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Recycling is integral to modern America: We can all earn a dime or two — and save a sliver of the environment — by returning our plastics, newspapers, glass, aluminum cans, and countless other would-be throwaways. But do recycled auto parts have anything to do with preserving the environment? Are they safe? Are they used just to save a buck?

Some auto insurance companies actively encourage the use of recycled auto parts in the repair of crashed vehicles. "Recycled" could mean reconditioned — a junkyard part that is saved from its grave and refinished — or it could mean just plain old salvage. In either case, the parts are acquired from a junkyard and aren't being tested for safety before being put on your car.

Unlike other repair parts — both original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and non-OEM crash parts — recycled auto parts are not tested for safety after they have been junked. There are no official safety standards, private organizations, or government agencies that regulate recycled parts.

Auto parts lingo OEM: Original Equipment Manufacturer; replacement parts that come direct from the vehicle maker's factories. non-OEM: Often referred to as aftermarket parts; generally made in Taiwan and certified by the insurance industry's Certified Automotive Parts Association (CAPA) as being safe. Recycled: Sometimes referred to as salvage or reconditioned parts; sometimes obtained from junkyards and can be either OEM or non-OEM parts.

Jeff Hill, a State Farm policyholder from Endwell, N.Y., who had his damaged car door replaced with a "quality recycled part" from a local auto-salvage yard, knew from the start that a recycled part was going to be used, but later found out he didn't get what he bargained for.

"I thought [the recycled-parts business] was a regulated industry and that the parts would stand up to the same standards as my old door," Hill says. But the parts didn't meet Hill's expectations. "Initially, the repairs were unsatisfactory. The door leaked and didn't fit right." Repairs were made a second time to fix the problems, but Hill is now skeptical of the general quality of the parts.

"State Farm was not up-front with me about the definition of 'quality replacement parts,'" he asserts. The company didn't tell him that the recycled-parts business is not safety regulated and, as he admits, he just assumed the parts he was getting met some kind of standards. "If people think they're getting safe parts, they're under false illusions."

The Certified Automotive Parts Association (CAPA), a nonprofit insurance company-sponsored organization that oversees the testing and inspection of non-OEM replacement parts, does not certify used, reconditioned, or recycled parts.

A safety-standard void

"I think this is something to be concerned about," says Ann Spink, owner of American Coachworks, an auto-repair facility in Denham Springs, La., and vice president of the Coalition for Collision Repair Equality, an advocate group for auto-body repair shops. "Why is [the part] in a salvage yard in the first place? The most likely reason is that it has been in an accident."

Spink says that each part of the car impacts the structural integrity of the car. "Depending on how the energy [of the crash] traveled through the car, if it was hit in the front, there could be damage in the back."

Shockwaves pulse through vehicles involved in a collision. Newer cars with unibody construction are designed to absorb the collision burst, protecting passengers from potential harm. (In unibody construction, the vehicle functions as a single component in a crash, distributing the crash pulse evenly around the passenger compartment.) However, what shockwaves do in auto accidents is what they do in earthquakes: compromise the strength of a structure. Although damage is not obvious, crash pulses can weaken the integrity of any auto body part.

How do you know if a recycled part has been compromised? Damage to fenders and bumpers is fairly obvious, but in doors, Spink says, you never know. "It's a window regulator, a lock regulator, and it may have a speaker in it. You have to ascertain that all of those electrical components are functioning correctly [before you can say it's safe]."

One potential safety threat to consumers, for example, is when a junkyard steering column equipped with an air bag is used to replace a damaged one. The air bag initiator — a clock spring or coil that performs like a blasting cap, inflating the air bag — might be broken if the column has come from a junkyard. If the initiator is broken and not replaced, the air bag could inflate without warning. One source tells Insure.com that car insurance companies have indeed been known to direct the installation of junkyard steering columns containing air bags to replace damaged ones.

Bill Denya, owner of Denya's Auto Body in Meriden, Conn., traces the safety concerns of junkyard parts to the long-time insurance company practice of using non-OEM parts in repairs. "[Insurance companies] mandated the use of aftermarket parts for years, and a lot of those cars are going to be in salvage yards," he says. Denya's theory is that if non-OEM parts are substandard when new, quality takes a plunge after the parts are salvaged.

Denya insists that the auto-repair facility should refuse junkyard parts that are a potential safety hazard. "[The body shop's] license is in jeopardy if he uses an unsafe salvage part. The shop should know better." Denya notes, however, that insurance companies will mandate the use of junkyard parts as much as they can. Denya's own shop rarely uses salvage parts in repairs.

Junkyard parts are "definitely depriving policyholders of what they're entitled to."

Ina DeLong, a consumer advocate and member of the Alliance for Insurance Reform, says that some junkyard parts are as close as you can get to what you previously had. However, junkyard parts are "definitely depriving policyholders of what they're entitled to," she contends. "What the policyholder pays for [in premiums] is to be put back to exactly where they were [before the accident]," she says. "Insurance companies are putting [consumers] back, in some cases, in what amount to death traps."

 

"Sometimes [recycled] parts aren't a real good bargain," concurs Sheila Loftus, publisher of Hammer & Dolly, an auto-repair magazine based in Washington, D.C.. "They can delay repairs and, depending on how they're removed and stored, there could be safety concerns." Loftus says she would never want a used or recycled part that affects the safety or structure of her own car. "They're cubic zirconia for gosh sakes!" she exclaims.

  A recycled argument

State Farm isn't the only company allowing or directing the use of recycled parts for repairs. Farmers Insurance Group spokesperson Kitty Miller says, "If a recycled part is the most appropriate for the repair, we would certainly encourage the use. If you have an '85 Cavalier, the most appropriate part for that repair might be a recycled part or a non-OEM part because it might be the most cost-effective."

Miller says that Farmers sees no potential safety threat in using recycled parts for repairs. "We would never put a part on the car that we feel would compromise the safety of the vehicle," she says.

Allstate Insurance Co. uses recycled parts in some of its repairs, too. In fact, Allstate, Farmers, Progressive, and State Farm all say that recycled parts are of like-kind and quality to OEM parts. But how do insurance companies sort out the good recycled parts from the bad?

"When cars are sold for salvage, they are dismantled, the parts catalogued and stored in a computerized database, and the parts are usually physically stored in warehouses. They're not left out in junkyards," Miller explains. "Farmers does not use salvage parts to replace axles, suspensions, or transmissions. Most salvage parts are external sheet-metal parts."

"We pretty much rely on the repair shops to let us know if there is a problem with the parts they receive."

"We pretty much rely on the repair shops to let us know if there is a problem with the parts they receive," says State Farm spokesperson Dave Hurst. "We work with a number of distributors and if there were some kind of persistant problems cropping up, we would question why. We try to nip those kind of problems in the bud."

Rob Painter, owner of Milwaukee, Wis.-based Auto Recovery Specialists and Insure.com columnist, contends that insurers have no procedure in place to maintain quality assurance. "The attitude is basically, 'If it looks good, use it,'" he says.

That can lead to headaches for both policyholders and body-shop technicians. "If a recycled part comes through to a body shop, it typically has to be reconditioned by the shop," says Ann Spink, owner of American Coachworks, an auto body-repair facility based in Denham Springs, La. The reconditioning includes sanding or grinding to make the part fit correctly and, often, repainting. "When I get a salvage part, I don't know the history of the primers and paint. If I literally don't know [what's on the part], I can't pass any warranty on to you."

In defense of recycled parts

Painter says that sometimes recycled parts are a good idea and that safety isn't an issue. A recycled dashboard, for example, is cheaper than a new one and, if it's installed correctly, meets federal safety standards. After all, the recycled dashboard is an OEM part.

Sheila Loftus, publisher of Hammer & Dolly, an auto-repair magazine based in Washington, D.C., believes in recycling auto parts — when appropriate. "It's a viable alternative for competition," she says. "It's good for the industry and the environment."

Hurst of State Farm says that recycled parts are OEM parts and do not pose a safety threat. "If there is a problem with a recycled part, we'll look into it and take steps to get it fixed," he says.

A good idea gone bad?

"Insurers, under the guise of saving everybody some money, have strong-armed the average repairer into dumbing down the quality of their repairs," accuses Spink. "They push so hard to save a nickel that they're creating a situation in which the repairer might not be doing all the work correctly."

When you buy comprehensive and collision insurance, your insurer charges you a premium rate based on the physical-damage loss history of your specific vehicle model, which includes repair costs using OEM parts.

Quality repairs start with OEM parts, consumer advocates say, and every policyholder is entitled to quality repairs because of the insurance premiums you pay. "I assure you that every inch of my car will be a Lincoln Mark VIII [after an accident]," says Ina DeLong, a consumer advocate and member of the Alliance for Insurance Reform. "The reason it will be is that [the insurance company] charged me [premiums] for that particular vehicle. Don't charge me for a Mark VIII and give me back a generic-mobile."

Both Spink and DeLong assert that the largest insurance companies in the country will put up the strongest fight against having repairs done with new OEM parts. "Those insurance companies don't typically let the consumer choose the parts," says Spink. Insurers will estimate the damage and send it to a body shop for repairs with parts specified by the insurance company's estimate. "Lots of times, a consumer will say, 'I don't want a junkyard part,' and the insurer will make him or her go to great lengths [to get new OEM parts]."

Your rights

Insurance companies give you the choice of where to take your vehicle and how to have it repaired. Some say that's an illusion. "What I didn't know — and State Farm never said to me — was that they call your repair shop and tell your repair shop that it has to get its parts and supplies from State Farm vendors, or else State Farm won't pay your claim," accuses Jeff Hill, a State Farm policyholder from Endwell, N.Y.

"What [they] pay for is to be put back to exactly where they were, which is a dollar value."

"The consumer has as much choice as they are willing to be aggressive," says DeLong. "What [they] pay for is to be put back to exactly where they were, which is a dollar value." Sometimes that means OEM parts, sometimes that means salvage auto parts, she says.

Bill Denya, owner of Denya's Auto Body in Meriden, Conn., and Painter agree that consumers often are not necessarily entitled to new factory parts. "Consumers want everything new," says Denya. "They're entitled to pre-loss condition." Why should an insurance company pay for a new bumper on a 10-year-old vehicle, Rob Painter asks? "As long as the [underlying structure] is good, there's no safety issue," and you'll be back to your pre-accident condition.

If your vehicle requires repairs, make sure the parts being used will restore your vehicle to its pre-accident condition. Hard-and-fast rules are difficult to establish because everyone's car is different. However, Painter says that if the car is two years old or newer, you should demand OEM parts.

DeLong offers this advice: "Consumers need to get better educated [about the repair process]. That's the only answer."

Many states are now passing laws to limit what type of parts may be used in repairing an automobile after a crash. While, in some cases, salvaged or non-OEM parts are permitted, many states are now requiring actual manufacturer parts be used in the repairs. Unfortunately this increases the cost of the repairs, which is reflected in the cost of the car insurance policy for the consumer. Check with your state's insurance department for the laws governing aftermarket parts and auto repair procedures.