FIND A PART CAR : Again, 90 percent of my business was professional, and most of my retailcustomers were street rodders and upscale DIY who wanted to do the jobright the first time at a reasonable cost - not necessarily the cheapest.My hours were 7:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. to cater to local garage hours, not9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. to cater to retail customers. We were closed onSunday.Trade journal surveys show that only 15 percent of car owners do their ownwork, and several stores in the area already cater to and compete for that15 percent retail side of the industry. And, as cars become more and morecomplex, that number continues to drop, so the retailers are really forcedinto selling the cheapest junk they can find in order to maintain theirshare of that shrinking market.
FIND A PART CAR : I focused on the 85 percent of the business that gave me several hundredI see people get chastised in this group because they didn't get theirtools from 'mac' or their parts from 'napa' or fill in whatever brand there is, but seriously, when you need something on saturday afternoonor on sunday the choice is sears and pep-boys. Where I currently live I am lucky enough to have a napa about 8 milesaway that is open to 8pm a few nights a week. Although this is an areawith few parts stores, most of them Carquests and napas with short hourscatering to the shops. With manny moe and jack becoming progressivelyworthless, and autozone not even good enough to rely on to have anythingof value in stock, so I try to squeeze things in at lunch or for thosetimes that napa is open late if I am willing to go that far out of myway. (it's the only thing out that way I go to) Luckily I can plan most everything in advance, and can avoid manny-moe-and-jackmost of the time.
FIND A PART CAR : As cars become more complex they become more expensive to have serviced, and that should ecourage more people to do their own work. Ever noticehow poorer neighborhoods are littered with parts stores compared to morewell to do ones where they are sparse? And pepboys on a saturday afternoon is crowded... and why not, that's all that's open once 1pm rolls around..... I can see your point, but being in that 10-15% of the market it gets to be annoying.Same here, although there's a decent parts store in Riverdale which usedto be close enough to drop in on over lunch. Now I have to leave workearly to hit the store, or else hit NAPA right at 7 AM and end up latefor work.As for AutoZone not having anything in stock, this is not true. As Ihave been repeatedly informed by the radio (before the shop stereo shatthe bed this afternoon) they have tons of those ultra kewl lightedexhaust tips.
FIND A PART CAR : Kragen...yuck! I bought an acell dist cap and some wires from themfor my Honda. Couple of days later, the cap caught fire. Hadthe car towed to Honda. A computer check up showed nothingwrong with the car. I had to take them to small claims torecover $300 in expenses. That's how much the value customers.I by and large agree with everything you said, but have had a differentexperience. Granted, I rebuild starters and alternators (as opposed to sellingchassis or ignition parts), but people are people. A young man came in one day with an alternator (CS130) that didn't work. Itold him it would be $65 to fix. He said he could buy that same alternator ata local store for the same price. I showed him the differences between what hewas buying from me and what he'd be buying down the street, but ultimately hedidn't care. He only cared that he could walk into the store and get what hewanted instead of having to wait an hour (even though his battery was stonedead and he was going to have to wait at least that long and preferably longerfor his battery to charge).
FIND A PART CAR : It is similar with professionals in my area, too. Granted, they get paid toget things in the shop and back out as soon as possible. Time is money. Theycall everyone else first to find out what is in stock and what is not. Whenthey find out that the unit they need isn't in stock in anyone's store, theywill order it from them even if it will take 2-3 days. When asked why they dothat instead of sending their starters and alternators to me to be rebuilt(usually less than 24 hours), they all say "your price is too high". Well ... maybe my prices are "too high", but would they rather get the carout or save $10? Apparently they'd rather save the $10 because some don't sendme their units anymore. If I did tons of warranty work for them, I'd say theybelieve my stuff is garbage (and with that many warranty repairs, I'd beinclined to believe them). But the reality is that when I go to their shopsfor work on my own cars (brakes, exhaust, etc.), I pay almost nothing for thoserepairs.
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