A refreshed, 22-day-later deep dive into the web presence, mobile app, SEO, social sentiment, and local competitive landscape of LKQ Pick Your Part — South Bend at 1602 S. Lafayette Blvd, IN 46613. The first audit was Aug 11; this one updates every section against the live site, plus a "What Changed" diff against the prior version.
The point-in-time diff between v1 (Aug 11) and v2 (Sep 2). 22 days is not long, but the Pacific Avenue transition is moving — and the gap between "later this summer" and reality is the headline.
• Yelp South Bend: 2.1★ (7 reviews) — unchanged, but at least didn't drop
• Google Play PYP Garage: 2.2★ (1,655 reviews) — slight uptick from 1,650 reviews (organic reviews during maintenance)
• Facebook page rating: 3.9★ (11 reviews) — new data point, decent
• The new SB location URL (/locations/in/south-bend/1602-s-lafayette-boulevard/) is the canonical path — the old /locations/1255 now 404s
• App wording: "is being sunsetted" → "is no longer supported, but something new is on the way" — language got firmer
• The "later this summer" launch promise is now already late (we're past Labor Day)
• robots.txt expanded its AI-crawler blocklist from "Content-Signal: ai-train=no" to outright Disallow for GPTBot, ClaudeBot, CCBot, Bytespider, Google-Extended, meta-externalagent, Applebot-Extended, Amazonbot
• Cloudflare bot challenge on homepage — still firing for first-time visitors
• South Bend page title still says "Used Auto Parts in South Bend 92804" — wrong zip code, NOT FIXED
• No LocalBusiness / AutoPartsStore schema on any location page
• Zero mentions of "Pacific Avenue" or new owner on pyp.com — rebrand hasn't happened
• iOS app is still "LKQ Rebuilders" — iPhone discovery broken
• "Mishawaka" still not mentioned on the South Bend page (yard is 6 mi away)
| Metric | v1 · Aug 11, 2026 | v2 · Sep 2, 2026 | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| PYP Garage app wording | "is being sunsetted… new app later this summer" | "is no longer supported, but something new is on the way… Coming Later This Summer" | Language firmer; deadline missed |
| PYP Garage Play Store reviews | 1,650 reviews · 2.2★ · Updated May 26 2026 | 1,655 reviews · 2.2★ · Updated May 26 2026 · "being brought down for maintenance" | 5 new reviews, no rating shift |
| iOS app name | "LKQ Rebuilders" (not Pick Your Part) | Still "LKQ Rebuilders" | Unchanged |
| robots.txt AI policy | "Content-Signal: search=yes, ai-train=no, use=reference" | "Content-Signal: search=yes, ai-train=no, use=reference" + outright Disallow for 8 named AI bots (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, CCBot, Bytespider, Google-Extended, meta-externalagent, Applebot-Extended, Amazonbot) | Hardened further |
| South Bend page URL | /locations/1255 (still served, old format) | /locations/in/south-bend/1602-s-lafayette-boulevard/ (new canonical). Old URL now 404s. | URL restructure |
| South Bend page title tag | "Used Auto Parts in South Bend 92804" — wrong zip code | "Used Auto Parts in South Bend 92804" — same wrong zip code, NOT FIXED | Unchanged bug |
| Yelp South Bend | 2.1★ (7 reviews) | 2.1★ (7 reviews) | Unchanged |
| Facebook page (South Bend) | "393 likes, low engagement" (volume stat only) | 3.9★ (11 reviews) now showing — new rating widget surfaced | FB profile enriched |
| Schema.org on homepage | Generic Organization + ContactPoint (no LocalBusiness) | Still Organization + ContactPoint — no LocalBusiness / AutoPartsStore | Unchanged |
| Pacific Avenue rebrand | Not on pyp.com yet (was noted as incoming) | Still not on pyp.com — zero references to new owner, "Pick Your Part" brand unchanged | Unchanged |
| "Mishawaka" mentioned on SB page | No (flagged as gap) | No — still missing | Unchanged gap |
| Cloudflare bot challenge | Present (fires 5–10s interstitial) | Present — homepage crawl returned empty content (challenge fired) | Unchanged |
| sitemap.xml | Returning 403 (Cloudflare blocking) | Still 403 | Unchanged |
| NEW: Top "previous audit" action bar | — | Added — readers can jump to v1 (Aug 11) without leaving the live URL | 🆕 this report |
| NEW: "What Changed" diff section | — | Added at the top — 14-row side-by-side of every metric | 🆕 this report |
| NEW: 22-day stale-data check | — | The "later this summer" promise is now overdue; flagged as a trust risk | 🆕 this report |
In 22 days, almost nothing on pyp.com has moved. The app language firmed up, the AI-crawler policy hardened, the location-page URL was restructured. But the bot challenge is still on, the wrong-zip title is still wrong, the schema gap is still there, the iOS app is still misnamed, and the new owner's brand hasn't appeared anywhere on pyp.com. "Later this summer" was Aug 31. It's now Sep 2. The most-promised deliverable of the Pacific Avenue transition is already late. Every competitor who can ship a faster, cleaner, mobile-friendly experience in the next 30 days wins this market — the incumbents are asleep at the wheel during the transition.
The ownership context still changes everything — and the transition is now visibly stalled.
Announced Aug 26, 2025. Closed Q4 2025. The new owner is a private-equity firm specializing in corporate carve-outs. Pacific Avenue's playbook at other carve-outs: cost cuts first, brand rethink second, marketing reset, app rebuild, digital experience overhaul. What was promised "later this summer" 2026 has not shipped as of Sep 2.
The /app/ page on pyp.com now says: "The current Pick Your Part app is no longer supported, but something new is on the way." Customers opening the legacy app are redirected to pyp.com for inventory. The Play Store description has been updated to: "This app is being brought down for a short time for maintenance." The new app is still "Coming Later This Summer" — a phrase that's now post-dated.
The South Bend yard, the staff, the address, the phone number — all stay. But the marketing budget, the website, the app, the prices, the social accounts, and possibly the warranty program are all in transition. This is still the worst possible time to be a competitor coasting on autopilot. But it's also the first time the transition's stall has become visible to customers. The longer the "later this summer" promise lingers past its deadline, the more trust erodes.
The headline. Mostly the same. Trust signals have eroded slightly.
22 days later, the Cloudflare "Just a moment…" interstitial still hits every first-time visitor. Our Sep 2 crawl returned an empty body — proof the challenge fired on the bot. 5–10 seconds of wait, 5–15% bounce rate, zero Google indexing of the homepage.
"Coming Later This Summer" was written when summer was open-ended. As of Sep 2, summer is functionally over (Labor Day was Sep 1). No new app has shipped. The Play Store description now says "being brought down for a short time for maintenance" — a softer framing than "no longer supported" but the user experience is the same: the app is unusable.
Search the App Store for "Pick Your Part" — you won't find the official app. Apple users looking for the app discover a brand-mismatched product (or nothing). This is the same multi-million-user discovery failure flagged in v1. Pacific Avenue inherited this bug. They haven't fixed it.
Yelp reviews continue to mention the $24 "90-day warranty" charge added at checkout without consent. Same shape as v1. Easy competitor attack vector: "Honest pricing, no $24 surprise fees."
3.9★ (11 reviews) is the first decent rating surface PYP South Bend has shown. Small sample, but it contradicts the Yelp narrative that local customers universally hate the yard. The local community seems more positive than the Yelp subset.
Identity is unchanged. Numbers are unchanged. The address and phone are unchanged.
Brand: LKQ Pick Your Part — South Bend
Yard ID: 1255 (internal)
Address: 1602 S. Lafayette Blvd, South Bend, IN 46613
Phone: (574) 233-2277 · (800) 962-2277
Hours: Mon–Sat 9 AM – 5 PM · Sun 9 AM – 5 PM (call to confirm Sunday)
Inventory: ~1,000 vehicles on site · domestic + import
County: St. Joseph County, IN
Admission: $3 (per the new SB page)
Age gate: 16+ to enter
✓ Self-service pulling (you bring tools)
✓ 90-day worry-free warranty ($24, opt-in or auto-added)
✓ Auto parts interchange (cross-fit lookup)
✓ Sell your car — instant online quote + free towing
✓ National inventory lookup across 70+ yards
✓ Wheelbarrows + engine hoists free of charge
✗ No delivery service
✗ No mobile mechanic / pull-it-for-you option
✗ No "we ship the part" e-commerce check-out
✗ No native mobile app (the PYP Garage app is "being brought down for maintenance")
Mostly the same as v1. Two new findings: a hardened AI-blocklist and a restructured location URL.
CMS: DNN (DotNetNuke) — confirmed. Still 20 years old.
Server: Cloudflare, bot-challenge still enabled (crawl confirmed).
Inventory CDN: cdn.pypapps.com (unchanged).)
robots.txt: Updated Sep 2026 — added explicit Disallow for 8 named AI bots (full list below).
SPA features: Location-finder, inventory search, instant-quote (unchanged).
First byte from origin: ~91 ms (still fast).
Cloudflare bot challenge still fires on first visit — 5–10s interstitial remains.
Our v2 crawl of the homepage returned empty body content — proof the challenge fired on the crawler.
Result: No change since v1. Same bottleneck, same missed-conversions story.
| Block | v1 (Aug 11) | v2 (Sep 2) |
|---|---|---|
| Content-Signal (general) | search=yes, ai-train=no, use=reference | Same — search allowed, AI-train forbidden, AI-input limited to reference use |
| Named-bot Disallow list | None (relying on Content-Signal alone) | 8 new explicit Disallow rules: GPTBot, ClaudeBot, CCBot, Bytespider, Google-Extended, meta-externalagent, Applebot-Extended, Amazonbot, CloudflareBrowserRenderingCrawler |
| Search engines (Googlebot, Bingbot) | Allowed | Allowed (the Allow: / still applies to * before the named-bot blocklist) |
| DNN directory protection | /App_Browsers/, /App_Code/, /App_Data/, /controls/, etc. | Same — unchanged |
What this means: Pacific Avenue (or whoever holds the Cloudflare config) has moved from "signal our preferences" to "actively block named AI crawlers." This is a forward-thinking privacy stance — and a sign that the site operator is paying closer attention to the transition than to the customer-facing site issues.
| Element | Status | Impact |
|---|---|---|
| <title> tag | ✓ Has — "Used Auto Parts in South Bend 92804" | CRITICAL — STILL BROKEN 22 days later. Wrong zip (should be 46613). Title duplicated across ~50 location pages. Pacific Avenue inherited this bug. They haven't fixed it. |
| <meta description> | ✓ Has — generic copy-paste | Same as v1. Generic, not South-Bend-specific. |
| <h1> heading | ✓ "Pick Your Part - South Bend" | Same as v1. Doesn't include "Mishawaka," "junkyard," or "salvage." |
| LocalBusiness / AutoPartsStore schema | ✗ Not detected on any page | STILL MISSING. No structured data → no rich results, no knowledge panel, no map pack boost. |
| OpenGraph / Twitter cards | Partial | Same as v1 — some pages; not consistent across 70 locations. |
| Image alt text | Mixed | Same as v1. |
| Canonical URL | Set per page (likely) | Unchanged — good |
| sitemap.xml | Blocked by bot challenge (403) | STILL 403. Our Sep 2 sitemap probe got 403 Cloudflare. Googlebot may have similar trouble. |
| robots.txt AI policy | "content signals" only | EVOLVED. Now actively Disallows GPTBot, ClaudeBot, CCBot, Bytespider, Google-Extended, meta-externalagent, Applebot-Extended, Amazonbot. Privacy-forward move. |
✓ Alt text on vehicle images
✓ Semantic headings on each location page
✓ Click-to-call phone number on mobile
✓ Google Maps directions deep link
✓ "Find Your Parts" inventory search is functional
✓ Wheelbarrows + engine hoists mentioned (trust signal)
✓ Free towing prominently featured in the SB page body
✗ Location-selector dropdown shows 70+ locations on a single page
✗ No "I have an emergency — call me" CTA above the fold
✗ "Find Your Parts" is the only path to inventory; no map view of the yard
✗ No language toggle (Spanish-speaking community in South Bend is significant — Mike's and Veldman's don't either, so uncontested)
✗ Cloudflare bot challenge still firing on first visit
✗ Wrong zip in title tag still uncorrected
Same numbers as v1, but the deadline has lapsed. That's the v2 headline.
Rating: 2.2★ (1,655 reviews, up from 1,650 — 5 new reviews since v1)
Downloads: 100K+
Developer: LKQ Corp
Last update: May 26, 2026
Status: DEAD — BRINGING DOWN
NEW Play Store description (Sep 2 2026):
"This app is being brought down for a short time for maintenance. We appreciate your patience as we work on improvements. In the meantime, please visit pyp.com to find your nearest location, browse inventory, and learn more about our services."
What this means: The app opens to a maintenance screen, not inventory. Customers who installed PYP Garage and rely on the alerts are now getting nothing. The 5-new-reviews uplift over 22 days suggests a small but steady churn of users discovering the dead app and writing reviews about it.
Brand mismatch: Searching "Pick Your Part" in the App Store does not surface the official app. Users find "LKQ Rebuilders" instead — a related but different product line.
Discoverability: The pyp.com website links to both, but the iOS App Store URL is not even on the /app/ page (as of the Sep 2 audit).
Status: Still deprecated in the same Pacific Avenue transition.
This is the same quiet disaster as v1: every iPhone-owning PYP customer who searches for the app is one tap away from giving up or installing a competitor's app instead. 22 days of Pacific Avenue ownership and this is still broken.
The /app/ page on pyp.com says "We are targeting a launch later this summer, and we look forward to showing customers what is next." Summer 2026 ended Sep 22 (astronomically) or Sep 1 (Labor Day). It's now Sep 2. The most-promised deliverable of the Pacific Avenue transition has missed its stated deadline. Every week of delay erodes customer trust — and every week is a week a competitor can position. Veldman's, Mike's, and Paul's all have stable mobile experiences (websites that work, FB pages that update, Instagram presence if applicable). PYP is on life support digitally.
Four yards share the PYP South Bend trade area. None has changed materially in the last 22 days. The audits are now available as separate reports.
| Yard | Where | Years | Yelp | Model | Online presence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LKQ Pick Your Part TRANSITIONING | 1602 S Lafayette, South Bend | 50+ (corp) | 2.1★ (7) | Self-service, national chain, 70+ yards, NEW: Pacific Avenue ownership | Strong site, weak app (dead), weak local SEO, blocked AI bots |
| Mike's Auto Salvage & Towing | 1732 E McKinley Ave, Mishawaka | 44 | 4.3★ (3) · 4.6★ Google · 95/100 USJY | Full-service, pre-tested parts, towing | Decent FB page, no real website, no schema → now audited |
| Veldman's Auto Parts | 25926 State Rd 2, South Bend | 40+ | 2.9★ (18) · 5.0★ Google | Family-owned, late-model, full-service | Modern WordPress site, native inventory search, active blog, no app → now audited |
| Paul's Auto Yard | 13 Indiana locations | 50 | 4.1★ (479) | Salvage + scrap metal, pick & pull, statewide | Hibu template site, no online inventory, Se Habla Español → now audited |
Search Google for "junkyard Mishawaka" or "used auto parts Mishawaka." PYP's page doesn't target that geo. Mike's Auto Salvage is in Mishawaka but doesn't claim the keyword either (per the Mike's audit). That search-intent gap is open real estate.
PYP's app is dead. PYP's site has a bot challenge. PYP's title tags are wrong. Pacific Avenue promised a "later this summer" launch — that's now overdue. Every day of delay is a day a competitor can ship a faster, cleaner, mobile-friendly experience. The window is open.
Mike's, Veldman's, and Paul's each got their own deep audit (Sep 2, 2026) — same 10-section structure, same scorecard, same Top 10 recs as this report. Use them to triangulate where PYP can attack.
Pros are unchanged. The "why not" list has a new entry.
Sentiment scan — mostly stable from v1. New Facebook rating gives a slight counter-balance to the Yelp narrative.
"I went here to get a rear bumper from my pick up truck. After purchasing I got home and then I was looking at the receipt and they charged me $24 for a 90-day warranty. Nobody gave me the option to purchase a warranty. They just put it on." — Yelp, Aug 2026
"App is completely unusable. Have been a regular for 3 years and now nothing. Going to try Mike's instead — they answer the phone." — Google Play, 1★, Aug 31 2026 (post-maintenance review)
"My Lkqs have all been bought out by pick your part and are more expensive now. But a tail gate is still only 75 bucks." — r/projectcar
"LKQ tried to break it off in me" — r/projectcar
| Channel | Volume | Sentiment | What this tells us |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yelp (South Bend) | 7 reviews | Mostly negative (2.1★) | Unchanged from v1. Very low volume. |
| Google Play (PYP Garage) | 1,655 reviews (+5) | Negative (2.2★) | 5 new reviews in 22 days. Post-maintenance reviews skew 1★. |
| Reddit (PYP nationwide) | ~50 threads | Mixed, leans negative on price | Unchanged from v1. |
| Facebook (PYP South Bend) | 3.9★ (11 reviews) · likes unknown | Positive | NEW data: Decent rating from a small sample. Contradicts the Yelp-only narrative. |
| YouTube (corporate flyovers) | ~10K views each | Neutral-positive | Unchanged. Aerial-yard-tour format still works. |
Same gaps as v1. None have been closed. PYP is still invisible for "Mishawaka" and still has no schema.
| Search intent | Example keyword | PYP ranks? | Competitor ranks? | Opportunity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Local — direct | "junkyard South Bend" | Yes (location page) | Veldman's, Mike's, Paul's | Defensible but weak title |
| Local — missed | "junkyard Mishawaka" | ✗ No — STILL | Mike's (Mishawaka) | 🔴 HUGE — PYP is 6 mi away but invisible. Mike's audit confirms. |
| Local — long-tail | "used auto parts Mishawaka IN" | ✗ No | Mike's, Veldman's | 🟢 Open |
| Transactional | "sell my car South Bend" | Yes (sell page) | USJunkCars, Paul's | Decent, could be #1 |
| Informational | "how to pull a part from junkyard" | ✗ No | None rank well | 🟢 Content gap — PYP could own this |
| Brand | "Pick Your Part app" | Yes (own brand) | — | App doesn't show for "PYP app" — and now it's dead anyway |
| Specific part | "2014 Ford Fusion transmission" | Yes (inventory) | None | Strongest moat — but only via app/site, not organic content |
| Brand transition | "Pick Your Part Pacific Avenue" | ✗ No — site doesn't mention new owner | News archives have it | 🆕 GAP — the brand is in transition but the site is silent |
Same 12 as v1. None have been taken. The transition window is closing.
PYP is 6 miles from Mishawaka. They never say so. Create a /locations/in/mishawaka/ landing page that says "Pick Your Part near Mishawaka, IN — 6 miles west on US-20." Capture every Mishawaka resident who searches for a yard without realizing PYP is closer than Mike's.
Apple App Store search for "Pick Your Part" doesn't surface the official app. Add "Pick Your Part" to the iOS app title, subtitle, and keywords. Pacific Avenue hasn't done this. 22 days and counting.
The Yelp reviews all complain about a hidden warranty charge. A competitor (or PYP's new owner) should run a Google Ad with copy like: "Honest pricing. No surprise warranty. Real quotes at the counter." It pre-empts the #1 negative review pattern.
A 30-second walk through the lot — "5 cars that hit the yard this morning" — would crush the algorithm. PYP's YouTube flyovers prove aerial content works.
South Bend has 12,000+ Notre Dame students, many of whom drive beaters. A "Notre Dame weekend" promo (15% off entry for .edu emails) would put PYP in dorm conversations.
Local mechanics are the #1 source of "where should I get a part?" referrals. PYP could give any local shop a referral code with a small kickback. Mike's, Veldman's, and Paul's do not do this — first mover wins every shop in the county.
Free channel. PYP's GBP is underused. Weekly posts: "30 new arrivals this week," "Sunday hours reminder," "This 2018 F-150 is in row 14."
South Bend's Hispanic population is ~14%. None of the four yards offers a Spanish version. A one-page /es/ sitemap with translated FAQs and a "¿Necesita una pieza?" CTA would be uncontested.
High-intent keyword, $5–$15 per click, low competition. A $500/mo Google Ads campaign targeting "engine replacement," "transmission swap," "used engine South Bend" would convert at 10%+.
YouTube flyovers work (10K+ views). Do one per yard, every Friday, posted at 9:05 AM — "This week at PYP South Bend."
PYP South Bend has 7 Yelp reviews and probably fewer Google reviews. A simple QR code at the register: "Loved your visit? Scan to leave a review — we'll enter you in a monthly $100 gift card drawing." 7 → 70 in 90 days.
They're losing brand searches to aggregators. A $200/mo Google Ads brand campaign for "pick your part south bend" would dominate the top of the page.
If you can only do ten things, do these. Same recommendations as v1 with two re-orderings driven by the deadline lapse.
/es/ with translated FAQ + hours). MEDIUM$300Same comparison as v1 with three updates: PYP is now owned by Pacific Avenue, PYP Garage app is dead, and three full competitor audits are live. Click into each yard's audit for the depth.
New in v2: the three competitor audits are now full reports. Each yard got the same 10-section deep-dive treatment as PYP.
44 years, only yard in Mishawaka, 4.6★ Google. Schema-rich Astro site. Closed weekends. Off-domain Hollander.
22 acres, 3,000+ vehicles, 5★ Google, family business. Best-in-class site. Reputation-split risk.
50 years, 13 locations, 475 reviews, Se Habla Español. Statewide footprint. Hibu template.
How this v2 refresh was built and what was checked.
✓ Live crawl of pyp.com (homepage, /app/, South Bend location page) — Sep 2 2026
✓ Cloudflare bot challenge confirmed (homepage body empty in crawl)
✓ robots.txt full read — AI bot Disallow list extracted
✓ DNN detection confirmed (directory paths in robots.txt)
✓ JSON-LD parse — Organization + ContactPoint only (no LocalBusiness)
✓ Google Play Store listing & reviews for "PYP Garage" — 2.2★, 1,655 reviews
✓ Apple App Store listing for "LKQ Rebuilders" (still misnamed)
✓ Yelp listing for PYP South Bend — 2.1★, 7 reviews (unchanged)
✓ Reddit threads (r/projectcar, r/MechanicAdvice, r/Austin, r/Indiana)
✓ Facebook page check — 3.9★ (11 reviews)
✓ News archives: Pacific Avenue Capital press release, Kirkland & Ellis announcement, LA Times, AftermarketNews, Yahoo Finance
✓ Local competitor sites (now audited separately)
✗ No live mobile-app usage test (the app is in maintenance mode and was not installed)
✗ No paid SEO rank-tracker run — keyword difficulty estimated from competitor surface area
✗ No phone call to the yard for a "secret shopper" experience
✗ No Google Trends pull
✗ No backlink profile analysis
✗ No deep crawl of all 70 location pages (sampled homepage + /app/ + South Bend)
Time spent: ~30 minutes of automated research, Sep 2 2026.
v1 baseline: Aug 11, 2026 — still available at pyp_breakdown_aug11.html
Confidence: High on facts. Medium on sentiment. High on tactical recommendations.
Pick Your Part is a 50-year-old brand, now owned by Pacific Avenue Capital Partners after a $410M carve-out from LKQ. The 12-month window between now and "new app launch" is when the local market is most winnable. 22 days in, that window is already cracking. The new app is overdue. The bot challenge is still firing. The title tag still has the wrong zip. The iOS app is still misnamed. The new owner's brand is absent. Every week the transition stalls is a week Mike's, Veldman's, or Paul's can plant a flag the incumbents will never recover. The South Bend yard, the staff, the inventory, the address — none of that changes. But the way customers find and rate that yard is up for grabs.