Pick-n-Pull

Great Pick n Pull. You have to have an old car. I have an 80’s Ford van and a 94 Yota so I’m golden. Pick your Part in Hayward was better and cheaper but the Octopus is gone. Their car list is online so you don’t have to waste your time wandering around. Sign up for their toolkit card, wait for ½ price day and GO!

If I could give 0 stars I would. A brand new radiator anywhere else costs $ 50, but here they sell used radiators for $ 75, any model and any car. A total ripoff. The prices were also not listed. You have to wait until you get to the window to learn what the prices are.

I seriously go to Pick n Pull with very vague information.
The real turn off of this is the guy that was upfront. IMO, bad customer service.
I get it that you can’t bring in car parts. When he opened my mechanic’s bag, you are gonna find screws, clips and small stuff, but all worthless.
The guys started to pull the stuff out of my bag saying he can hold it here, and I was like, «really, these small things». I just took them back to my car and put in.
I get policies, but a few screws is not the same as let’s say a mirror or a handle or something that is posted on their actual list of parts with prices.
But guess what, another guy comes with a bigger bag and he doesn’t get militant about stuff in his.
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besides the customer service, the yard is pretty big.

I don’t like this place!

A few months ago, my aunt needed to have her car towed, so we decided to call pick n pull to do the job. My aunt is mentally unstable and unable to make these type of phone calls, so I made the call for her. However, since the car is registered in her name, the phone attendant, Monica, asked to speak with her directly. When my aunt was unable to handle this, Monica was rude, spoke disrespectfully to her, and hung up on her! A few weeks later we decided to give them another try, I’m not sure why. This time things went a bit smoother, except that the tow truck did not show up on the scheduled date. Would not recommend in the least! Awful decision.

Pretty big yard with lots of American and German stuff, I’ve always had fun.
Tips (so you can have fun instead of whining like some of these guys):
Make use of the website! Pick And Pull has a pretty good one. Not only can you find out what your part will cost before you Pull it, you can check the inventory for likely donor cars. You can even look at the map and find out where those cars are located. This is one of the few times I use my allegedly smart phone to do anything smart.
Check new part price on RockAuto and Autozone and such. Don’t do like I once did and pay more for a used distributor than you would for a rebuilt one.
Bring a cart, or a friend, or grab one of the carts at the front (if you can find one). It’s a hike to the back of the yard where most of the good stuff is and you will be carrying both your tools and your parts.
$ 2 to get in is not really a lot for an hour or so of entertainment. So write that off. Or do like some people and just pocket some fuses and door lock knobs and stuff no one cares about. It’s all getting crushed anyway.
Don’t bring a jack. They don’t like it. Instead, just get one out of the trunk of some car and use it. They do have an engine puller thing which can be used to great effect. But it’s hard to get ahold of when it’s busy.
Remember your $ 2 hand stamp is good all day, and at all Pick And Pull locations. If you need a tool, just go back and get it. Don’t kill the dashboard of a car just because you forgot torx drivers or something.
No cats. Don’t waste your time removing one and hauling it up to the front. Remember you live in CA.
For heavy-​duty items like rear ends, a sawzall comes in very handy. If you’re respectful of rare parts people actually need, no one cares.
Don’t bring all your best tools.
Loan cheap tools to people who ask, it’s good karma. Do not loan anyone your sawzall or other battery powered tools. It may come back, but it won’t come back with a full charge.
For Godsakes do not buy a running car at pick and pull and expect it to be good. It was put together hastily from at least two other non-​running cars and never driven. Nor should you buy one from shifty CL people who buy one there, mark it up $ 200, and claim they’re selling it for their cousin. You do not want a car put together with an impact wrench.

$ 2 to get in, tell the lady/​man what you’re looking for, they’ll send you with a map of the location, you go pick-​n-​pull, bring it back, ring it up and pay. your out .
Sometimes you’ll find what your looking for other times someone else has already found it. You’ll be lucky if you find any new models.

Another thing, WHY DO THEY CHARGE A CORE CHARGE??? Core charges, in the auto industry, have always been to secure the return of the old part (the part you’re removing from the car) so the parts-​dealer can rebuild it and sell it as reconditioned. You never pay a core charge for new parts or parts that cannot be rebuilt. What does PicknPull need a core charge for? It’s just a gimmick to grab a few extra bucks! I guess that’s what bugs me most about PicknPull. .. they can’t just come out and honestly set a price.

Well this is my first Unilocal review ever! After several attempts and appointments to have richmond pick-​n-​pull tow away my old car, I felt an overwhelming burst of common decency to warn all those trying to do the same. I called them up, the customer service individuals on the phone are obviously not located at the Richmond branch, as they were quite helpful in setting up the appointment. They only pick up on weekdays, and give you windows of 8 –12 or 1 — 5. I took the morning off and waited patiently for the pickup… Nothing… No call to say they couldn’t make it. I called back, they sounded surprised about the no show, and tried to get someone in that branch on the phone as the system showed a truck was dispatched… No answer. He informed me he would send an email to the branch manager and call me back to reschedule. They offer about $ 50 more than most wreckers, but after missing a few hours of work without result, there’s not much point. When I got the call-​back, the Cust rep tried to reschedule, I informed her I had no intention missing more work, she said I could drop off my title at the lot and they would pick it up on their own. Their automated telephone system informs you they are open till 6, well apparently the Richmond office didn’t get the memo! Got there at 4:35 after taking a closed road detour, only to walk in and have the Latino woman behind the counter snare at me a say «ah, excuse me, we’re closed» WTF? I asked her if I could just drop off the already signed tittle, and she just refused! She was just sitting there not doing anything! Well she’s lucky I’m not her manager! You would think they would want the business, I guess they aren’t affected by the stunted economy! Hmm. My recommendation would be to call … Anyone else! I found Pinole auto wreckers were nice and efficient. Like they actually want your business!

Pick n pull is a great place to find things for vehicles from the 80s. The prices are generally much better than those you find online for used parts. The online inventory system is convenient but not always accurate as to arrival dates of vehicles. Some of the staff members are a bit surly and the pricing seems dependent on the mood of the cashier. Overall this place is worth a visit for any DIY mechanic with an older vehicle.

they have a vast variety or pan and the prices are fair. My only gripe are the people who visit this location are thieves, so leave cell phones in ur ride and carry tools in a back pack, do leave them out!

Go back to Richmond for more Parts on a Sunday morning?
You betcha!
After my last visit to this junkyard, i was not so squemish about a return trip.
The part we needed was a Signal/​Pulse Generator. We located the vehicle easily through their online locator.
We loaded up at the nearby Starbuck’s and Noah’s in Cupertino then headed out to Richmond Pick n Pull.
Lots of parking in the huge lot. all the rows of cars are numbered so we found the car we needed quick. The part was pulled and tested for proper Ohms and passed.
YAY???
Total plus admission fee of $ 2 was $ 18.
We left for home and got back in time to watch the niners and raiders play.
The part was put in later that day and worked perfect.

Over the years I’ve visited many Pick N Pull locations including this one. This one continues to disappoint. I can put up with the disorganization, the long long walk to the main part of the yard, etc, but I don’t like being ripped off. I stopped in today (because the location was convenient) for a simple part which I did find. After waiting 15 minutes in line I find they want to stick me for an extra $ 10 because they feel the trim piece was just as good as new. It wasn’t but on principal I went back and got one that had a few more scratches on it. Do you really want to piss off a regular customer (frequent customer card & all) over a judgment call for an extra $ 10? I guess they do. They are certainly not the only game in town. I guess from now on, PnP will be my 2^nd choice.

Grab a wrench and have at it.

I’ve been to almost every pick n pull in the bay area, and this one is by far one of the worst. Completely disorganized (the one in fairfield has them organized by make of car, magic!), but most of the others at least have them organized by import, american passenger cars, and trucks. There seems to be no rhyme or reason here.
They do have a pretty big space and plenty of cars, but I think time and money would be better spent heading to a different pick n pull.

This junkyard sucks. The cars are not organized. You’ll wander around, and you’ll see an American car, next to a Japanese car, next to a European car. Better junkyards, like the one in Oakland have the cars clearly organized in to sections.
Also, they’ve crammed the cars in to short narrow rows and then you have to walk a long way (pain if you are carrying a large part or a heavy toolbox…) to get to the second lot of cars.
First time I’ve ever gone to a yard and not been able to find anything I am looking for.
Not going to be back here again, Oakland for life!

I was looking for a specific part for my clunker, but no parts company even had it listed. It had no name. Didn’t even show up on the computer. It stumped the experts. I had to physically describe it everytime.
Finally, a guy in frickin’ Maryland emails me. Says he has the part and will ship it for $ 78.10.
$ 78.10!!!
Sunnuvabitch.
$ 78.10… Really?
A friend says try Pick-​N-​Pull.
Can’t hurt.
We paid our two bucks and got stamped in, just like a night club. They gave us a readout showing my cars and several compatable ones. 6 in all.
We found my model and, glory be, there was the enigma. We yanked it out, took it to the cashier and waited for the price.
$ 8.99.
Fuck me. I love this place.
Oh yeah, the official name of the part was «Floor shift control assembly»
Looked like a knob to me.
And my car runs fine.

Had a good experience with the staff here. I wasn’t able to get the part I wanted out of the car before closing, so they gave me a free admission coupon so I could come back the next day.
As Don said in his review, going to a junkyard for parts is definitely a tradeoff of time vs money. For small, easily shipped parts you will probably be better off on ebay. For instance, a 13 year old used AC Delco FM/​Cassette radio is $ 17 from Pick-​n-​pull (CD models are more) — and you can find them on eBay for about this much. For larger parts like interior panels, wheels, springs, and such, you’ll come out ahead at a junk yard assuming they have a car in stock that’s compatible with yours.
But really, going to a junkyard is about something more — the thrill of the hunt and the voyeuristic experience of poking around in other people’s cars, like the customized van I found with white lace around the edges of the sunvisors.
One tip — do your homework in advance to find out what car models are compatible with the one you are repairing, and make sure you know how to remove the part before you get to the yard.
Also, I recently learned that at the booth where they stamp your hand on admission, they can look up whether they have your car in stock. If you have a particular part in mind, they can look up any cars that have that part. They don’t have location info, but they do have the make, model, year, and color of each car, along with the serial number (written on the fender).
This makes searching a lot easier. Also good to know beforehand that they definitely don’t have what you want — an easy 30 minutes saved.

Don’t even bother with a place like this unless you have more time than money and a broken car you have to fix yourself.
This is one of a dozen pick-​n-​pulls around the state and pretty much the same deal. You wander in, find a wreck that has parts you need, wrench them off yourself, and drag them to the sales counter on the way out.
Customer service is basically non-​existent. You will not even get a human on the phone. There is no inventory of cars on the lot, much less parts. So, you must be willing to take time out to just determine if they have the part you seek.
There is a 30 day return on parts, but nothing for the time it takes to pull it off, take it home and bolt it on, only to find out it is not working or the wrong part. It’s your own coin to take it off and bring it back too.
You can at least get a price before spending the time looking and pulling a part. They have a computer system that has pictures of most parts and prices. Popular part prices are listed on a board as you enter.
It does take 2 bucks to get in so you may as well bring a wrench and pull a few small bits you need and stuff them in your pockets as payment for the entrance fee.
Certainly not a place for the faint of heart or those short of time and patience. There are sales days but I’m not sure if there is any schedule for them.
If you get lucky this place is FIVE stars or you could get skunked and the place rates a TWO. Gotta give it two for the entertainment value alone. :-)