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Chain yards vs independent junkyards

5,043 of the 5,296 junkyards in our directory (95.2%) are independents. The other 253 are locations of 30 multi-location yard groups, and the 5 groups with 10 or more listed locations account for 166 of them. Here is how the two compare.

Side by side #

Chain locationsIndependents
Listed yards2535,043
Share of all listed yards4.8%95.2%
Median Google rating4.14.3
Median number of reviews62960
Rated 4.5 or higher11.9%34.8%
Pull your own (review or website proof)76.3%10.7%
Full-service (review or website proof)18.2%19.9%
Buy junk cars (review or website proof)77.1%25.3%
Open on Saturdays85.8%52.6%
Open on Sundays71.9%10.8%

Ratings and review counts come from each yard's Google listing; weekend opening from the hours on that listing. Pull your own, full-service and buying cars count only when a customer review or the yard's own website says so, so busy chain yards with hundreds of reviews are more likely to have proof on record than a small yard with a dozen.

Yard groups with 10+ listed locations #

The largest group has 61 listed locations in 17 states. We are not affiliated with any yard or yard group.

#Yard groupLocationsStatesMedian ratingMedian reviewsPull your own
1 Pick Your Part 61 17 3.9 781 98.4%
2 Pick-n-Pull 45 15 3.8 831 100.0%
3 Pull-A-Part 31 15 4.3 1,029 100.0%
4 B&R Auto Wrecking 17 5 4.1 486 11.8%
5 Paul's Auto Yard 12 1 4.2 200 33.3%

"Pull your own" is the share of each group's listed locations with review or website proof of self-service. Download: junkyard-chains.csv

Share of independent junkyards, by state #

States with at least 20 listed yards, most independent first.

#StateYardsIndependentChainIndependent share
1 New Jersey 144 144 0 100.0%
2 Massachusetts 110 110 0 100.0%
3 Iowa 78 78 0 100.0%
4 New Hampshire 35 35 0 100.0%
5 Maine 34 34 0 100.0%
6 Montana 26 26 0 100.0%
7 West Virginia 26 26 0 100.0%
8 Wyoming 21 21 0 100.0%
9 Pennsylvania 280 279 1 99.6%
10 New York 192 191 1 99.5%
11 Arkansas 69 68 1 98.6%
12 Mississippi 64 63 1 98.4%
13 Michigan 206 202 4 98.1%
14 Minnesota 88 86 2 97.7%
15 Texas 488 476 12 97.5%
16 Wisconsin 148 144 4 97.3%
17 Missouri 137 133 4 97.1%
18 Utah 34 33 1 97.1%
19 Oklahoma 100 97 3 97.0%
20 New Mexico 33 32 1 97.0%
21 Kansas 65 63 2 96.9%
22 Ohio 234 225 9 96.2%
23 Illinois 153 147 6 96.1%
24 Rhode Island 24 23 1 95.8%
25 Florida 349 334 15 95.7%
26 Tennessee 132 126 6 95.5%
27 North Carolina 212 201 11 94.8%
28 Kentucky 94 89 5 94.7%
29 Maryland 67 63 4 94.0%
30 South Carolina 61 57 4 93.4%
31 Nebraska 43 40 3 93.0%
32 Colorado 69 64 5 92.8%
33 Virginia 96 89 7 92.7%
34 Georgia 174 160 14 92.0%
35 Arizona 88 81 7 92.0%
36 Connecticut 49 45 4 91.8%
37 California 503 458 45 91.1%
38 Washington 93 83 10 89.2%
39 Alabama 83 74 9 89.2%
40 Indiana 146 130 16 89.0%
41 Louisiana 61 54 7 88.5%
42 Idaho 37 32 5 86.5%
43 Oregon 65 49 16 75.4%
44 Nevada 21 14 7 66.7%

Download: junkyards-by-state.csv

How we count

A chain location is a yard whose name appears at three or more listed locations that share one website; locations of the national pull-your-own chains always count. Everything else counts as independent, including local owners with one or two yards and unrelated yards that happen to share a common name. Only yards listed in this directory are counted: Google files each one as a salvage yard, junkyard, auto wrecker or used auto parts store, and its name, reviews or website confirm it is a yard of vehicles or parts. Last updated 2026-11-08.

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