Do real parts guys even exist anymore?

NYSpeed Automotive
1

So, I’ve got a '90 Porsche C2 cabrio in for service. Nice car, very well maintained. Regular maintenance and check over. Found the the rear pads were low. Rotors fine. Typically when I do brakes on higher-end stuff, I use OEM or better only. So, I call the only local place that would carry OEM stuff.

I get put on hold for about a minute. No problem. Guy finally answers, I tell him who I am, and where I’m calling from. So, this is a Porsche parts department, right? So, here’s the conversation:

Jason - I’ve got a 1990 C2 cab on the rack, and need to know if you have rear pads and sensors in stock.
parts guy - (5-10 second pause)…what’s a C2?
Jason - Porsche…911…convertible
parts guy - do you have the VIN?

Now…this is just a simple non-turbo 911. No need for a VIN. They’re all the same. The only way there would be a difference is if it was a Turbo, however, that didn’t exist in the US in the '90 model year.

So I give him the VIN.
I’m now on hold for another 4:30

parts guy - does this car have dual or single piston rear calipers?
Jason - single piston, there was never any other rear caliper installed on this car

On hold again fro another 2:00

parts guy - we don’t have them in stock

Now, this may not seem like a big deal for a lot of you, but it’s infuriating to me. If you work with a brand, you’d better damn well know the brand, otherwise you come off as clueless, and it taints the whole dealership. This whole time, the hold music/thing is talking about “service to the Nth degree.” Bullshit. This was a complete waste of my time. A real parts guy should have been able to go through this whole process in 90 seconds or less.

I’ve also gone through this at Autozone when I had my Mustang.
Jason - I need to see if you have an FL-1A in stock
Parts guy - what is that
Jason - an oil filter for 50% of the Fords ever made (slight exaggeration, I know)
Parts guy - year make and model
Jason - nevermind, I’ll just come down and find it on the shelf.

2

I get this alot at my job. I sell Rv’s and I am 23 years old. Trying to sell a $100,000 coach to a 75 year old man can be challenging, but quite humorous. Often times they come in with the attitude of what can this kid teach me that I dont already know. Especially the diesel customers, they think they know it all and some of them do.

I find myself asking questions to most of these guys when they come in because they teach me a thing or two.

Sounds like you just had the wrong moron answer the phone. I would have asked for a more knowledgeable parts guy. I’m sure he was just there as a favor to someone. Let his boss know he needs to brush up on his parts knowledge by asking for someone else.

3

there are a few issues here.

firstly, good people demend high salaries and if the employer doesnt recognize it they will leave for somewhere else. If you are a 911 know it all with a sales personality in WNY you can move to Cali, or NYC and make 2-3X more in the porsche dealers there… so you leave.

secondly, for some reason the percentage of people who care about being good at their jobs seems to be on the decline. But they ARE still out there. We have a young girl that just joined our company a few months ago in the finance dept. She’s totally on the ball and motivated to do a good job… saved me A LOT of time and effort… however, we’ve cycled through like 4 people in that dept in the last little whil that would not have been as effective… some with decades more experience too.

This reminds me of Rick’s comments about Innovate a few months ago though… you are not wrong to have those expectations of the dealer, but it shouldnt be surprising that it is very difficult to keep those skill-sets in a market like WNY.

4

You think that is bad? I went to the local chevy dealer and asked if they had a set of factory vavle spring keepers/retainers in stock for an LS1 and the guy replies with…

wait for it…

I’ve never heard of a car called an LS1 what year did they make it.

:bigclap:

He couldn’t figure out what I needed for the life of him, so he had to get the manager, who found it in about 13 seconds.

5

This has become more and more common. Every where I’m looking. The trick I use now Is looking up my own part numbers and then just asking for those. Most of the time I wait until a guy I know is working and then talk to them.

Don’t forget about the opposite parts guy. The one who thinks he knows everything about everything. The one who tried to tell you that you’re wrong and an idiot about everything and it takes twice as long because you have to show him how he’s an idiot and then try and find the part you need.

6

yes this is a problem as well…

mind you, most people guys like that deal with do not have the level of understanding or make use of web-resources as much as we do so they have every reason to start out assuming you don’t know what you’re talking about.

7

My favorite parts call was for a set or rear pads for my Mustang, I forget it I called AutoZone or Advanced but this was the convo…

Me: I need a set of rear pads for my mustang GT
Parts Guy: Year?
Me: 1995
Parts Guy: V8 or V6?
Me: 302 V8 (already told him it was a GT)
Parts Guy: GT or Cobra?
Me: GT (already told him it was a GT)
Parts Guy: 2-door or 4-door?

I hung up the phone and didn’t bother answering that. Called a different place and went on my way with my project.

8

I am currently a parts guy at an RV dealership, and while I totally understand your aggrivation, I deal with that same type of customer attitude that we should know every part available for every RV ever manufactured. While the porshe dealer is specific to a brand, your correct… but with other places (esp. places like autozone and where I work) the only way to track down or refferance a part nowadays is by VIN# if it is not a universal or common aftermarket part.

People seem to blow their mind when they want a door for the cubbord above their sofa and I need to ask them who makes their camper, then what year, then what model, then the VIN to call the manufacturer and get a build sheet pulled to figure out the part number and cost. But there truly is no other way to do it.

9

Carnut had a post about this a while back

Good parts stores don’t exist anymore. It used to be that you go to a the same parts place every time. The guy knew you, there were a few stools to sit on. The guy ALWAYS knew his shit about practically every make/model out there. If he didn’t have it in stock, he would send someone out to get it in within a few hours. He could always make recommendations on how to fix specific issues or what other things might be needed (gaskets, screws, etc…).

10

the other issue at work here is that the costs of running a business in today’s economy makes it nearly impossible for owners to keep a stockpile of parts in stock, and the same thing goes for distributors, so what is happening is a high percentage of regularly-needed parts are becoming “special-order” items that cost extra to order, extra to ship, and more time to get…which causes an inconvenience to all parties involved

11

All parts guys suck.

I know a lot more than most, but not even close to what is out there. I do like to pretend I know what I am doing because it’s fun to pretend.

12

plus business is down in general since it’s so easy and cheap to buy on-line

13

The best was calling for points for a 318 and when the guy asked what is one from I had to tell him it was a chipper/shredder. Yeah, that was a long pause. lol

Don’t get me started on the local Porsche Stealership.

14

This is when the customers end up calling me and complaining because I was their salesman and I sold them the piece of shit that broke and if I don’t get the part in stock and installed for free because it was an inconvenience for them they will drive the motor home through the front of the store…blah blah blah

15

i find most parts guys to be assholes.

no offence to anyone but they almost all act like premadonas

16

good parts guys are hard to find and it can be frusterating, but whats just as frusterating is when someone calls and asks for parts for an s2k, ek9, ef, sr20, c2 cab whatever termonolgy is common for internet world forums isnt common knowledge at the dealerships nor should it be. Parts guys dont need to know which month of what year dual piston calipers werent available on which model c2 cab because the computer will tell them. Management knows that any monkey can sit behind a computer and punch in a vin/ make/ model of a car and pull up your parts. The days that catalogs stoped being used was the day the parts desk help started declining.

So for reference when you call for a parts make sure you have the year/make/model and even vin ready because thats the only way they can look up the part number. When parts guys start ASSuming they know whats in/on your car is the day you start getting wrong parts. People should be happy that a parts guy cares enough to get all vehicle infor correct to assure you get the right part. This is the main reason why dealerships ask for vins all the time now, its because of mid year changes and stuff made that might have an effect on the parts you purchase.

Ill gladly asnwer a few more questions to insure i get the right parts, rather then be inpressed by how much the parts guy thinks he knows and gives me the wrong part.

just my .02 worth.

17

I went to Advanced during a rebuild of my 3400 motor, and they seemed half way decent.
I even got discounts and shit because of all the work I was doing there and the money I was spending, thought that was pretty awesome.

When my father rebuilt his motor in a 99 suburban, he went to J&L performance on walden.
They did all teh machining and such, the guy there (don’t know his name, he was at the counter every time and rather old) seemed to know every single thing about the engine.
Knew torque specs off teh top of his head, including the stupid little degree turns, and every little question my father had about it. (I went there a few times, and was pretty impressed with him)
don’t know if it was just the motor (think it’s a 5.3vortec) that he knew, but he really knew his shit.

18

I’m about to deal with parts guys… I’m gonna try and 5 lug my exige w/ saturn hubs… oh joy…

19

I’m a parts guy at a GM dealer, I often ask for the vin, and as much information as possible because GM has so many crossover years (05 for example) when they make so many stupid changes. I like to ensure My customers get the right part the first time.

Would you rather answer a few “stupid” questions, or get the wrong part 3 or 4 times?

Also most dealerships these days use a snap-on based parts look up catalog, which can be very useless sometimes. ESPECIALLY with brake systems. I cannot count how many times I’ve gotten a part number off the catalog, grabbed the part and it wasn’t even close - and that was the only part listed by the catalog.

Plus, on our defense. For how many knowledgable customers we get (someone like the OP for example) we deal with 4 times as many idiots who have ZERO clue what they want. They drop some random broken part on the counter, say I want this! and you ask what it is, or what model/make/year its for and they look at you like “You dont see coolant bypass pipes on a '88 corsica everyday>!?”

20

Hey GM parts guy, is the ABS signal the same from GM 4x100 colbalt hubs to 5X110 cobalt SS hubs?