New Tisdale Business - Shamrock

FTLComm - Tisdale - Saturday, August 18, 2001

Auto wreckers have had a difficult time of it in the past decade as fewer and fewer vehicles have been repaired. The once thriving trade of automotive repair has become the preserve of only a few remaining businesses simply because modern vehicles actually last longer and are built from components that can not be repaired but when they fail are simply replaced. In Tisdale we have five shops, Bow Mar Sales maintains a service department to compliment its dealership. The ESSO provides repair and service as does the Co-op and the Shell on main street. Vern Randal's shop provides comprehensive repair on personal vehicles and does safety inspections on school buses. In general this small number of businesses is a fraction of the number that existed as little as a decade ago. So it is remarkable that Shamrock Auto Recyclers LTD is opening up a business in the former agricultural farm machinery business that has been used by Schapanski Auctions for the past few years. We know that there is a market for used parts because new parts are very expensive and half the cost of repairing a car is the parts and half goes to labour. If we were to cut that parts cost down, perhaps more people would repair vehicles rather then just trade them off. One element that distorts the Saskatchewan autoparts market, particularly in body panels, is the recycling system operated by the provincial insurance company, SGI. The uniform and almost monopoly on older vehicles has artificially controlled the value of all Saskatchewan vehicles as SGI can set the price for writing off a damaged car and with wrecking yards around the province has almost total control of all used parts. We have tried in vain to get used parts from SGI for several vehicles and have found it very difficult to impossible. So perhaps there is a chance for Shamrock Auto Recycling to break into the market place. We certainly wish them luck and once they are open and functioning, Ensign will visit the operation and get the company's view on the way they see the marketplace.