Have you ever taken your car to the shop for what you thought would be a simple repair only to find out it would cost you four or five times as much as you had budgeted? Well you are not alone. Most people face this at one time or another.

Many times a large part of that cost is the amount a dealership is charging for a new part. The mark up on new parts is outrageous and in this day and time, something most simply cannot afford. But you need your car in working order so what is there to do? The choice is simple when you look at it from another angle. There are alternatives to purchasing new parts and that's what this article is about.

Once a car is driven even one time, essentially all the parts on it are then considered used parts. Using this philosophy, every car on the road actually runs on used parts all the time so it only makes sense to repair a car with them. Moreover, the good thing about doing that today is that it is much easier to find dependable used parts than ever before, thanks to the internet. Just go online and type in used parts and instantly you can find just about any part you need. If you locate the part across the country, that's not a problem either as most auto recyclers will ship the part right to your door.

Gone are the days of junk yards as just a place to pile up junked cars until they waste away to nothing. Junk yards are essentially a thing of the past and have been replaced with something new and better: the auto recycler. Auto recyclers are spread all across the country and are in the business of buying cars that are no longer operative. Many of these cars are vehicles that were involved in auto accidents and totaled out by the insurance company because they would be more costly to repair than they are worth. The secret is that most of these cars still contain parts that a in perfect working order, so the auto recyclers purchase them at salvage costs and then dismantle and store the good parts, sending what's left on to be drained of any hazardous materials which are then disposed of in environmentally safe ways. The left over metal is also recycled, to be used for new cars and new parts saving many of our non-renewable resources. In many cases, auto recyclers test the parts before reselling them and offer warranties on most parts they sell. That's good news for the car owner who needs parts to repair his vehicle because the average used part cost about a third of the price that dealerships ask for new parts. This savings goes a long way toward helping with that staggering repair bill. Not to mention how much better for the planet this option is.

So next time you take your car in for repairs, remember to let your mechanic know you are open to getting used parts to repair your vehicle. Your budget will thank you for it later.

Ronnie Tanner is a contributing writer at Quality Auto Parts. He writes about used auto parts and other industry specific topics.