Next time you are in the Motor City, take a drive down Eight Mile Road and stop at Parts Galore. You won’t see hip-hop artist Eminem spewing lyrics, but what you will find is a junkyard that has mastered a tune of its own.
This 100 percent self-service salvage yard is quickly becoming a haven for do-it-yourselfers and professional technicians looking for replacement parts. A staffer told us they turn over 1,000 cars a week. “We get our fair share of technicians from dealerships and independent shops looking for hard-to-find parts,” she says. Though two of the technicians we contacted in the Detroit area had yet to go there, both had heard about it.
Open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., visitors simply pay a $1 entrance fee and bring their own tools. The eight-acre lot is a virtual sea of automobiles arranged by vehicle manufacturer. It’s neat and orderly and demystifies the theory that all junkyards are, in fact, junkie.
There is plenty of browsing room, and all vehicles are lifted off the ground for easy undercar access. Plus, there is a designated price for every product — no matter what car it came off of. For example, a front axle assembly with hub for a 4x4 costs $150.99, a mirror door for a truck costs $5.99. A blower switch is priced at $2.59. Brake rotors without the hub for a passenger car ring up at only $10.99.
Parts Galore Manager Sidney Stokes says they see about a 50/50 split in sales of hard parts and collision components.
Traffic is so heavy that they change cars daily. “We have 2,000 on the lot every day. If the vehicle is stripped, it comes off the lot, or if there is an abundance of a certain type of vehicle,” Stokes told us during a tour of the facility. All automotive fluids are removed for recycling and buyers are charged a 29- to 99-cent environmental fee on each part.
The facility is owned by Bill Wild, a Wayne County salvage operator. He told the Detroit Free Press that the self-service model is a niche nobody else really has in the area. Wild also says that they plan to expand to other sites in Metro Detroit, West Michigan and Ohio if Parts Galore business stays eventful. Call (313) 245-2944 for more information.
