A wrecking yard (Australian, New Zealand, and Canadian English), scrapyard (Irish, British and New Zealand English) or junkyard (American English) is the location of a business in dismantling where wrecked or decommissioned vehicles are brought, their usable parts are sold for use in operating vehicles, while the unusable metal parts, known as scrap metal parts, are sold to metal-recycling companies. Other terms include wreck yard, wrecker's yard, salvage yard, breaker's yard, dismantler and scrapheap. In the United Kingdom, car salvage yards are known as car breakers, while motorcycle salvage yards are known as bike breakers. In Australia, they are often referred to as wreckers.

The most common type of wreck yards are automobile wreck yards, but junkyards for motorcycles, bicycles, trucks, buses, small airplanes and boats or trains exist too.

A scrapyard is a recycling center that buys and sells scrap metal. Scrapyards are effectively a scrap metal brokerage. They typically buy any base metal. For example, iron, steel, stainless steel, brass, copper, aluminum, zinc, nickel, and lead would all be found at a modern-day scrapyard. Scrapyards will often buy electronics, appliances, and metal vehicles. Scrapyards will sell their accumulations of metals either to refineries or larger scrap brokers. Metal theft is committed so thieves can sell stolen copper or other stolen valuable metals to scrapyards.

When an automobile is severely damaged, has malfunctioned beyond repair, or is not worth the repair, the owner may sell it to a junkyard. In some cases, when the car has become disabled in a place where derelict cars are not allowed to be left, the car owner will pay the wrecker to haul the car away. Salvage yards also buy most of the wrecked, derelict, and abandoned vehicles that are sold at auction from police impound storage lots, and often buy vehicles from insurance tow yards as well.

A salvage yard offering car removal services, allowing individuals to dispose of their old, non-functional vehicles responsibly, will usually tow the vehicle from the location of its purchase to the yard, but vehicles can be driven in. At the salvage yard, the automobiles are typically arranged in rows, often stacked on top of one another. Some yards keep inventories in their offices, listing the usable parts in each car, as well as the car's location in the yard. Many yards have computerized inventory systems. About 75% of a vehicle can be recycled and used for other purposes.

It is becoming increasingly common to use satellite part finder services to contact a number of salvage yards from a single source. In the 20th century, they were call centres that charged a premium rate for calls and compiled a facsimile that was sent to various salvage yards so they could respond directly if the part was in stock. Many of these are now Web-based with requests for parts being e-mailed instantly.

Often parts for which there is high demand are removed from cars and brought to the salvage yard's warehouse, so a customer who asks for a specific part can obtain it immediately, without having to wait for the salvage yard employees to remove that part. Some salvage yards expect customers to remove the part themselves (known as "self-service yards"), or allow that to be done at a substantially reduced price compared to having the junkyard's staff remove it. That style of the yard is often referred to as a "You Pull It" yard.

However, it is more common for a customer to call in and inquire whether the specific item they need is available. If the yard has the requested item, the customer is usually instructed to leave a deposit and to come to pick up the part at a later time. The part is usually installed by the customer or agent ("the customer's mechanic"), but some salvage yards also provide installation services.