Trouble getting parts

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted By: 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.


It's probably why Enterprise makes more sense. None of the overhead. I've seen a few body shops that have a separate desk for Enterprise. Even some dealers have a separate desk for them when they run out of loaners.

As for old guys driving parts, yeah, I had a potential tenant like that once, he just made minimum wage driving around auto parts. Unfortunately his income and his unemployed daughter with 2 kids (with iphones) didn't make enough money to qualify for the apartment.

 

[Linctex]

Originally Posted By: Tdbo
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.


Hmmmm..... it took six days to get my Pennz PUP 5W-20 in. I was amazed.

 

[Tdbo]

Originally Posted By: Linctex
Originally Posted By: Tdbo
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.


Hmmmm..... it took six days to get my Pennz PUP 5W-20 in. I was amazed.



Blew one of the OEM Dunlops going to work one morning.
Could not get another like it without a 3 day wait and $130.
Got on WalMart.com at noon, bought the tire for $79 and was told that it it could be shipped to the store I chose in 2 hours.
Pulled in the WM @ 4:15, went to the internet desk to pick it up, walked it down to TLE, it was mounted, balanced and I was on the road by 4:35.
Best experience that I ever had at a WM. The logistics of that was impressive.

 

[supton]

Originally Posted By: 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.


I get your point--but if you have enough business to "need" 4 or 5 loaners, isn't that tens of thousands for loaners but a small part of the cash flow? I mean, how does that stack up against all other costs, and then impact the bottom line?

*

In the end this is why I have N+1 cars. I know the shop can't get parts faster than I can. And it's the same amount of time to get a rental as it is to get a part. I can't blame the shop for not repairing things instantly. If I want to save money by using corner shops, and running old cars, then I have to expect to lose "fast" out of the "faster-better-cheaper" trifecta.

 

[Silk]

Working in a small town, I keep very little stock. We have a Repco (now owned by Napa) in town, which is very handy. If I have to get parts, if I order in the morning I'll get them in the afternoon, order in the afternoon and they are on the morning delivery. We give out my workshop ute as a loaner, but not often. Had a couple drop 2 cars off a couple of weeks ago and I saw them get into the ute, they spent some time sitting in it, then came back inside. It's a manual, and they can't drive it ! So I did one car at a time.

 

[Chris142]

It seems that our customers usually expect to wait in our waiting room! Then they get bent if I cant get the parts that day.

 

[Garak]

In fairness, some shops do seem to keep people waiting a little longer than necessary. I should be able to wait in the waiting room for a tire installation and wheel alignment, particularly if they've actually brought the tires in. Obviously, with some repairs, especially where things can spiral away on a tech, that's another matter.

When I did my G37 brakes, I spent way more time waiting for parts than putting parts on. Had I had all the parts I needed, that would be a "waiting room" type service.

 

[Silk]

But my car's been there since 8.00am !!!

Yeah, and so have been half a dozen others.

 

[Chris142]

Originally Posted By: Silk
But my car's been there since 8.00am !!!

Yeah, and so have been half a dozen others.
yep! Plus non stop calls.

 

[Andrew1972]

I go to a tiny shop one man show who is Subie expert but works on all makes. Only once has it taken another day to get parts in last 7 years of using his services.

I belive he uses local auto supply house, parts are not cheap thru him but for sceduled day service and $65/hr labor rate (local typical is $100-$120 dealers) not concerned. He needs to eat.

 

[spackard]

WorldPAC is in Ontario. About half the drive to Los Angeles. (At 60 & 15 Fwys.)
Order from them, and have someone do the round trip.