30 By Marty Hollingshead Industry Matters A WORLD AUTO RECYCLERS! WITHOUT What would happen if the OEM’s had to process these “total loss” and “end of life” vehicles they manufactured? of vehicles? What would happen to “to- tal loss” and “end of life” vehicles? Would they be recycled or their parts har- vested and available to repair vehi- cles in a cost-effective manner for those who can’t afford to purchase new? Would the fluids and refriger- ants from these vehicles be recov- ered and recycled, or just dumped on the ground and released into the air, like back in the old days? High value commodities would most likely be recovered. But what would become of the rest of the vehicle? Would anyone process them or would they just clutter and pollute the landscape? process them? What would become What would happen if they were responsible for processing and recycling these vehicles? Did- n’t Ford Motor Company try this a few years back with Greenleaf? If you look at Europe, some of the OEM’s are responsible for this pro- cess. They do this with smaller amounts of vehicles, in different countries, with different cultures, with different rules. Would manufacturers As fellow auto recyclers, we face more and more barriers and changes. There are chal- lenges from the OEM’s and the insurance industry, and the negative perception that our industry has in general. I have been thinking about the current situation as well as the future of our industry. What would the world be like without auto recyclers? What would things be like if we never existed like in the movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life.” What about the jobs that would now be lost? Would those employees and their families be better off if we never existed? Now, let’s look at how this would affect the Insurance and repair Industries. Other industries would be impacted negatively Jobs would be lost Currently, we provide the insurance industry and the auto repair industry with a cost- effective alternative for repairing vehicles that would otherwise become total losses. We also pur- chase total loss vehicles from the insurance industry in a competi- tive auction. This results in maxi- mum salvage returns for insurers. More vehicles would now be total losses if these recycled parts were- n’t available. This would have a negative financial effect on insur- ers and result in higher premiums for consumers. What would become of sal- vage auctions without selling these total loss and end of life vehicles? This would have a nega- tive effect on the insurance indus- try. They would probably no lon- ger get paid for total loss vehicles so they would gain $0 for salvage. We are a needed, relevant industry We are the hardest-working industry in the automotive sector. We do the most while having the least to work with. By recycling end of life and total loss vehicles we protect the environment. We sell “green” recycled OEM parts and reduce the carbon footprint. We save non-renewable resources; otherwise there would need to be more resources used to manufac- ture more of these parts. We har- vest and sell genuine OEM recy- cled parts. But, in spite of all the “We are the hardest-working industry in the automotive sector. We do the most while having the least to work with.”