Ecology Auto Parts – Foreign

Always find what I need, just remember ladies and gents, the mud isn’t always caused by rain. Sometimes the bathrooms are too far to walk for some people… yuck

Worst experience dealing with Ecology on the phone to buy a vehicle. Was quoted one price, called back and they refused to honor it.
Spoke with a manager and was basically told «so».

$ 2.00 to get in and hope you’ll find the part your looking for. I did! BUT I’ve been to way better lots with better and more selections of used cars to pick off of until its a bare shell and then theyll crush it and turn it into cans.
Pros: junk car parts
Cons: These lots are both in opposite parts of town.
It’s $ 2.00.
They put it on a muddy lot.

Overall:
? I guess its an OK junk yard.

I don’t know why my friend recommended me to go to this place, especially since I hated the Oceanside one. I decided to haul myself here after breaking the front interior handle of my car; personally I would’ve saved more money if I bought the handle on ebay.
What irritates me is the $ 2 fee to get in. It seems like a good deal if you buy a lot of parts, but super irritating if you can’t find what you need (which is exactly what happened). As it turns out, I’m not the only Toyota who has issues with the front door… practically all the Toyotas there had missing front door parts.
Most of the people that were there were older men who probably peruse this place frequently to buy parts and sell them for markup up. Most don’t speak English. The guy at the front thought I was Hispanic/​Latina and spoke to me in Spanish but immediately used broken English when he realized I couldn’t understand him. I’m Asian, although I’m sometimes mistaken for being Latin because of my dark skin… I don’t understand that as I don’t think I look anywhere near Hispanic.
A couple things I learned:
— Don’t go here if you drive an «economy» car like a Toyota, Honda, etc. Why? Because most people drive those cars and therefore, there’ll be less parts available.
— Do go here if if you drive a luxury car, esp. if it’s a Lexus or Mercedes. However, I speculate that individuals driving those cars would never resort to coming here.
Anyway, I was irritated and left… went to the dealer down the street and sucked it up and paid $ 50ish for the part I needed. Did I get ripped off? I guess. As some of my friends know, I’m all for instant gratification («waiting» is not in my vocabulary) and I can’t drive without an essential part my car needs. At least Toyota Chula Vista gave me what I wanted. My car handle is shiny mint and working for now, no thanks to Ecology Auto!

like sean m., i wish i could’ve given this place 0 stars. i tried calling earlier, because i was told they had a larger selection of cars, but the operator wasn’t helpful and when i asked if they had a newer 2000+ mazdas there she rude and said «whatever is there». I’m sorry, you have to be taking some sort of stock of whats there. I told her that I was coming from a far distance (north county) to come down there so it would save me the trip if she was some sort of help. none whatsoever. there weren’t too many people that were of help anyways either. what a waste of a drive and my money.

I wish I could give 0 stars.
I asked the employee at the entrance if they had any Scions inside. Attendant said he didn’t know, but Toyotas (Scion parent) are by the light post. It’s $ 2 to get in. There was posted a sign, Enter at Own Risk.
First of all, because of the recent rain, my feet sunk into the dirt and clay lot. I changed into shoes I planned would get somewhat dirty, but now these would take time to clean. Cost is adding up. That would have been all good if they had a single Scion car, any model, on the lot.
None. When I returned to the entrance 4 minutes later and asked for help to find Scion, if they had any, they said, «whatever’s there.» Now, come on. As employees day, after day on this lot, somebody sees what comes and goes. Hundreds of like questions are asked daily. You can’t help save me some time? You can’t help save me $ 2? You can’t return the $ 2 when I come back in less than 5 minutes because you don’t have a single Scion on the lot?
I used to go here a lot, it’s been about 3 years. They had lots of Scions. It’s a foreign car pick and pull. Do not waste your time, or money at Ecology Auto Parts Foreign. Instead, when you come up Nirvana Ave, make a left on Energy Way, and then a right at the end. There are more than 10 foreign part yards where you will find what you need.

Pretty decent selection of junk cars. Too bad it was muddy as Hell when we went. Ive been a customer ever since I learned to drive and if you get here early enough, meaning not too many poachers have already been through the car matches yours, then its not a bad place to buy used parts.
Its cheap, you pull the parts yourself and save a few bucks. Just be prepared to do some manual labor and bring your own tools. They dont loan out any tools. They will however supply wheel barrows

Stereotype me as being a «woman driver» but everyone makes mistakes. My mistake was destroying the front end of my car at a stop light when I thought the light had turned green when really it was still red and I rear ended a Tundra. My poor little Corolla all mangled up pulled into the nearest parking lot looking like well, it just got it’s face smashed in.
Luckily my husband is a car miracle worker and told me not to fear that we could replace my busted up hood and front end with a little help from our friends at Ecology.
Fast forward a weekend later to where I go to my first junk yard. Who would have thought that on my way to concerts at Coors Amphitheater that there were hoards of junk yards on the hills nearby? Ladies, if you go with your man wrap yourself in a burlap sack because the skeezy Mexican guys will look at you like you are a dancer at Little Darlings Strip Club.
Creepers aside, I was very impressed with the organization and size of this place! The Toyota section led a variety of cars in far worse condition than the one I mangled and tangled up. Want to change the color of your car and put a Hodge podge of parts on it? Take a screwdriver and it can be yours! It made me sad to see the cars out of service due to who knows what reason and wonder what the story of them was of how they got here. Since it is a pick your own part kind of place, make sure you have on some coveralls or super nasty old clothes that you don’t care about getting destroyed because you’ll do a lot of laying on the ground. Just make sure when you need new parts for your car that it isn’t right after a rainstorm with a bunch of mud puddles that would make any swine happy.
While we found a couple of parts for my car we didn’t get all of them but Ecology definitely helped out getting my baby back on the road!

Buyer beware. Their import selection is very limited. I was looking for a part for my Scion TC and they said at the door that they did have some parts. Well after paying their 2.00 entrance fee, I did not find any scions on the lot. So basically they make money off from telling people they have your part but they dont.

Better than average foreign-​make only self-​service auto junkyard. The domestics are across the street. One of the preferred places to checkout when I’m in the neighborhood.