Hey guys! ChrisFix here!
And today, I'm going to teach you everything that you need to know about parts cars.
I'm going to show you when it's a good idea to consider getting a parts car...
how to actually go and find a parts car...
and then how to make the most out of your parts car, so that not only do you get the parts you need...
but you can make some money on the side, which is never a bad thing.
For those of you who don't know, this is my 2003 Jaguar X-Type that we got for my father.
I actually made a whole video series where I showed you how to figure out the value of the car...
How to inspect the engine (&) the interior...
go for a test drive...
and then how to negotiate with the owner to buy the car...
and I'll leave a link to that video series in the description so if you want to learn how to buy a used car...
you can check it out and learn all new tips and tricks to lessen your chances of getting stuck with a dud.
And yeah, I know, you don't have to tell me these cars are not known for their reliability, but guess what?
Over a year later, the car is still running great, and for the price, we already got our money's worth.
We paid $1900 for this car.
But it didn't come without it's faults...
There are some problems like this big crack in the front bumper...
the crash beam here was messed up from an accident...
The headlights are messed up...
and that's just a few little things that are wrong with the car...
But for the past year, my dad's been driving this with no problems, and he loves the car.
So now it's time to fix up the little things, and to do that, we're going to go get a parts car.
Now I've come to the conclusion that I need a parts car, but how do you figure out if a parts car is right for you?
The first thing to do is come up with a list of all the parts that you're going to need for your car.
As you can see, mine's pretty extensive.
The first thing on the list is this front bumper.
There's damage all over this front bumper, and it just doesn't look good.
The previous owner tried to fix it with epoxy...so that has to get replaced out.
Next are the headlights because the aiming mechanism inside the headlights went bad...
and now, it won't aim properly.
We come over to the fender here; the fender has a nice-sized dent in it. It doesn't look good.
We come down here to the side skirt; the side skirt has a hole in it.
Moving to the rear bumper; the rear bumper is all scratched up.
I tried using some touch-up paint, but the paint is faded, so it didn't match.
Also, we have these reverse sensors which aren't working...
and I have a feeling it is the speaker that's located right down here...
which is really hard to find and kind of expensive...
And then underneath the car, the driveshaft; the bearing is bad...
and the car vibrates at any speed over 60 mph, so that has to get changed out.
Then if we go into the car...
there are little things missing like the trim to cover the wires on the rearview mirror...
Otherwise, the wires are exposed, and it just doesn't look good.
Moving down, the trim on the shifter is cracked...
again, not a big deal, but it doesn't look good.
Looking over to the side here at the glove box...
You can see that the vinyl on the glove box is chipped and scratched, so I want to replace that as well.
Now sure, you can go online and you could try to find these parts online...
or you could go to your local junkyard (&) try to find these parts there...
but if you buy the larger parts online like the front bumper and the crash bar...
that's going to cost you a lot in shipping.
And your local junkyard might not have the car, and if they do, it might not be the right color...
it might not have the same color interior, OR the parts are already taken from it.
...Which brings me to my next point;
Some parts are hard to find, which also usually means that they're expensive.
A good example; I already took it our of the car, but this little speaker for the reverse sensor...
If you were to take a guess how much this costs from Jaguar, what do you think? $10? $20, maybe?
This is $60!
And it's broken on mine, so I'm thinking this is why the reverse sensors aren't working.
And finding this has been proving very difficult.
So if we get a parts car, there's a good chance that the hard parts to find will still be in there...
and this will save you some money.
And then the last big reason why you'd want to have a parts car...
is because you might want to keep your car for a while.
For example, my buddy and fellow Youtuber, Saabkyle (Saabkyle04) repurchased his first car...
a 1995 Saab 900, because it's nostalgic for him.
This is the car that made him start his now very popular Youtube channel...
and he was asking me where he could get parts, especially the hard-to-find ones.
So I told him my plan to get a parts car for the Jaguar and he liked that idea a lot
So he's actually going to get a parts car for his Saab, and I'm going to help him out with that...
so that's going to be an awesome collaboration.
So basically, if you need a bunch of parts for your car, or you plan on keeping your car for a while...
a parts car is something you should consider.
So now you need to figure out if a parts car makes sense financially.
So what I do is, I write down ONLY the parts that I NEED...
and I come up with the prices of how much it would cost me.
Now these prices that I have here are on the low side...
So I called up a couple salvage yards; I looked online...
For example, a front bumper would cost anywhere from $250 to $500.
So I put down $250; it's the lowest price I could find.
I'm picking the lowest prices because I want to play it safe.
So in total, I need about $1500 in parts.
Since I need $1500 in parts, that's the most I want to spend on a parts car.
That way, when I get my parts car, I could take all these parts off of it...
and it's like I got the lowest price for each of those parts.
But DO realize: These are ONLY the parts that I NEED.
The parts car is going to have WAY MORE parts than this.
So although we spent $1500 on the car, there are TONS of other parts...
that we could take off the car and sell if we wanted to.
And if we sold all those other parts, we could come up with (approx.) $3000.
So I think you guys are really seeing how a parts car makes complete sense...
because not only are you getting all the parts you need, but if you want, you can make some extra cash.
So once you realize a parts car is a good idea, next you want to do your research.
The first thing to do is figure out what year cars you're going to be looking for.
We have a 2003 Jaguar here, but anything from 2002 to 2008 works for this car.
All the parts are pretty much interchangeable because the cars didn't change too much over the years.
After you figure out what years you want, now you want to find a car with the same color paint...
and the other thing is, get a car that has the same color interior as yours.
So now I know I'm looking for a Jaguar X-type from 2002 to 2008, silver exterior, black interior...
for about $1500 max.
So the first place I looked, and I think it's going to be the first place most people look, is on Craigslist.
All I did was search "Jaguar X-type parts car," but there's only one result...
and it's a smashed up Jag' for $950 plus shipping, because it's all the way in Brooklyn.
But this wont work, because the front end's smashed up and I need a front bumper.
So I searched other places. Then I got an idea, and I checked the same online auction site...
that I got my Mustang from...
and they had a TON of cars to choose from. This is actually really convenient...
because they have cars from all over, all different colors, so it ends up being a good place to look around.
I finally found a 2002 with the same silver exterior, black interior, and from the pictures...
it looks like it's in good shape with all the parts that I want, so I put a $900 bid in...
I wasn't really expecting much, I wanted to see what would happen...
And well, I'm sure you guys know what I'm going to say next.
And there she is! We have ourselves another Jaguar!
Let's back, back, back it into the driveway so I don't have to push it.
Awesome!
Sayonara, tow truck! Hello, Jaguar!
Alright, the most nerve-wracking part: let's go inspect this car!
So we don't really know too much about the car. We know it doesn't run...
But we don't really know the condition of the car. Sure, we saw some pictures online...
But the pictures don't really tell the whole story, because it's hard to tell the condition of a car in a picture.
In this case, the rear bumper is in good shape. It has a nice shine to it. It's not damaged...
That's good, and check this out. This looks so cool! Anyway, let's continue our inspection.
I mean the car's looking pretty good so far. The body panels are in decent shape.
I don't see many scratches. The doors are in good shape. The wheels are in good shape.
Let's check out the interior...Ooh! The interior's a mess!
So there must have been an electrical issue, because, well...
So besides being all disassembled and pieces just kind of dangling here...
The interior is in decent shape. The steering wheel's in good condition, the wood trim...
the seats are in decent condition, the door panels are in pretty good shape...
but, I mean, it's obvious there was a problem.
Well that's convenient! I need that part, so I'll set that aside.
There was definitely a problem, probably an electrical problem.
I'm kind of curious what it looks like under the hood, so let's go check that out.
And this is always interesting. You never know what you might find under the hood.
And in this case, nothing TOO exciting. We ARE missing a battery...
and it DOES look like they had the intake apart, which it is.
Ooh, look at that. There's actually some wiring exposed here, so there's definitely an electrical issue.
But overall, it looks like most of the parts ARE here.
And in a situation like this, I don't need an engine in my parts car...
so any parts that come from this are all added bonus.
What really matters is this front bumper here, and this front bumper looks like it's in pretty good shape.
The headlights look like they're in REALLY good shape, so I'm hoping that they're working...
And then coming around here, one thing that I did notice that you might not be able to see...
but in direct sunlight, this panel was definitely painted.
Actually right now you could see; check out the color of this vs. the color of the front bumper.
You can see it's two different colors, but that's the risk that you take when you by an auction car.
You can't really tell from the pictures, but when you see it in real life you realize...this piece is damaged...
so now I can't use that piece for my Jag'.
But overall, the car looks pretty decent. the wheels are good, the other body panels are good...
and the side skirt, which we need, is good...
and not only will we be able to take the parts from this car (&) put it on that car...
but I think we'll be able to profit by parting this car out.
So let me show you the paperwork.
Just to give you an idea of what I paid for this car...here's the bill of sale from Dashub.
You can see I paid a total of (approx.) $1500.
I bid on the car, it was $900. There's auction fees, there's broker fees, there's transportation...
Luckily this car was nearby...so in total, I paid $1500, not too bad.
That's the title.
There is NO warranty. Any time you get a car from an auction, it is "as is"...
so whatever you got is whatever you got. That's just the way that works.
Then if we look back at our sheet here, I said I wanted to pay a maximum if $1500.
I was pretty close to our maximum, so we're really going to strip this car clean...
and by "strip this car clean" I really mean strip it clean!
But first, let's get the car up in the air so we could easily work on it!
So let's jack the parts car up in the front.
I'm using ramps to support the wheels, which I prefer over jack stands because these ramps are solid.
Then we can jack up the back of the car.
In the back, I'm using jack stands...
and we're going to let the car down slowly to make sure it is rock solid.
At this point, the car is jacked up, and it's getting dark, but it won't stop me from stripping the car...
which you'll see in the NEXT VIDEO.
Hopefully from this video you learned when a parts car is something you want to look into for yourself...
and also, how to go about and actually buy a good parts car.
I'm experiencing this firsthand to show you guys the entire process...
and in the next video, you're going to see me strip the parts car completely...
and we're going to replace the damaged parts on my dad's Jag' to make it a lot nicer.
As always, if you AREN'T subscribed, consider subscribing...
which will give you updates on projects like this...
and be sure to check the description for all relevant links for this video. Stay tuned!