AUTOMOBILE JUNKYARDS 409 



The members of this association are very much aware of the prob- 

 lem of the junk and abandoned cars and want to do whatever they 

 can to help remedy this situation. 



There are about 8,000 auto wreckers in the country who handle 

 6 million cars per year. The reason why so many of them do not 

 take in the obsolete and junk cars is because the cost of handling, 

 storing, and preparing them for sale to the scrap processor is too high 

 to make this practical. Also, these cars take up more space than the 

 auto wrecker has. The average size of the auto wrecking yard is 

 eight acres. In heavily populated areas it is about two. Where land 

 is plentiful and inexpensive it may reach 30 acres. His parts value or 

 later model cars occupy all the room he has. 



The auto wrecker's yard can only hold so many cars, with the 

 result that the number of cars he purchases each year equals the 

 number he dismantles and sells to the scrap processor. On an aver- 

 age, a car remains in the auto wrecker's yard for a period of 12 

 months, ranging from a low of one day to a high of four years. The 

 average age of the car in the yard is 6.9 years. 



In many areas, because of air pollution controls, the auto wrecker 

 is not allowed to burn the chassis, which is necessary to remove the 

 impurities, such as glass, rubber, upholstery, nonferrous materials, 

 etc., so that they will be acceptable to the scrap processor. 



The distance from the scrap processor, which in some cases is as 

 much as 300 miles, makes the transportation of auto hulks financially 

 impossible. 



Technological changes in the production of new steel have lessened 

 the demand for automotive scrap. 



Many States require a great deal of red tape in order to clear the 

 title of the abandoned car and it costs the auto wrecker too much 

 in time and money to handle these. In the majority of cases, he must 

 hold them for a period of 90 days before he can dismantle them and 

 prepare them for the scrap processor. There are ten States which 

 do not have certificates of title, where there are 13J/2 million regis- 

 tered cars and trucks and where car abandonment is high. 



The last owner of the vehicle is responsible for the abandoned car. 

 When he cannot get a price for his junked car, rather than give it 

 away he just abandons it. 



I am not attempting to whitewash the auto-wrecking industry or 

 trying to create an image that is not real, but we must look at this 

 problem from a practical standpoint. We admit that the auto- 



