Trouble getting parts

[L_Sludger]

Originally Posted By: Wolf359
Originally Posted By: L_Sludger
I never expect a non-basic maintenance part for any of my cars to be available on a walk-in basis.


If you're in a hurry, you can always go to the dealer. Most of the time they stock it and if they don't then you can just mail order it.
Oh man, the dealer is one of the worst for having something in stock! In my experience, at least. (Toyota, BMW, Lexus, Honda, over a span of 17 years)

 

[ajchien]

I think you having a loaner car or two is going to be key. I don't think it that customers are expecting their repairs that day. It's that your customer has someone else needing their services too. Time is money. If your customer doesn't have transportation, they can't make money ... well, frankly, they can't do anything these days.

You'll get more with 'incentives' to stay like a free loaner, rather than 'penalizing' by charging a higher diagnostic rate or prepay for parts. The loaner doesn't have to be a new Mercedes. It needs to be clean, respectable and presentable, and reliable.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: Chris142
Give me some ideas here. Most of you know that my full time job is working at a shop that specializes in automotive heating and ac. So when a customer brings on a car for repair and say it needs a condenser... I cant get one till the following day many people walk after hearing that.

We dont have any real parts houses here. Just az,pb,oriley and Napa. They all seem to stock the same parts so no matter who I call its going to be next day.

Stocking parts wont work. I do not have room or $$$ to do that... there may be several options.

A civic lx may use a different compressor than a civic dx.

There are 13 different radiator options for a 1995 chevy truck! I cant stock that many,if I stock what I think will sell It never sells.

I'm guessing that most people work "down the hill" in the los angelas area and decide to take the car somewhere near work where it can be fixed that same day.

I cant pre order stuff because I don't know what the car needs till I see it.

Ideas???


Typically around here they'll take the car make the diagnosis then call and say what's wrong and they have to order parts, and keep the car. Rarely will they ever tell a customer a part is not available, until after the fact, or they run into the problem you do. They also charge for the diagnosis so if a customer were to ask for the car back they have to pay for the diagnosis.

As someone already mentioned you might have to change up the way you're doing business. Over the years several people I dealt with tell everyone " I should have your car done today", then drop the bomb a few hours later that they had to special order parts and won't have them until tomorrow. On occasion tomorrow turns to the next day. Very few cars leave the shop just paying for the diagnosis.

 

[skyactiv]

What if you hire a retired guy/gal that needs something to do, to make a parts run to LA everyday as needed? Have a company owned Tacoma with a cap and pay them minimum wage.

BUT, I think what you are experiencing are people telling themselves "why wait to pay more". You diagnosed the issue, give them a quote that isn't making you rich and they think since your in the sticks your expensive, don't have the part and since I'm going to LA anyhow, I bet I can find a cheap garage that can fix it today.
I use to read old Car Craft magazines and the reporters were in LA. I was always amazed at how cheap they could get engine machining and work done compared to places I lived: Ohio and Florida.

 

[dlundblad]

Originally Posted By: Chris142
Been in business,same place for 34 years!


That said, I don't think you need to change a thing!

You are always going to have people who can't wait. I imagine every service related business will have the same issue. Car mechanics, well drillers, garage door repair shops, appliance repair shops, Home AC and heating shops etc. They'll all have to order something because it isn't practical to stock.

You are right.. you can't stock parts for every 1995 F150 on the road. Parts stores don't do that either and rely upon their distribution stores and warehouses to do that.

 

[97K15004WD]

Originally Posted By: demarpaint

Typically around here they'll take the car make the diagnosis then call and say what's wrong and they have to order parts, and keep the car. Rarely will they ever tell a customer a part is not available, until after the fact, or they run into the problem you do. They also charge for the diagnosis so if a customer were to ask for the car back they have to pay for the diagnosis.

As someone already mentioned you might have to change up the way you're doing business. Over the years several people I dealt with tell everyone " I should have your car done today", then drop the bomb a few hours later that they had to special order parts and won't have them until tomorrow. On occasion tomorrow turns to the next day. Very few cars leave the shop just paying for the diagnosis.


That is exactly the way it is done here as well. The Infiniti dealer gives you a loaner and then calls later with a diagnosis. The loaner is no charge. Even the Midas shops around here are doing loaner cars now. Tiny little cars, but a car none the less.

If you go with a loaner, make sure you have good insurance. If you use a rental agency, try to work out a deal so you pay the agency (include insurance) and then back the pricing into your repair. Cost is always the driver of pricing, so adjust accordingly....

 

[97K15004WD]

Also, forgot to add that same day service is more expensive than "normal service" here - by a large margin....

 

[FSully1]

34 years...........keep doing what you're doing. The availability of parts in the HVACR trade is about the same status. I can't tell you how often that I hear the part is available in Jacksonville or Orlando, and then come to find out there is only 1 in the entire state.

 

[Mr Nice]

Lots of repair businesses are like that.

I have to FedEx parts overnight from Texas, Chicago and California to Florida.

 

[Seventh]

"Just get a few loaners" crowd I don't think has any idea how much overhead that is.

Having personal experience with the costs of maintaining a small (4-5) fleet of loaners I can tell you it's TENS of thousands of dollars a year.

Insurance alone is brutal. Not to mention maintenance, registration, etc. Customers abuse them, damage them, never fill the tank, you always have at least one of them down for maintenance or repairs.

People are "too busy" to bring them back and pick up their car (ie: pay bill). You name it.

It's not simple or cheap.

 

[tom slick]

I worked for a crooked mechanic (briefly) that would take the car apart enough that it couldn't be driven away after troubleshooting.
He had few repeat customers.

 

[Mr Nice]

Quote:
What if you hire a retired guy/gal that needs something to do, to make a parts run to LA everyday as needed? Have a company owned Tacoma with a cap and pay them minimum wage.


Abusing old people for minimum wage is definitely uncool.

 

[Trav]

Nobody stocks all parts for all cars not even the dealers. No need for loaner cars and all the rest of it just waive the diagnostic fee off the repair price and let them deal with it.

 

[Chris142]

Originally Posted By: skyactiv
What if you hire a retired guy/gal that needs something to do, to make a parts run to LA everyday as needed? Have a company owned Tacoma with a cap and pay them minimum wage.

its a minimum 6hr turn from here to los angelas and back with traffic. Puts me right back to getting parts too late in the day to finish the job. The dealers dont stock stuff much any more. We did order a radiator from the ford dealer once and it had a 1800 radiator sticker on it.

 

[fdcg27]

Originally Posted By: Mr Nice
Quote:
What if you hire a retired guy/gal that needs something to do, to make a parts run to LA everyday as needed? Have a company owned Tacoma with a cap and pay them minimum wage.


Abusing old people for minimum wage is definitely uncool.



I don't know that this would be abuse.
I see plenty of parts runners who are older and really do just want something to do that gives them a little change and that isn't overly taxing work.
Same for vending machine stockers.
When my old buddy had his car parts indie he always hired older people as delivery drivers. He said that they didn't race around in the delivery cars and tear them up and they always showed up for work when scheduled and this had not been his experience with younger people looking for a part time gig.

 

[Kruse]

Originally Posted By: Chris142

its a minimum 6hr turn from here to los angelas and back with traffic. Puts me right back to getting parts too late in the day to finish the job.


I really think you've just answered your own question. Seems like everybody wants everything NOW and they get angry if it doesn't happen that way. I've found myself get just a little agitated if I have to wait an extra minute or two in the fast-food drive-through lane. It used to be you could stock about 20 different spark plug numbers and a dozen oil filters and you'd have 90% of the market covered. Tranny shops could stock about 10-12 on hand and cover most of the cars on the road. It's just not going to happen anymore.
Tell your customers that if they wanted it done immediately, they should have brought the replacement parts in with them. (Okay, don't tell them that) Since your shop as been in business 34 years, you must be doing something right.

 

[Mr Nice]

I know Uber is delivering food.... maybe they can also deliver car parts ?

 

[Kestas]

When your customers do an about face, where do they go for same day service? How are those shop taking care of the customer? I see nothing wrong with what you're doing --- being up front with the circumstances.

 

[Chris142]

Originally Posted By: Kestas
When your customers do an about face, where do they go for same day service? How are those shop taking care of the customer? I see nothing wrong with what you're doing --- being up front with the circumstances.
most people here work in the los angelas area. They drive to work and have it fixed there same day since parts availability is much better there. No matter where they go here its next day

 

[Tdbo]

Originally Posted By: Kestas
When your customers do an about face, where do they go for same day service? How are those shop taking care of the customer? I see nothing wrong with what you're doing --- being up front with the circumstances.


Exactly. The only way they could possibly be getting same day service would be if they are going to a dealer or a chain type place in a large metro area. Obviously, the issue you have is geographic. Every shop in your area is going to face the same plight. How do they deal with it?

Really, I can't imagine same-day service on A/C work, unless it is a simple refrigerant recharge or the stars align perfectly. Every time that I have ever had to have A/C work beyond a recharge, it has been a 2-3 day process. Things roll quicker in a metro area, you can't necessarily fight that. The best you can do is offer quality service at a fair and reasonable price. That is all you can do. Irrational, unrealistic people will always conduct themselves in that manner regardless. You can't fix stupid.

My suggestion has already been mentioned. Diagnosis fee in advance, with that being deducted off the cost of the repair. That way, you commit people. Try to schedule diagnostics early morning before the cutoff with the parts source you mentioned previously to try to facilitate same day repair. Consider Amazon prime. One possible idea: there was talk of WalMart getting into auto parts. If this occurred, and if you have ready access to Wally World, this could be a possibility. Not sure about the parts, but they have fantastic logistics, and they once had a tire shipped to a WM of my choice in < than 3 hours.

If you differentiate your business by offering service/value, the parts factor becomes a trivial issue.