Car salvage involves using old, wrecked, unwanted or junk vehicles and stripping all their available parts before recycling, selling or refurbishing them.

"Our main business is car recycling," said Joe Sebastian, general manager of Northside Salvage in East Rochester.

Northside is a long-established family business that usually buys about 50 cars a day from dealers and other sources. For example, the company also bought old RTS buses, school buses, and medical transportation vehicles.

The job involves several aspects, including sales personnel selling parts; equipment operators; and workers disassembling components such as batteries. All liquids are also removed from the vehicle. Once the usable parts are removed, the remaining vehicles will be crushed and dragged to the shredder, which will pay for the scrap metal.

The end result is that customers can buy second-hand parts more economically than buying new parts.

Sebastian said that because the workers are dealing with old vehicles, there is a clear "physical" aspect of the job. "We have always emphasized safety." 

Workers should have some automotive experience, and for sales people, they should have good customer skills. Sebastian said that patience is also important, especially when extracting parts. Sebastian added that workers should have "cheeky" and problem-solving skills. "Nothing will go very smoothly," he said. "There are always vignettes."

No formal education is required. Sebastian said that most of the training is done internally. Drivers and equipment operators certainly need to have a driver’s license.

Sebastian said that car salvage workers can make at least US$16 to US$17 an hour, adding that “many of them start at US$20 or US$21 an hour.” He said that experienced managers can earn six figures per year. .

The New York State Department of Labor lists the median annual salary for “garbage and recyclable material collectors” in the Finger Lakes area of ​​approximately $32,000. This category includes all kinds of garbage and recyclables, not just car wrecks.

The Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics and the New York State Department of Labor apparently did not specifically estimate the employment growth of auto salvage workers. However, Sebastian said: "The industry is growing. There is a lot of room for growth."

Sebastian said the number of employees at Northside Salvage has increased from about 20 about 15 years ago to about 60 now.

The COVID-19 pandemic has also played an important role in this industry (obviously, many industries do too). On the one hand, Sebastian said: "There is a huge demand for second-hand parts because people take longer to maintain their cars."

He also added that, for example, the shortage of aluminum and copper is "outright".

Sebastian said that, on the other hand, at least part of the reason is that because people take longer to maintain their cars, sales in the car rescue industry have fallen.

Sebastian said of his business: "It's more like a lot of waste, and it's limited to vehicles." "We dismantle cars in a good, environmentally friendly way. We recycle more than we use."

For more information about Northside Salvage, please visit www.iwantscrap.com.

For more information about this industry, please visit the New York Automobile Recycling Association website or the National Automobile Recycling Association website.