5. The people in the store that actually know about cars/trucks seem to leave and go to work for another better paying parts house after gaining a little retail knowledge while working at Autozone. Autozone only pays just above minimum wage, but it varies on how much experiance/knowledge one has.


Thats me. I never worked for autozone though, I worked at Checker, I suppose if the manager wasn't a cranky old man that hated the world and everything within it that moved and wasn't a worthless freakin liar and didn't change my schedule two hours before I'm supposed to be at work and then not call me....

By the way, a thermostat for a 32 Ford coupe with a SBC is a Stant 13009.

 

AutoZone part number for the t-stat is 400-195 or 400-180 or 400-160 and the gasket is a 35062. I work for the Zone and alot of people are quick to bash AZ or the people that work there, alot of people think that you know every thing about every car or truck made and get mad at you when they call on the phone wanting to know what size scoket they need to use to take off the round thing thats bolted to the long round tube and the say "You work in a parts store you should know". We see alot of people that dont know the first thing about auto repair, its scary sometimes! Some people even think that because its a SBC that all the parts are the same, they are not and the same and that goes for some FORD guys that I know also. I could keep ranting but I'm done for now.

 

"We see alot of people that dont know the first thing about auto repair, its scary sometimes!"

I know exactly what you mean. More than one time I would have people call up and tell me that their car died, and they wanted me to tell them what was wrong with it! I allways started out with "Well, does it have gas in it?" Another time a woman came in and told me that she needed a quart of oil. So I asked what kind of car she had. She said she thought it was a Chevy something. So I had her point it out to me. So I ended up selling her a quart of Pennzoil 10W-30. She pays and goes out the door. A minute or two later, i look out the window from the register and see that she has the radiator cap off and is pouring the oil in the radiator!
I ran out and told her to stop, and explainded things to her. I still wonder if she told her old man what she did.
There are a lot of people out there that shouldn't even be DRIVING a car, let alone working on one.

 

... Only thing about Autozone that bugs me: There's always a long line.

lol, reminds me of an old manager...
"Whats the transmission for? Does a car really need it to run?"

me and another employee looked at each other and busted out laughing....

 

also remember you can get genuien parts from oreilly or autozone. SO if you don't want to go wit hthe house brnad yo ucan just get the oem parts and they are waaaay cheaper most of the time. Than getting them from the dealer. i only do that with major parts such as head gaskets and stuff. But most of the time i go with the house brand.

 

i think each place is different and a lot depends on the individual you're dealing with

when i have a house problem i go to the local canadian tire... there's one guy there who knows everything about plumbing, electricity, heating and i go to him first for anything. but they don't have all the stuff so then i always have to drive into town to the home depot where the guys aren't as good but they have better selection.

canadian tire is good for car parts but the counter guy is a jerk. thinks he knows what you want before you even ask and he seems more interested in bossing around the other guys than helping customers get their cars going. and what's the use of asking if i have 4x4 when i'm looking for an engine part? there's a new kid there now whos better at this so i get him to help me. but the best mechanical advice is the kid who stocks shelves in the tools sections. he's learning heavy equipment mechanics at night. why they have him stacking boxes and not the other guy is beyond me but that's how they run things there.

but the other can tire is great. you come for a part and right away they all wanna come listen and give advice, they'll go get the mechanic, like they'd rather come home and fix my truck with me than stand there selling car radios.. but they probably gonna go out of business cuz they're in the little mall and they opened the big one not far away in the new shopping centre with the home depot

 

I too, like F150'89, work for AutoZone and, believe me, I share many of the same frustrations as the rest of you. You are all right when you say that there are very few people that work there that know what they are doing and it is because they do not pay that well. The focus at AZ is on the "culture" and appearance of the stores and the people who work for them. They do not test one's knowledge of parts or repairs, though they certainly do make sure you take the Orion personality test so they can make sure you will not steal from them. Every single day I go to work there, I am amazed that the company is able to stay in business because of the blatant and rampant incompetence of the people I work with and for. When a woman who knows absolutely nothing about auto parts or repair can be a district manager instead of a guy who is an ASE certified Parts Specialist, you know the company is pretty sad. All they care about is that you are wearing the bright red shirt with black pants, and black socks and shoes, and that your hair is not below your collar. They nearly lost me because of the ridiculous appearance standards, and that would have been a great loss. I certainly do not think of myself as an expert, since I am only 23 years old and a part-timer working my way through college, but I have been working on cars for as long as I can remember and I am never afraid to attempt a repair. I am also one of the few guys who doesn't buy into AZ's B.S. about making sure to sell the "complete" job. They are a business, and just like every other business, their loyalties are to their profit margin, not to their employees or their customers. Many of the things they try to sell you are unnecessary and only meant to raise sales so they look good to investors. They also do a pretty terrible job of training their employees too. I have seen guys who have worked for the company for years that couldn't figure out how to change a flat tire if they needed to. I will never give advice, or sell parts to someone, if I am not 100% sure of what I am saying. Keep in mind, also, that the fact that AZ advertises that we read codes, we do not always know what the codes mean, and our computer system is very poor, even though our company owns Alldata, the premier resource for all things automotive. It is always my recommendation that you take your vehicle to an ASE certified technician to have codes ran. Why waste your time and money on parts you may not need when you can just as easily pay a mechanic $75 to find out exactly what is wrong? Once you know EXACTLY what you need THEN you come and see us and we'll save you money on the actual repair. Just my $.02.

 

AutoZone has a new policy.
If you need a part that they don't stock (in my case a dizzy for my Bronco II), and they don't have in another store then they have to order it and they Charge YOU for the SHIPPING. I went to O'Reilley and they had to order it. I got it the folowing day for $10 less then "The Zone" and paid $0 shipping. "The Zone" has lost my business.

 

That is too funny.

 

Im fine with AZ, but they do make me mad sometimes when they try to talk to me like im an idiot moron that doseant know what a motor is, they dont know I rebuilt my truck motor and know more then them about engines.

 

I do like my autozone because they treated me pretty well when iw as resigned to waiting for something (discounted a higher cost part for me so i could have it that day) but i walk into the store with the part numbers in hand because i knwo what i'm looking for. Was rather ticked off when i wanted them to run the codes on my truck, and asked me if CEL was on, i said no (my 84 doesn't hasve CEL) he said he wouldn't plug it in. The local advance auto seems to have folks tghat know what they are talking about but the one next town over (basically full of college students) take forever to find a part in the computer system.

It's always nice to be surprised though :-)

 

I guess we're fortunate here, both Advance and Autozoo folks are very helpful. They even let me come in the back to look thru the small parts bins with them to find those odd connectors and hose ends. And they don't mind cross checking different parts available to do what I need to do. Plus, anybody who knows what the Eagle is when I drive up in it, and already knows where to look up the parts for it, is OK in my book.

It probably helps that this is a small town and we're all pretty much neighbors. About the only things I have to order online are things they just don't have around here, like decent custom wheels or misc. interior pieces.

 

little old lady across the road has a nice little mazda... one day she ran out of window washer fluid... her neighbour who's a little crazy decides he wants to help, so takes the bottle from her and goes and pours some into the radiator overflow tank

i'd been waiting for her to sell it cuz i had a ford escort and i think they're good cars and hers is nice but now i'm having second thoughts seeing how she lets the lunatic down the road work on her car

 

If you're going to AutoZone to get parts to do the work yourself a little basic knowledge goes a long way. If you think you're going to tell the guy behind the counter your car is making this noise (do your best sick car sound) and he's going to tell you what's wrong with it, sell your tools and have it towed. The fact they will usually pull the codes for free is a bonus that's worth $40-$100 at the stealership. If they manage to get that done correctly buy the Haynes book that they're selling below the counter and you'll be able to fix 95% of the problems yourself. If they have experience to tell you how to repair it - great but don't count on it.

As for dealerships, if it aint warranty work they aint touching my car. I once stood in complete astonishment as the shop foreman/manager explained how they had to charge so much because they have to allow for doing half their work twice before it was right. He thought that was a perfectly good explaination as to why they ran about double their verble estimate. He also got mad as $%&* when I told him next time I'll take it somewhere that only charges for doing the work right the first time.

 

Autozone bought out Chief in California several years ago. The prices and level of service both went down. AZ is now the low price supplier, even compared to PepBoys and Kragen (CSK).

Like someone else said, YOU are the mechainc doing the work. You should know what you need to get the job done. They are there only to supply the part that you have determined needs replacement. Free advice is worth what you paid for it.

Jim