WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2018
BUSINESS
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A9
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STAFF PHOTOS BY E.J. HARRIS
A parted-out Ford chassis sits in the yard with engine and other mechanical information
written on the windshield.
Umatilla business is
truck reincarnation
9am-2pm at Hermiston High School
By JAYATI
RAMAKRISHNAN
STAFF WRITER
The property at Hager-
man, Inc. looks like a vehi-
cle graveyard, but it sees
every step of the truck life
cycle.
“This is where they come
to die and be reborn,” said
Brad Hagerman. “We seem
to do everything from cra-
dle to grave.”
Along with his father-
in-law Allan Chase, Hager-
man owns the truck salvag-
ing business. On the 40-plus
acre property tucked behind
Amazon at the Port of Uma-
tilla, rows of truck cabs,
hoods and tires sit outside,
ready for reuse. Buildings
and trailers are filled with
more parts, all waiting to be
given a second life.
When a truck comes into
Hagerman, Inc., the first
thing employees have to do
is drain it of fluids — before
they figure out what they
can salvage.
Hagerman points out a
truck waiting outside the
bay for a mechanic’s review.
“That truck has a bad
transmission, but it’s a good
truck,” he said. “We have to
decide — is it worth more
in parts, or is it worth it to
fix it?”
With a full-service
mechanic and tire shop,
Hagerman, Inc. takes out
and rebuilds transmissions,
rear-drive axles and, occa-
sionally, engines. But they
also sell individual parts,
most of which are salvaged
from wrecked trucks.
Customers can also buy
“take-outs” for a lower
price. A “take-out” refers
to the original part that
has been removed from a
wrecked truck and is still
in usable condition, as
opposed to one that’s been
rebuilt.
“We’ve got a lot of farm-
ers that don’t make a living
with their truck, but use it
as a tool,” Hagerman said.
“Whereas a guy going down
the highway may want to
pay a little more to get a
good transmission with a
rear end.”
Though the business has
existed since the 1980s,
Hagerman, Inc. was ini-
tially in trucking operation.
Both Hagerman and Chase
have had long careers in the
industry. Drivers used to
haul wood chips for Boise
Cascade, from the Port of
Umatilla to Wallula.
About a decade ago,
they decided to focus their
attention on salvaging truck
parts.
“We kind of morphed
into a semi truck wrecking
yard,” Hagerman said. “We
were buying a lot of used
parts from dealerships, and
thought that’s something we
might do.”
He said other people
began coming to them, look-
ing for parts they needed for
their own trucks.
“It got to be pretty
lucrative,”
he
said.
They still run a truck-
ing operation, but Hager-
man said it’s mostly hauling
their own inventory to Port-
land where they have a parts
shop.
Hagerman, a La Grande
native, started driving
Saturday, September 22, 2018
FREE Health & Wellness
Event for All Ages
Brad Hagerman, co-owner of Hagerman Inc., uses a forklift
to move a load of truck bumpers in the parts warehouse at
Hagerman Inc. recently in Umatilla.
An old Western Star tractor sits with its cab up in the parts
yard at Hagerman Inc. recently in Umatilla. Hagerman Inc.
has more than 300 chassis of semi-tractors that it has
parted out in their yard.
trucks in 1982, and did so
for more than 30 years.
Chase was in the trucking
business for five decades,
and owned Freightliner
dealerships in eastern Ore-
gon and Washington.
“I love trucking,” Hager-
man said. “I wanted to do it
in grade school, and that’s
what I ended up doing.”
“This is where
they come to die
and be reborn.”
Brad Hagerman,
Salvage owner
He praised his staff,
many of whom have been
with the company for years.
“I just basically have
my name on the building,”
he said. “It’s really (the
employees) who make this
thing run.”
Hagerman said many
people are surprised to find
out the business exists, as
it’s in a location with little
public traffic. But it allows
them to do things their com-
petitors in bigger cities
can’t.
“A lot of our competition
in Portland or Seattle can’t
afford to have 40 acres,” he
said. “They take some parts
out, and then throw the rest
away. Whereas we can keep
them — say a tachometer or
a speedometer, something
someone may use but they
don’t have room for all the
small stuff.”
In the past few years they
have started selling parts
online, which has expanded
their customer base — they
recently sold truck parts to
someone in Guam, and reg-
ularly sell in Canada and
around the U.S.
Warehouses on the prop-
erty are full of every part,
from transmissions and
engines to headlights and
mirrors. In the yard, work-
ers weave through long
rows of colorful truck hoods
and cabs, separated by man-
ufacturer. There are about
seven or eight major com-
panies, including Peterbilt,
Kenworth and Freightliner.
At the back end of the
property is a scrap metal
yard, with piles of flattened
cars stacked up.
“Once the truck is all
used up, we bring it out
here, smash the cab, tear the
hoods up,” Hagerman said.
They sell the scraps to steel
companies, including one in
Pasco.
As automated and elec-
tric vehicles become more
popular, Hagerman said
it wouldn’t take much to
make aspects of the busi-
ness obsolete.
“I know everyone is
now working on an elec-
tric truck,” he said. “That’s
going to change a lot of
things.”
Still, he said, it will be
a long time before diesel
engines disappear — and
the price means some peo-
ple still gravitate toward old
trucks.
“It used to be, a muffler
on a semi was $80,” he said.
“Now with new technology,
a muffler can be anywhere
from $3,000 to $20,000.”
Throughout the industry,
he said, people are strug-
gling to find mechanics.
“When I was a kid, I
loved semis,” he said. “We
used to have kids come
down all the time, and want
to sweep floors and learn
about trucks. But nobody
seems to want to be around
them anymore.”
But as of now, he’s not
worried. They recently pur-
chased some property adja-
cent to their current land,
where they will expand the
business.
And he’s still doing what
he wanted to do as a kid —
working with trucks.
“I don’t care if you’ve
been here 30 years,” he said.
“You learn something.”
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