Expand mobile version menu

Interviews

Insider Info

Jay Camarena found himself in the automotive recycling business almost by accident. "I wanted to learn how to fix my own car," he says. Then, like many people who are starting off in the industry, he began working as a driver for an auto salvage business.

"As I went on, I learned the pricing of the parts by looking at the invoices when I delivered the parts. Then I moved into the yard, taking cars apart, and from there I moved into the counter as a counterman," he says.

Camarena has now been in the business for over 20 years. In addition to owning his own auto salvage shop in Pomona, California, he is president of the Inland Auto Dismantlers Association.

"I love this business," he says. "We do many things to improve the world by recycling. This is much better than working at a department store or food place."

However, Camarena says that he has seen a change in the industry in recent years. It has become very competitive and it can sometimes be hard to make a profit. "When I started in this field, the automotive aftermarket was just beginning, and the auto dismantlers started to buy and sell after-market parts to make more money," he says. "As the after-market industry grew bigger, they in turn started to actually compete with the used parts."

It is now difficult for Camarena's shop to sell certain items such as glass, brakes and body parts.

Barry Reppnack also entered the automotive recycling industry completely by chance.

"I was just a young guy, 22 years old, and I found myself without a job after the [local] glass factory closed," he says. He was soon presented with an opportunity and ended up owning his own auto salvage business.

Reppnack has been buying and selling used auto parts across North America ever since. He says his business is booming. "I do about 50 vehicles a month," he says. He must also deal with about four to 500 hundred customer phone calls per day, not to mention buying and selling through e-mail.

Reppnack says there's a lot of stress, but he likes the challenges that every day brings.

"The guys in the back and all the sales staff are dealing with a different type of vehicle every day -- from Ford Tempo to Mercedes Benz," he says.

This makes it an ever-changing field or work, where there is something new every day.

Reppnack remembers the first time the shop received a brand new vehicle that had to be dismantled.

"It had [150 miles] on it, right off the factory, and somebody got it into an accident and ripped it apart. Brand new vehicle!" he exclaims.

Tim Donovan agrees that automotive recycling is an extremely varied job. Donovan is the executive director an automotive recyclers association. Unlike Reppnack and Camarena, he didn't get into this industry by chance.

"Since I was a kid, I've loved the mechanical aspect of everything. It is something that I always had a love for," he says. "It's extremely interesting and if you've got any kind of drive at all, you can move fairly quickly upwards."

Just like Camarena, he started at the bottom and worked his way up. It took him less than three years to move from the yard to the sales counter to an office as assistant manager. About 20 years later, he ended up owning his own place.

When Pam Schneider began in the business, she was one of the first women working in the industry. She said that was difficult. "That was a definite challenge," she says. People weren't used to dealing with women in the automotive industry and they challenged her credentials and knowledge of the area. "I had trouble getting people to listen at first," she says.

But with time, and with running a successful business, Schneider has gained support. She says it's much easier for women to enter the industry these days. "Right now, it's easier for women to be accepted in this work field," she says. "There are more of us in the industry, and computerization helps."

According to Reppnack, because prices for new parts are going up, the general public is turning to recycling and rebuilding older vehicles now more than ever.

"As long as there are vehicles on the road, this business will be profitable."

Contact

  • Email Support
  • 1-800-GO-TO-XAP (1-800-468-6927)
    From outside the U.S., please call +1 (424) 750-3900
  • North Dakota Career Resource Network
    ndcrn@nd.gov | (701) 328-9733

Support