Drivers who have owned a car for a long time likely know that buying replacement parts can be a hassle. New parts can be expensive, older parts can be hard to find—it’s rare for the process of part replacement to be both smooth and inexpensive.
That’s why the concept behind The PartCycle Marketplace is intriguing. The site offers auto repair professionals and car owners alike a platform to buy and sell recycled parts over the internet. Recycled parts are generally much cheaper than new ones, meaning there is potential for this site to be a good cost-saving measure.
Curious about the PartCycle Marketplace? Here are a few things you should know about the platform.
Auto Body Repair Technicians: Here Is the Market PartCycle Wants to Serve
According to PartCycle, “In 2012 there was $22 billion spent on recycled auto parts, but only 0.5% of those sales were online.” Part of the reason for this, they claim, is that there is no accessible online marketplace on which part recyclers can list and sell their parts.
And the potential for an online market is quite large. PartCycle claims that if recycled parts were sold online at the same rate as aftermarket parts, “Online recycled parts should be an $880 million annual business.”
PartCycle points out that owners of vehicles over seven years old are more likely to buy recycled parts, and the average age of cars in the US is 11.5 years. While no recent Canadian data is available, many believe that it is similar, meaning there is a lot of potential for interest in the service.
The Search Function Offers Lots of Variety, But Requires Some Knowledge to Use Correctly
Provided you know which part you need, PartCycle’s search function is a relatively straightforward way to browse for the part you need. Users just need to input the year, make, and model of the car they need a part for, enter the name of the part, and then choose the correct item from a list that pops up.
Some parts have multiple variations that are quite similar, but not interchangeable, so this process does require sufficient knowledge of car parts. During your career, you might find that non-professionals may prefer to let an auto body repair technician like yourself handle this portion of the process, to ensure the right materials are bought.
Pros With Careers in the Auto Industry Will Likely Appreciate the Extra Information Available
With any recycled part listed on PartCycle, a wealth of extra information is available to help paint a better picture of its quality. This will help regular buyers, but will be especially informative to professionals with auto body technician careers.
“Condition & Description,” information about the donor vehicle, and an option to ask the seller questions about the part, are all available to professionals browsing a given description. Letter grades are assigned to each part, and options to sort by price, geographical location, condition, and mileage let browsers target their search according to their preferences.
The idea is to make it so there are many opportunities to clarify questions about a part and make an informed decision when it comes time to buy. If you make use of this site or another like it during your career, it would be a good idea to take advantage of this extra information when buying a part.
PartCycle is still quite young, but it holds promise. While time will tell how successful this new venture will be, it might just become an important resource you’ll use throughout your career.
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