Cold rollled vs hot rolled steel

Hi everyone, I work at a tech school and we end up with about 3 tons of clean welded coupons every week. This metal is high when I buy it from the metal distributor. Seems cold rolled for auto production is higher than hot rolled carbon steel. What should I be getting out of it from our salvage yard after we do practice welds on it? I'd tell you what I am now getting, but I feel that we are getting ripped off and I don't want to look like a sucker just yet. Oh I am in North west TN. :eek:thanks