442_Mustang

I have found lately that none of the common auto parts stores seem to have much more than the absolute basics.I mean I can get brake pads for the wifes Caravan or an air filter for my F 150 but much more than that it seems I'm out of luck. I'm talking NAPA, Advance, O'ReillysCar Quest. etc. Unless I want light up shifter **** or some other item that will make me both fast and furious.
I needed a fuel tank sending unit for my '72 Cutlass and the only place that had a listing for it at all was NAPA. However, They were over twice as expensive as Rock Auto AND(This blew me away)they wanted me to pay almost 25.00 for shipping because the sending unit was in Kentuckee and the lock ring was in Illinois. I told them if I wanted to do that, I'd just order it from Rock for less than half and have it shipped to my door. My brakes were the same way. I replaced every soft part but every place needed to order it in from the warehouse(At least this stuff was in state.)... I ended up going to the old standby, Brake and Equipment.What a pleasure to deal with. I told the counter guy everything I needed, He entered it on the computer, processed my card, and when I turned around, there was a guy with a shopping cart full of everything i wanted.
Yesterday, I went on the hunt for an oil filter for my Olds. NAPA? Nope. have to order it. O'Reillys? Nope again. Advance? Yup. Only one in stock and on the computer it said limited to parts on hand. I assume they will not order any more.I dunno. I will have to stock up on em, I guess.
Now, I agree that the sending unit is a bit on the unusual side of the parts world but looking at the part cross check, it's a pretty commonly used item and I'd think there's at least one in the state. Brake stuff...C'mon. I'm about done patronizing the local merchants. Not because I want to. I have no problem paying more for service and being able to look at what I'm buying. I had no problem with the price at NAPA being twice what Rock Auto was but when they want me to pay for shipping???No thanks.
Anyone else running into this?

The Stickman

Unfortunately yes. Now we have a speed shop by my parents place that has been around for years. the guy knows everyone by name and says hey (your name hear) when you walk in the door. No computers just catalogs. You need it he can find it. And thats even if you don't know what you need. Just walk in and say I need something to do this. He will find you the part. Prices are a bit higher. And more than 30 minutes away. So we don't use him for everything. But we try to use him when we can.

stan 65 cutlass

today our install crew said the heater core is leaking in the 1 ton again, aluminumn grumman, a few years ago the rad shop recored it for $300, today they foned lordco automotive and 1 in stock, complete for $58, not the quality but its probably aluminum as well so maybe electrolosis wont destroy it

firefrost gold

No just the need for our parts Thanks to inline tube, bap, fusick. and other great vendors we still have a chance jmo

dhoff

I work for a small (14 store chain) autoparts and in defense the market is so huge now with the number of domestic and forgein cars and the change in parts every couple years, i can see where there would not be much stock for a classic car. The average chain wants a part to turn over 5 times a year, that is all tracked by computor and when a part # slows down it is phased out. 30 years ago when I started there were basic parts that fit gm, Furd, and Chrysler and that was it, someone came in for a forgein car part they knew they would have to wait for it.

Lady72nRob71

dhoff seemed to have hit the nail on the head - idle inventory is mega $$ to stores.
Most of the cars on the road are 10 years old or less, so they make more by selling those parts. Car crafting is not really dying, but as they get older, less parts are sold for them.
Yes, even oil filters are getting hard to find. I got the last one from Oreillys a few months ago. Stock up on those, as they will keep.
Now days i rely on rockauto. Easy and usually cheaper. I get the most I can from a shipping charge and store away what i do not need.

Olds64

I like the skull shift *****, light up door locks, and 5" monster tachometers with a shift light. It makes my car go fast!

2blu442

Slightly different twist but an observation. The last swap meet I went to it seemed like the majority of the people had grey hair. For every person under 30 there were easily a dozen that were over 50. I do think interest in our hobby is dropping from when I was a kid.

Try going to an event for people who restore to original the 1920's and 30's cars. Those guys are going away fast! A buddy at work restored a 1917 Ford and he said that fully restored cars can be purchased for way less than they could have in years past. He believes it's due to the demand going down, fewer people into that hobby.

John

DarrylJ

I had good luck with Autozone believe it or not! They had a starter in stock for my 71 and it was less than I expected. $50.00 for a reman Duralast, works great!

lshlsh2

I also recently had a good expierence at advance. I needed both the headlight switch on the dash and the floor switch high-low. Both in stock 14.99 and 6.99. I was figuring on trying rock auto.

Larry

joe_padavano

I think there are a couple of issues. The first is simple supply and demand. Today's cars are too complex for the casual owner to repair them, plus they really do break down much less often. Parts stores pay for square footage, so stocking an item that they might sell once every couple of years makes no economic sense. The other thing is that online retailers have made it much easier to simply order something from your computer and have it dropped on your doorstep from a central warehouse within a couple of days.

I do know that Advance Auto can order pretty much anything in the Summit or RockAuto catalogs, and they will price match. The problem is that this takes TWO trips to the Advance store, whereas using the online vendor takes NO trips. Of course, large items incur a large shipping cost, so you need to trade shipping cost vs. sales tax for a local buy. I did this recently for some exhaust pipes and ended up going with Advance. They matched the RockAuto price and saved me $60 in shipping. Even with sales tax, I came out about $45 ahead.

The bigger problem I have with any auto parts store today (national chain or local mom-and-pop store) is the nearly universal lack of ability to find anything that isn't in the computer - and frequently the computer listing is wrong! I often get into arguments with the counter person until I can force them to turn around and pick up the paper catalog. I had one guy swear to me that they didn't have a common 5 1/4" air horn gasket for a Q-jet, because it wasn't in the computer listing for my 84 Custom Cruiser. Naturally, he eventually DID find it...

don71

You got that right.

I've gotten pretty good a giving them an application......and its not even what I'm working on, to get my parts. Ed, behind the counter, says "What are we calling it today?"

I'm lucky to have an Oriellys where they know me, and its really an asset. But, sadly there are no headers or 4 bbbl's hanging on the wall. Yea, its those lighted shifter ***** too.

gearheads78

I gave up a long time ago and started doing the same thing. I go in to a store and the think I am working on 4-5 cars at a time.

1969w3155

Went to get AC spark plugs for my '71, no one had 'em in stock, ok, how about champions or ngk? nope, finally got a set of autolites.

ijasond

I've actually had really good experiences with my local Autozone, but some not so good experiences with other Autozone branches.

a64olz

Not dieing just a different breed, different times. Some of the 20 something hot rodders now build "old skool" 5.0 Mustangs, 80's 90's cars are the 60's 70's cars of the over 40 guys. Friend of mine has a 22 year old son and over at his place there are 5.0 parts all over the place, GT-40 heads stacked up like cord wood, headers and x-pipes stacked against the wall, 5.0 blocks banded on pallets, it go's on and on. The kid calls my Olds the Oldsmopile I call his Ferd a Muskrat. I consider this kid and his buddies true "car crafters". On most evenings when you pull up to the house there are several Muskrats out front, as well as a home built 10 second "Skrat" in the garage under going a never ending build. Young guys with greasy hands, smellin like gear lube, they have no problem getting parts for there choice of cars. Kind of reminds me..............

442_Mustang

I bought the sending unit from Rock Auto for around 45.00 including shipping and the price from NAPA was about 75 with shipping. As I said. It wasnt the price. it was the lack of service. The guy at my local speed shop is great and can tell me what I need when I try to explain my malady but I can't get brake wheel cylinders and stuff there. Maybe I just live near a bunch of clowns but all of the parts places just repeatedly disappoint me.

redoldsman

It all comes down to computers guys. The parts books are on computers as has been mentioned. How many times have they said the computer says we have x number in stock and there are none on the shelf. And then of course we all get "that is the one the computer shows for it". That happened to me at O'Rielly and a master cylinder for my cutlass. The inventory turn mentioned earlier is calculated by a computer. If they don't sell enough of them in a year, they quit carrying it. This is just good business sense. Then we have most everything on newer cars controlled by computers and it takes a computer in many cases to diagnose it. That leads to fewer people doing maintenance on their cars. And finally, computers allow us to buy from folks like Rock Auto or online from the retailers. And then, computers allow us to communicate on boards like this which has nothing to do with parts houses. This is how I see it.

joe_padavano

The problem with computers is garbage in-garbage out. Interesting you should mention the inventory turn. I don't know how many times I've been told that "the computer shows X number in stock" but there have been none in the store. Of course, since the omniscient computer "knows" that there are units in stock, none are ordered, so then NEVER get more into the store. It's not just auto parts stores. I've had this experience at Home Depot, Tractor Supply, and other stores.

As an aside, the title of this thread shows that it's not just car crafting that's "dieing" out. Apparently spelling is taking a hit also...

citcapp

This thread is one of the reasons I hang out on this site. If you cannot find something post it here and someone has most likely already solved the issue and can send you in the right direction and sometimes even with a part number which helps when you go to the local parts store. CO rocks!

jeffreyalman

all this banter does is remind me how old I am - hard to believe I have to stock up on 350 and 455 oil filters, adequate lubrication is getting harder and hard to find, not to mention decent fuel.

I have become my grandfather! Very scary.

Times flies, drive the classic.

66 Olznut

We have 2 parts places near me that have the old stuff. Napa had a headlight switch and hi beam switch in stock when they went out in the '65. Changed them out in the parking lot just like when I was younger. Both were found in the books, no computers used.

jaymann

Around here, it all comes down to the guy behind the counter.
I've encountered some real idiots that wouldn't know a spark plug from a hammer if it's not listed in the computer.
After supplying them with a part number, I can't tell you how many times I've heard "none of our stores anywhere has ever stocked that part" I'm not asking you to fill the shelves with them, I'm asking you to get me ONE!

I found one place that has a young guy working at it. When I first saw him I thought "here we go again"
He told me he loves looking for hard to find stuff. He was trained in an old school mom and pop store and wasn't allowed to use the computer until he could find everything in the old catalogs.
This kid knows his stuff. This is the same stores as the ones that would always look in the computer and tell me they couldn't get it. He opens a catalog and orders it.

He told the guy next to him to grab me a coil off the shelf when I bought my Pertronix, and that guy didn't even know what he was looking for. Seriously...didn't know what a canister coil looked like. It had to be pointed out to him.

Canadian tire used to have a decent performance section. I could walk in and grab Accel ignition components, and performance mufflers right off the shelf. Now those shelves have fake leather shifter boots, chrome fart can exhaust tips and light up door lock *****, as well as some stupid stick on graphics.

joe_padavano

Oh yeah. At the risk of veering off topic, I find it amusing that my first car in high school (a 1968 Vista Cruiser) was only seven years old when I got it. The newest car we own today is older than that and my daily driver is a 26 year old Custom Cruiser. In fact, I've only ever owned two vehicles that were newer than my first car - the 85 Chevy crewcab dually that was three years old when I got it and the 99 crewcab dually that I bought new to replace it (the only new vehicle I've ever owned). That one has 214,000 miles on it currently.

Summerof84

Had to order brake rotors from NAPA today for a '76 Ford. To avoid UPS charges, I have to wait until after July 5th for them to come in. It's getting weird out there.

Col Wickham

You guys are lucky to have places that sell Oldmobile parts in your hemisphere Ask someone for a switch or a gasket or anything Olds down here and they look at you like you just arrived from another galaxy.

vmathy

Lots of great points here. The whole consolidation of the parts business has a lot to do with it not to mention the work ethic of todays youth. I worked for a Mom and Pop parts store in the 70's. Back then we were all running 60's cars and if you came in looking for anything from about 1955 to 1978 we had it in stock. When the old timers needed parts for the 30's & 40's strait 8's we had to order them. Our cars are 40 years old now too so same deal, but I do remember going out of my way pulling parts off shelves to see if we could match something up, those old guys were cool. In 78 I was driving a 68 GTO and nearly sold it to buy an old Oldsmobile with the J2 set up. My buddys said I was nuts today they would still want the GTO- I want the J2 Olds, and my 71 cutlass convertible 455 is better than that goat too.

442_Mustang

Sorry my misspelled words offended anyone. I knew it didn't look right but things have been very busy with my mother in law passing of cancer last sunday night and all of the joys of dealing with that over the last week. Funeral was yesterday. I've only been able to pop on the comp for a few minutes at a time.

agtw31

you are correct.it's not the store when it comes to service,it's the people working there.

not only are parts getting somewhat hard to find,the service is very inconsistent


i went to a local autozone,bought some rear shocks.guy gave me front ones,i knew as soon as i saw the box.
he wanted to argue with me that they were rears,then he realized he was a number off


same autozone a week later:

bought a heater control valve

the one showing on the computer for my car wasnt the right one

instead of just giving up,this fella went out and looked at mine,then went back in and found it under another year.

good job,ill be back.

the guys at advance auto up the street are total morons.

NAPA is going downhill as well,people working there have a terrible attitude.

they just don't want to try and look for your part.how hard is it to punch a key on a keyboard??

80_cutlass

My dad works at an Advance Auto up in San Antonio....he has 50+ years experience working on everything....tug boats, heavy machinery, cars, a/c, etc......not many people with his lifetime of experience will put up with working at a place like Advance or Autozone because of the way they treat employees. Long story, but its more than just marginal pay.

So, you end up with less than stellar service. If you find someone like my old man working at a parts store, do what happens to him ALL THE TIME: call and ask for him/her by name. Usually you'll be glad you did.

sb