If you have never purchased parts from an auto salvage yard, you may wonder if used car parts are worth installing in your vehicle. Shouldn't you replace worn-out parts with brand-new ones? Like the answer to most questions in life, whether or not a used part is worth buying is a little bit complicated. Salvage yards sell a huge variety of used parts, and depending on the parts you are looking for, the age of your vehicle, and the quality of the parts in question, you can save a lot of money by purchasing and installing used parts. Here are three things to know about buying parts from salvage yards.

Get Difficult-To-Find Parts

Some car parts are simply difficult to find. Have you ever tried to find an exact match for a broken interior trim piece in your vehicle? If your vehicle is over a decade old, finding non-essential parts like trim pieces can be even more difficult. Salvage yards have access to every part from virtually every make and model of vehicle because they salvage parts off of totaled vehicles. Some salvage yards are self-service yards, so all you need to do to find your replacement part is to find a matching vehicle in the yard and pull the part yourself. Other salvage yards don't let customers touch the cars, so you just have to call the yard and ask them to get the part for you. Either way, you should be able to get almost any part for your vehicle, even if aftermarket versions of the parts don't exist.

Choose Non-Wear Parts

Some parts are perfectly fine to buy used, while other parts wear out too quickly to be worth buying used. These parts are called wear parts because they show signs of wear and tear quickly, and they include brake pads and rotors, batteries, fuel and water pumps, tires, and suspension components, among other parts. Non-wear parts include rims, mirrors, spare tires, lights, antennas, engine mounts, and any interior parts, including seats, trim pieces, radios, and steering wheels. Non-wear parts typically don't include moving pieces or rubber gaskets, and they aren't usually subject to high levels of heat in the engine.

Ask About Core Charges

Salvage yards make money in two ways. First, they sell used car parts from the cars they salvage. After they have sold most of the valuable parts from a car, they then crush and sell the car by weight. For this reason, they typically charge more for heavier parts. Some salvage yards use a core charge system to help their customers get the most value out of their used parts. With this system, you can exchange a broken part for a used and functional part. The salvage yard makes up the weight you took from the vehicle, and you get a refund of part of the purchase price of the used part. Make sure to ask your salvage yard if they offer this service.

Visit a salvage yard to look for used auto parts.