Are there any real parts stores left?

B & G Auto Parts Corsicana TEXAS , Gary Pillings ( the machine ) , all he need's is a peice of the part or a ideal of what it came off of . If he ain't got it , he will have it with in 2 day's . He's the BEST in my area !

 

That one is right on the money.

 

the HAMB is an amazing resource
state exactly what you need and someone will have a part number for you
take the number to the parts store and (their) computer will find it

 

NAPA is about the only ones i would go to unless you have a car quest. i managed stores for NAPA for years and i just go in there and look up what i need or i hit what books i have here for my needs. and still get my discount got to love it, but there are still lots of old guys there and gear heads so you dont get stupid looks.

 

this guy carries it all from a ford model a to todays cars
Monroe Seal Fast
4630 Lake Rd. S
Brockport, NY 14420

585-637-3322

 

What gets on my tits about parts stores is they help the person on the phone BEFORE or DURING helping people in the store with money! Put the phone people on hold and help the person standing in front of you with CASH for christ sake!!! They make you stand like an IDIOT while they help some ass hole on the phone ! Pisses me right off!!

 

I have 1 left in my area.............SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL INDEPENDENT AUTO PARTS STORE.

 

theres been a part store in my town since the 50s or 60s. never been another one, there are still a bunch of small and family owned shops around here. Only time i go to autozone is if I have to and the other shops are closed

 

my parents owned a auto parts store growing up and i cant believe the diferece from when i was younger till now.i can remeber cross refrencing bearings and u joints with out even having to know the make .just bring the old one we will match it up.i still have people ask about my parents and they always say 'cant find parts people like that any more'. i went tothe local auto parts to get a pair drums turned the other day and they said we dont turn drums we sell them.i just got in the truck and left.heck i can remember turning drums and rotors as teenager working for my parents.times have changed

 

A new chain store just opened in my local town. I was told they (corporate) ran all currently registered VIN #s in the county and surrounding area, to find out what parts to stock in the store. The corporate people try really hard to make it all work with computer based knowledge. Think how hard it is for a good parts person to even try to help a customer, when all they have is this corporate computer data base stuff!

 

I agree 100% about the state of the auto parts stores. The old timers are retiring and even if one of the old guys wants to work at one of the stores today, he will not get a reasonable wage and will get a "later pops" remark from them.

I use the internet for just about everything. Rock auto, Fatsco, Northwest transmission, Mac auto parts, they know the part numbers and in general have very good service. Some of them are not so good (won't mention a certain Mopar guy), so when getting parts be very careful and examine the received parts for proper fit. I also use a Motors flat rate manual since they have the real parts numbers for the old cars.

Drove through Canon City, Co. back in 1970 and to me that town was the king of auto part stores. Today not many left. Sad!

 

Not that it helps you any but in Los Angeles NAPA is about as good as it gets.

I worked at Autobone in college 20 years ago, had the computers, and got paid minimum wage like any other flunky. Like someone else said, there are usually one or two guys around that actually know something, but they're harder and harder to find. I know the russian dude at the 'zone near my house has been there like 10 years, if I can catch him then I'm alright.

 

This is just my 2 cents but I work at an AUTO ZONE and yes ther are lots of issues with the way the compant does things and I dont agree with all of them but when some of you guys say that there all a bunch of idiots. Well that pisses me off so some of you guys should quit your fuckin jobs and become countermen! The everybody will be avle to get exactly what they want every time! And as far as the "chain stores" paying there people shit wages well its just not them I make more than 90% of the patrs men in town be it the chain stores or the independents. You have to remember that the majority of the people that come in looking for something have no idea what they actually need or want. Is the small majorityof people such as the folks on this board that actually now anything about what they are workin on.And then heaven forbid ya get them the wrong part then you the biggest dumb ass muther fucker on the face of the earth! Well thats what I think about that.

 

Get em killer! I'm behind you all the way!

 

The problem is that the chain stores don't pay a decent wage, so you get all the flunkies working there. When you don't pay well, the guys with the experience move on.

Try to find an independent parts store. Or, failing that, just look for the OLDEST parts store around! If it's super old, they must've been doing something right!

Nick

 

Hunt around your city for a real parts store...here's a hint--the front wall won't be all glass, and the workers won't have multi-colored shirts with pin-on name badges.
The place I use knows me by voice over the phone, and calls me by name when I walk in the front door. They've also just recently set me up with a business account so I can get parts cheaper. I've been rebuilding my '62 Suburban through them...if there's a chance it could be one of two different parts (like a Chevy throw-out bearing; long or short?) they send me out the door with both and tell me to bring back the one that doesn't fit.

The funniest thing was when my son needed a belt for his go cart, and I couldn't get to my regular place on Saturday so we went to Autozone on Sunday. As we get out of the truck, he says "It's a good thing we were too busy yesterday, because you'd have gone to the small store...and they probably won't have this belt. This place is big--they'll have it." It was like God wrote a movie script for what happened next. I said "Bigger isn't better, and with parts stores, you ALWAYS go to the little ones when you can. We're going to walk into this place, and the guy is going to ask what we need, and when we tell him, he's going to say they don't have go-carts in their computer, and he won't even know how to look it up." I then opened the door, and the manager was standing just inside, looked at the belt in Boy Wonder's hand and said "Is that for a go-cart or a mini bike?" I said yeah, go-cart. He looked confused for a second and said "We don't have go-carts in our computer...I'm not sure how we'd look that up." No lie...almost word-for-word what I'd told my son they would say not 15 seconds earlier. Boy Wonder's jaw hit the floor, he looked dumbfounded at me and I was "DAD--The Smartest Man In The World." After the manager stared at his computer for a second and repeated that he didn't know what to look for, I asked if I could just walk back behind the counter to where they keep the fan belts and match it up physically.

Boy Wonder has since learned the value of the small, family-owned franchise. So pick up your phone book and look for different parts stores, and for the next several projects you do, hit a new store each time until you find a real one.

And it won't be the one with the buffed tile floor.

-Brad

 

Hust Bros. in Marysville, Calif. One of the last TRUE parts stores left that I know of in Northern Calif. Went there the other day and bought a set of .40 over rings for a 303 Olds. for one piston. They broke a set for me for just the one piston. The only reason there is a computer in the store is for their inventory when they ring you up. Everything is looked up in manuals.

 

haha that has got to be one of the funniest things whenever i go get parts...i like going to autozone..lots of good times there haha.

 

I'm one lucky dude, living here in Bryan, Ohio! We've got the typical "big box" Autozone & NAPA stores which I hardly ever go near (for all the previously stated reasons), but we've also got 2 independant stores in town as well- Bryan Automotive and Chet's Auto. I can walk into either one of these smaller stores and they know who I am. Most of the time they remember what project vehicle I happen to be working on, and they usually have the parts on hand. The best part is, when I ask for an oddball part for the 1960 235 in my 1952 Chevy- they grab a BOOK and look it up! And sometimes they even LET ME LOOK THINGS UP MYSELF!! They do have computers, but they know when NOT to use them.

These types of parts stores are still out there, but you gotta spend your cash with them if you wanna keep 'em around.

 

Im doing the same thing, only with a 51, and I only go to the parts store when I see the car of an older guy in the parking lot that did the same thing I'm doing.

 

Last time I went into the Autobarn ( chain store ) down the road to get plugs and points for my 5 litre Holden ( over a million sold in a country of 20 million people ) , the owner was behind the counter.

He said, " We don't carry plugs or points. "
I looked at him confused and said, " this is a car parts store, yeh? "

He said, " HQ won't let us. I turn away ten guys like you a day. I can't fart without their permission. "

So at the next parts store," I'm after 8 NGK BP5FS spark plugs.'

The guy goes looking, and when he gets back says, " Will 7 do? "

Now I buy direct from their suppliers. Thats a pain too, but at least I can get somewhere...

 

Here in Tulsa we have a chain called "Bumper to Bumper". At least in my area, the parts guys are pretty sharp. Have the good brands too like Wagner, Carter etc. Local bigboxes have all gone to their own brand names. Unless its a small rural NAPA here, I get the same crappy help but, at least they carry repackaged major brand names.

 

My biggest gripe is the same as the hank,s . I would go to the parts store bring my old part and my cash. I usually would have to wait for them to get off the phone then they would awsner that phone ans leave me the brid in the hand to talk to someone who might buy something. We have a napa orellies and abumper to bumper and i have asked each one when that happened do you want to sell me a part or talk on the phone? I have walked out and quit doing buisness with all 3.I wish someone could explain to me why the phone customer was more important than me who was already in the store ready willing and able to buy? How was the treatment i recieved not rude? I now buy all my parts online. There is no sales tax wich is quite a savings because the sales tax in Pocahontas Ark is 11% OldWolf

 

I used to work the parts counter at a local VW shop while growing up. I was the kid who knew what part you needed by description rather than by a book listing and had all the fast moving prices in my head. I had many customers buy parts for their non-vw cars from me because I would take the time to search for the stuff. Now when you enter a parts store they act like it is too much trouble to get their ass off the chair and stop "texting" to help you. As with Gaspumper, I have found Rockauto.com to be the store for me. Cheap prices, good shipping and being able to choose the item myself. While I would love to support the local parts store, I think the new generation of counter guys (most, but not all) will only cost me gas to bring the wrong part back that they said "well that's what the book shows".

 

They did the same thing at the new car dealership, it seem's the idea is the guy in the store is already there - so you've got his money - vs. the guy on the phone is not there yet, so get him to come in. We did not agree with that and would help everyone in the proper order - no line jumping...

 

That is the difference between a real person doing the stock orders vs. computers that go by a sales history and round off quanities.

 

The grease monkeys at my FLAPS know just to hand over the book and let me tell them what part # I need instead of going on the computer.

 

I worked at a Speed Shop & parts store during and after my high school days. We didn't have computers and everything was either known or looked the up in parts BOOKS.
I don't think most of the kids working in todays parts stores could survive if they had to rely on manually looking up a part.
A couple of big-name parts stores around me did away with their parts books altogether and now some Rodders like you and me can't even look up the parts for them.
Just My Two-Pennys Worth.
Cooter

 

Don't think for a second that I am just some average bullshit customer. For my entire adult life I have worked in parts stores on and off, as has both of my brothers. YOU may search your computer, books, and call other places, but I'll be damned if I could find someone here to do that for me. I'll put it to you like this:if I walk into a parts store carrying an exhaust manifold (keep in mind I know exactly what it came off of) and ask the brilliant person behind the counter if he could look in a book and find me the gasket that fits it, because I know that the genius that wrote the computer software didn't factor in old cars, I wouldn't think it would be too hard to accomplish. But when he replies that he doesn't know how to, that's a bit irritating. And when he won't let me look, it's even more irritating. They have the resources, my brother was a parts guy as recently as 6 months ago and he could find me anything I could ever want. The last time I worked as a counter guy (2 years ago maybe) I could find anything a customer needed. I could care less about the average customer, the fact of the matter is if it is your job to sell auto parts, then sell auto parts. These stores have policy's that they install batterys and wipers for free. Yet most of the employees don't even know how to do that. When I started as a parts guy, the people I worked with were CAR guys. People that worked on cars, knew cars, and enjoyed cars. I said it before and I'll say it again, the computers killed the parts stores. And for the record, the gasket size was not my hat size (which happens to be a 7 1/4), I was lucky enough that my uncle had an old Fel Pro catalog laying around and I was able to find it and order it by number.
Now, I'm not saying all counter guys are clueless, I'm saying that to find one that isn't is pretty damn hard.

 

Thanks OldWolfe I thought it was just me!