A recycled part costs less than a new one, and we do not publish a range for it, because the same part varies more by donor vehicle and grade than by yard. What is worth knowing before you call is what a legitimate operation has already had to do: recover the refrigerant, pull the batteries and mercury switches, and report the vehicle's VIN to a federal database within the month. That reporting is also why a salvage history follows a VIN around.
Refrigerant comes first. 40 CFR 82.155, written under section 608 of the Clean Air Act, requires persons recovering refrigerant from a motor vehicle air conditioning system for disposal to evacuate it to the levels set in 82.156. A final processor has to recover any remaining refrigerant or hold a signed statement or contract confirming that everything not previously leaked has been recovered, and keep those statements for three years.
Batteries, mercury-containing equipment and lamps fall under the universal waste rules at 40 CFR 273.1, alongside pesticides and aerosol cans. Used oil has its own part at 40 CFR 279.
Mercury switches are the exception worth naming precisely. The EPA National Vehicle Mercury Switch Recovery Program operates under a memorandum of understanding between the agency and industry bodies including the Automotive Recyclers Association and the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries. It is a program, not a regulation, and we are not going to describe it as a legal requirement.
28 CFR 25.56 requires a monthly inventory of all junk or salvage automobiles obtained, listing the VIN, the date obtained, the source, and a statement of whether the vehicle was crushed or disposed of, to whom it was transferred, and whether it is intended for export. Entities handling fewer than five such vehicles a year are exempt.
That is the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System, and it is the reason a salvage history follows a VIN around.
Used parts are matched across makes and models by interchange number, a system the Federal Trade Commission described in 1996 litigation as "a compilation of data about parts interchangeability cross-indexed by a numbering system, which provides a convention or code for assigning numbers to parts so as to identify groups of parts that are interchangeable". Two competing interchanges were in industry use at that time. We have not verified current ownership from a primary source, so we are not naming one.
The practical consequence is that a yard three states away may hold your part under a different make entirely, and a yard that quotes you an interchange number is telling you something more precise than one that quotes you a car.
A commonly cited federal airbag statute does not exist in the form it is usually quoted. 49 USC 30122(b) bars a manufacturer, distributor, dealer, rental company or motor vehicle repair business from knowingly making inoperative a device installed to comply with a federal motor vehicle safety standard. The list does not name used parts sellers, and NHTSA has interpreted the provision as not prohibiting aftermarket parts in the repair of a used vehicle per se.
We found no federal rule specifically governing the sale or reuse of a recovered airbag module. That is a gap in the law rather than permission, and it is not advice.
Ask for the interchange number rather than a description. It is the difference between "we think that fits" and a part identified by the same system the industry uses to match it.
Ask for the donor vehicle's mileage and VIN. A recycled part is a used part, and the age of the car it came off is the single most useful thing you can know about it. A yard that reports to NMVTIS has that VIN on file already.
Ask about grade. Yards grade parts by condition and damage, and a grade is a claim you can hold them to in a way that "good condition" is not.
Ask about the warranty and the return window before you pay, including who pays return shipping on a part that does not fit. That single answer separates most good experiences from most bad ones.
For anything safety-related, ask what the yard's own policy is on recovered airbag modules and restraint components. There is no federal rule to point to, which makes the yard's own answer the whole of the information available.
It varies too much for us to publish a range honestly. The same part changes price with the donor vehicle's age and mileage, the grade the yard assigns it, and how scarce that interchange is at the time you call. Two quotes on the same part number are the only comparison that means anything.
The industry's system for matching parts across makes and models. The FTC described it in 1996 litigation as a compilation of data about parts interchangeability, cross-indexed by a numbering system that identifies groups of parts that are interchangeable. A yard quoting you an interchange number is being more precise than one quoting you a car.
We cannot tell you, and neither can federal law. 49 USC 30122(b) bars certain businesses from knowingly making a safety device inoperative, but the list does not name used parts sellers, and we found no federal rule specifically governing the sale or reuse of a recovered airbag module. That is a gap in the law rather than permission. Ask the yard what its own policy is.
Because 28 CFR 25.56 requires yards to file a monthly inventory of junk and salvage vehicles obtained, listing the VIN, the date, the source and what happened to the vehicle. That feeds the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System. Operations handling fewer than five such vehicles a year are exempt.