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."