So, this is kindof a random questian, but i have always wondered....everyone knows that when you buy a rebuilt auto part, there is a core charge, and they keep it if you dont give the old part up. What do they do if they never get a core back, and where do they get the first ones to rebuild before they get any cores back?

 

If you don't send a core back, you just don't get the core charge refunded. In many cases, auto parts stores usually get a core back unless it's a cheap refund and if you have to pay for shipping. I can't remember, but I bought some brake calipers online and I believe I had to pay for shipping and I just said screw it because it would have taken more money to ship than what the core charge was.

 

The junk yards have parts pullers, then the counter guys log in the parts and sell them, sometimes to you, but much of their business is to other businesses for core etc. If they get an engine that runs, they test it and sell it whole, if they get one that doesn't it is sold as a core.

 

The remanufactured part you're buying used to be somebody else's core. The core you turn in will someday become a remanufactured part. Remanufacturing houses take used cores, clean them up, repair/reseal as needed, and sell them as remanufactured parts. This mainly applies to cast items like brake calipers, steering gears, etc for which it's difficult to reproduce the tooling. Some items like water pumps and master cylinders can be bought as remanufactured or new. New items don't have a core charge since it didn't take a core to make it, but they're typically more expensive than the cost of the remanufactured counterpart with the core charge since they're new.

The reason for the core charge is to encourage you to turn in your core, so that the rebuild house can maintain a relatively constant supply. If nobody ever turned in their core, then eventually the part would become extinct. I suspect the "first round" of cores for a remanufactured item would start with junkyard pulls, as Joseph69 pointed out.

 

And I guess if you care about such things.........It's a "green" way of doing things. Actually I've been pretty "green" all my life. Was raised to reuse and and not waste anything. I just didn't know that I was so "in vouge" till everyone else started being so nuts about being "green" ...............LOL

 

That's exactly why they started core charges on batteries a few years ago. Obviously they don't refurb and resell them but they want people to return them so they get recycled instead of thrown away.