valued more in the industry than even well preserved cars 15 years or older because their components are out of date.
The exception, she said, is with older vehicles that are considered classics or collectibles. Those parts are always in demand among enthusiasts hoping to stockpile replacement parts for reclamation projects.
So, perhaps there may be someone out there, maybe even a surfer girl, still saving a steering column, tail light assembly or engine part from Neil Young's old Buick, even though 90 per cent of it has been shredded. Long may you run.
By Don Lajoie, Postmedia News October 17, 2011 The Vancouver Sun
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