"The auctions need to be specifically for salvage dealers only," Hay said. "Now people are purchasing cars and shipping them overseas, and they let anybody in to the auction who wants to buy a car--even if they don't have a salvage license."

Hay said she believes the leniency in admittance has caused a 35 percent increase in cost per vehicle. 

 
Hay said that at the auctions, her business looks primarily for domestic, late-model cars and light trucks. She added that Don Schmid Salvage is old-fashioned when it comes to buying cars.

"We don't do our buying online; we will research and look at the cars online, but when it comes to buying, we have to touch it feel it," she said. 

Hay said Don Schmid opened the business in 1945 and owned it until he died in 1995. Shortly thereafter, she said Steve Motor Group purchased the salvage yard. Although ownership changed, the business continued to operate as Don Schmid Salvage.

Along with ownership and auctions, Hay and Manager Barry Peter said they have also seen a change in the parts that they sell. 

 
In the 1990s Hay said business was much heavier in collision parts but that the changing collision industry has led Don Schmid Salvage to focus more on mechanical parts such as motors, transmissions, and suspension.

Peter said he has become impatient with some of the body shops that expect to hang a part without putting any work into the process.

"I don't have time to deliver parts and go back to pick it up in 30 days after they tell me that it would have taken an hour to do something with that door," Peter said. "I am not much into chasing my tail for nothing."

Peter added that because so many wrecked vehicles are being considered total losses, he has altered how he sells specific parts.

 
"We don't do front-end assemblies anymore," he said. "We do pieces and parts rather than tell the customer that all we have is the whole front, because most likely if it needs a whole front, and airbags, it is probably a total loss anyway."

In the Wichita area, Hay said, there are 85 salvage yards. She added that Don Schmid Salvage sets itself apart from the competition through its involvement in the Kansas Automotive Recyclers Association (KARA) and the Automotive Recyclers Association (ARA) on the local, state, and national level.

"Being involved in these associations helps us to keep abreast of industry trends," Hay said. "They help to identify any problems in the industry and show …where the business is going. It also offers a credibility aspect." 

 
Hay said she is also a real stickler for quality control.

"We keep a very clean yard," she said. "Our motors and transmission are tested before we ever sell them. We will start the cars while the motor is in it, perform a compression check, or drive a car in the yard to check the transmission."

Hays said the yard generates a lot of business by involvement with www.car-part.com, which she said she joined in 2001, in its infancy.

"I was running the place when car-part started," Hay said. "They were offering their services for a small fee every month, and I didn't think it would turn into anything, and, boy, was I wrong -- it has taken over the industry."

Hay said the Web site allows her to sell parts to retail and wholesale customers throughout the country.

She said the breakdown between wholesale and retail is 65 percent and 35 percent respectively.

Don Schmid Salvage runs three delivery trucks that travel in about a 50-mile radius. Hay said she now has 700 cars on the 10-acre lot.