never been to autozone but advanced has there retards as well.

 

Ended up at AutoZone the other day for a part.......four people in line to leave. One guy working the parts counter. Another employee staring at a battery while it charged. In the back I could hear people laughin and giggling. Several minutes go by and the parts vounter guy checks out one costumer. Then the Manager, a femal employee, and some other male employee some out from behind the shelves and staart checking out the rest of us. Then to get home and find parts missing.........

 

I work for a nationwide Auto repair company, and two years ago, our corp idiots decided to get out of the parts aspect, and do a nationwide changeover to Autozone for all our stock and local needs. What a disaster!!!!
The quality is HORRIBLE, and the local counter people are rude, and not well educated....

We HAVE to call them first for a hot shot part. I miss the days of calling our commercial suppliers 1st, who would have the correct part on the way before you hang up the phone. AZ doesnt even have a special line to call ( even Checker/Shucks/Kragen does that) for comm accts, and trying to explaine to these dummasses on the phone what part you need, is frustrating at best.

And now, a local store that catered to 4X4's, has changed hands. I went in for a case of oil, and a couple of Wix filters, only to find out that they are no longer doing retail parts, just accessorys.....wow!! gonna make a mint on bedliners and tube bumpers eh...?? The ratio of real 4X4's VS Bling Bling
suburbans is ten to one out here I bet. Getting good parts and service is getting more and more difficult.

Napa= expensive parts, excellent quality, great counter people
Car Quest= moderately priced, excellent quality, great service
AZ= well, a fool and his money are soon parted....

 

I wish we had a section just to rate parts. Something like Brake pads would be. #1 Brembro #2 Raybestoes #3 Ford. Not that I'm refering this list as accurate, but I wouldn't mind paying extra for quality. I would like to avoid crap if possable too. Things like sensors, and spark plugs can drive you crazy, if the quality isn't there. I'm sure we've all installed parts that were worse than the old ones we took out. It would be nice to have a list of high quality brands at reasonable prices. Some sort of unbiased rating system would be great.

 

well i have heard a lot of people complaining about autozone but as a "retired" worker at autozone, i never had problems with the people in mine. i will say that each autozone is completely different. i absolutly love the autozone by my house and that is the one i worked for, but when i was at school in southern illinois, i wouldn't dare even go into that autozone. some of their parts are not the best but the lifetime warranty is usally honered unless we suspect the product was miss used or the customer is being difficult. but i do understand where you are all comming from and i say go with what you prefer. but there are a select few at some of the autozones that know what they are talking about.

 

There used to be a chain called Chief Autoparts in CA that had lots of small stores, low prices and slightly better service. Autozone took them over and closed most of them in favor of fewer, bigger stores. Even so, of the three chains here, Autozone, Kragen and Pepboys, I would rate AZ best, PB in the middle and Kragen worst, but this is by only a slight margin, based more on in-stock selection. I want the part to do the job, and I want it now.

The small local NAPA store is nearly worthless anymore. They are only open limited hours, somewhat arrogant, and no longer have a machine shop, the main reason I used them in the past. The Ford dealer is usually the same or cheaper and is actually open more.

The best service still comes from the few truly independent places that still do machine work in the back, if you can find them. In Torrance, CA there is a VW specialty shop that does repair, machine work and retail parts at very low prices. Too bad I have not found a similar Ford place.

Jim

 

Yea, i would have to say they are all different. Autozones are starting to pop up here in jersey, but pep boys and straus have been kings. I truly hate pep boys, because they opened one in my home town, just long enough to run the local place out of business, then closed their store too. Strauss by my house is totally worthless. I have lived all over the state, and they all seem to vary store by store. everytime they open a new one, they have the pro staff in there, os their great, then the go to regular employees, and its basicalyl hit or miss. When i new peopel that worked there, it was uasually good. I usually just walk up to the counter, turn the computer around, look up what i want, and send them to get the parts. only thing i have foudn thats good is the ones with comercial accounts, the commercial window is usually run by someone smarter. I used to have access to a tax id-number at one, so i used them for a while. nowadays i got a nice local place where a friend works. They might not stock everything, but at least they inteligently stock parts. pep boys doesnt always stock ford fender mount starter solenoid/relays? umm, hello

point of story, go to the independent store if youc an, and support real americans doing their best to provide you with good service and parts. sure, i go to walmart to buy my oil and filter cause its 75 cents cheaper a quart, but for everything else thats where i am, even if it is a couple dollars more for an alternator and such here and there, at least i knwo they use the best quality supplier they can find.

 

Im begginning to realize when buying electrical parts.....dont go cheap like Auto Zone or Oriellys...... seems ya get what ya pay for. From now on I'm buying all my electrical stuff at NAPA or Ford. NAPA is almost all OEM, and ofcourse, Ford is all OEM. No more of this off brand stuff.

 

I found that Borg Warner fuel pressure regulators are a joke, Had one the PO put on fail (less than 3000 miles), then the replacement unit failed after 10 miles, Put on a Motorcraft and no problems! Ford wanted $500 to change the regulator, said it took 3 hours, I have replaced it twice, took about 30 minutes to replace it both times but the cleanup after the second failure took another 30 minutes. It is Motorcraft for me and no more BW anything. I have had other BW parts fail also.

The worst part is that the counter guy at Oreilley did not give me the option of getting a Motorcraft the first time. He just told me he had BW!

At Advance Auto parts the only regulator they had was some sort of Holley adjustable unit for $200. F-!!!

 

i had an escapade with an autozone yesterday, and i must say that i will never go back to one again, even if it is an emergency! they treated my like dirt, and this isnt the first time that i have had issues with autozone. i will now go across the street to the advanced, or drive 6 miles to the nearest napa, or 10 miles to the nearest pepboys. i think that i would rather push the truck to somewhere other than an autosucks!!!

 

There is only two people I trust at the autozone near me. The rest of those guys are either to stupid to help or try to make the costomer feel stupid when they ask basic questions. People are not born with the knowledge to fix cars, they need to get help from someone, but sometimes its like the blind leading the blind. My friends and I come up with nick names for the employees based on our experience with them. I once had a 15 miniute argument with "firewall Man" About what a where the firewall was.

 

The autozone near my house just sucks. My father and I will never go there after the terrible experiences we have had there. First time they didn't have a lug nut for my dads 1992 F150. Second time they didn't have steel brake line. I go to Advanced although they arn't much better. Also have two local business, Flat Rock automotive they are a small local shop where they know what they are talking about. Then there is murrays which is a small chain store setup in southeast michigan, they are ok with parts. We always get the lifetime warrenty parts, keep the receipt in a file folder with date and mileage. This way we never have to pay for parts again and we interchange parts on all 3 trucks.

 

I will not shop at autozone unless it's an emergency... I went in to the local AZ here a few weeks ago looking for a torque converter solenoid for my '80 malibu... The guy behind the counter goes "Huh?!!! That's a dealer only part." Which was total BS, I came home and found it on there website... The parts I buy at AZ often go bad in 5 to 7 days,.. I usually use advance, they have better help, and good prices... The parts also seem to be better quality.

 

I take offense to that because I'm a retard!

 

This is going to be a 10 page thread! All the stores mess up, but I have found that Napa screws me the least.