About Core Charges

Today, let’s talk about core charges. You should know how they work and why companies like Powertrain Products issue that charge.

Basically, a core charge is an industry-standard that ensures a retailer gets its old product back. Because Powertrain Products sells re-manufactured engines, we are a recycler. That means we need the old product back to re-machine and sell it to someone else. More about core charges in this article.

Core Shipping

When you purchase an engine, you’ll see a shipping charge placed on your invoice for roundtrip shipping. This gets you your new engine as well as covers shipping for the core. This includes everything involved in getting your engine back to us. Whether it’s a lift gate delivery or residential delivery, the fee covers that. The Powertrain Products team schedules shipping and will send over the paperwork, which you will need when the core is picked up. 

In The Event Of Core Damage

Customers often ask, “Well, my engine threw a rod, is there going to be a charge for that?” The engine is cracked. Is there going to be a charge for that?”

The answer is two parts. With damage, it’s pretty simple. If the engine spins three hundred and sixty degrees, doesn’t have any visible holes or signs of damage, then you get full credit. If you believe that there’s damage that may result in a chargeback (like it threw a rod, it blew a hole out the side of the block, or it’s cracked), it’s best to talk with your salesperson at the time of sale. Sometimes we can advise you exactly what the credit or the chargeback would be off of it upfront, sometimes it’s best for us to see it first. In most cases, we can give you an idea of what you’re looking at, and as long as we get it back and there are usable parts in it, we can generally get you at least half of your core credit back.

Hopefully, this answers all of your questions about core charges on re-manufactured engines. If you have any additional questions, please contact us.