New wiper blades for $3 a piece.

Want to save a fortune on wiper blades and help the environment then keep reading.

Years ago when a wiper wore out the rubber part of the wiper would be replaced instead of purchasing a whole new wiper blade. There was a time when all of the different required wiper blades could fit in a small display case at a service station such as this antique Anco wiper blade display case.

 I really like how the side of the case says that the ANCO wiper blades are easily refillable and ANCO refills save you dollars.

Somewhere along the way it was decided that wiper refills were too complicated for the consumer to figure out how to install. I am sure someone also figured out more profit could be made selling a complete wiper blade.  In fairness it isn't always easy to purchase the correct refill and I am sure that stores had a lot of people return refills, because they purchased the wrong type. New style aerodynamic blades that are not refillable were also introduced by automakers.

Fear not Park Avenue owners. Our wiper blades are old school enough that they are easily refillable and save us dollars. If you have wipers with a triangular frame such as this you should be able to refill them. I'm not sure of the brand of these wipers as they were on the car when it is purchased.

Wiper refills are becoming harder to find. Walmart stopped carry them. I was able to find these universal break to length Trico refills at Advanced Auto:

When purchasing wiper refills you need to purchase the correct length and width of rubber. In my case the existing rubber portion of the wiper was 6mm wide. The 2003 Park Avenue uses 22" long refills. The best part is that the 6mm wide Trico refills are 22" long so there is no need to break to fit. The refill is the correct length! The Trico refill box comes with two refills for $7. So for $3.50 you have a new wiper. Compare that $8 for the lowest cost complete wiper blade at Walmart.

The refills installed easily and have worked well in the heavy Florida summer rains. Installing a refill isn't much harder than replacing the entire blade. Besides saving money it is also nice to not throw away a perfectly good metal frame.

Last time I checked Honda still sold reasonably priced refills for their factory wiper blades. For our 2012 Hyundai Sonata refills are available, but Hyundai charges the same price for a refill as the complete wiper blade.

One other wiper to consider is PIAA. PIAA uses silicone for the squeegee portion of the wiper and sell refills for their wipers.

Used parts availability as a factor in selecting vehicle type

Your choice of vehicle can have a dramatic effect on your chances of obtaining used parts. Our family's fleet includes a 2004 Honda Accord and a 2003 Buick Park Avenue and I can comment on my experiences with used parts availability for both vehicles.

Junk yards can be categorized into two types. The first type typically has cars 8 years or newer. These yards are typically well inventoried and they remove the parts for you. A lot of their customers are professionals such as auto body shops. Most of these type of junkyards don't want to be bothered selling small parts to a shade tree mechanic. Prices are sometimes often as expensive as new parts. The second type of junkyard has cars 8 years or older. At these junk yards you remove your own parts. If the junkyard is well organized they will have a list of cars and a row number. There is no inventory. The car may or may not have the part you need. The business model for these junkyards is to sell as many parts as possible before the car is crushed. In fact these junk yards charge a core charge on some parts which is based on the scrap metal value of the part. Many of these yards turn cars over quickly. They want the cars stripped quickly and then crushed. Cars stay at these yards two to four months before they are crushed for scrap metal. There are some exceptions to the rule; I have a family owned u pull it yard that keeps cars for a long time before they crush them. Prices at old car self service junkyards are significantly cheaper than the new car junkyards.

I assume that if you are considering buying a $3,000 used car then you are probably also interested in cheap used parts. We can apply what you learned about junkyards to pick a vehicle that has cheap used parts. The first criteria is that your vehicle needs to be at least 8 years old. Now is where it gets more complicated. You need to consider what years are the same model. For our Buick Park Avenue we can take parts from 1997-2005. For our Honda Accord we can select from the years 2003 to 2007. 2003 to 2007 Honda Accords are a lot rarer at u pull and pay junkyards. One of the reasons for the rarity is that a new car junk yard will buy a 2003 Honda Accord. I said that a new car junkyard wouldn't want an eleven year old car, but there is an exception to that rule. Parts from a 2003 Honda Accord can be sold to repair a newer 2007 Honda Accord. If you were involved in a collision with a 2007 Honda Accord then there is a very good chance that your insurance company will use body parts from a 2003 Honda Accord to make the repairs.

Below is a photo of the inside of a 2003 Honda Accord that I observed at the u pull and pay. This Accord had been at the u pull for six days.

Less popular cars at the junkyard take months to look like the Honda Accord in the photo.

Remember that you want to buy a used car that is the last year of your particular generation and is 8 to 10 years old. For example in 2014 you would want to buy a vehicle where the last year of that generation is 2006 or older.

Here is a real world example. A 1997 to 2002 Honda Accord is a much better choice than a 2003 to 2007 Honda Accord for used parts availability. I have verified this by checking the online inventory of several u pull it junk yards in my area. 2003 to 2007 Honda Accords are almost non-existent while there are plenty of 1997 to 2002 Honda Accords.

Older cars at junkyards aren't always worn out. Insurance companies are more likely to total and scrap an older good condition used car than a newer good condition used car. In many cases the newer used car will be rebuilt. Not many people are rebuilding a 2000 Honda Accord that was in a crash, but someone might rebuild a 2007 Honda Accord.

In 2014 a 2005 Buick Lesabre or Buick Park Avenue is a perfect vehicle since it is nine years old and the last year made.