Like fitzwell says, develop a good rapport with the sales help. Maybe it's because I live in a small town, but the guys at both advance and autozoo treat me well.

I pull up, they look outside to see which car I'm driving, and then they ask what I need for it today. I tell them what part I want, don't even need to tell them make, model, year.

If they have a couple of different level parts available, they'll steer me clear of the ones that have been trouble in the past. Gotta love it.

 

We have several auto parts stores here in the Batesville area, including an Autozone, Advance and O'Rileys. I purchased a solenoid for my 86 F-150 4x4 from Autozone only to have the sucker stick on me and burn a starter up. I bought one from NAPA for the same money and the solenoid was almost twice as large and has worked great.

I usually deal with a locally owned, private name auto parts store.

 

I haven't gone to NAPA in a long time. The parts are just too much. Most things I get at advanced are the same thing anyway. There's just a little common sence needed tho when shopping these discount houses. There are a lot more parts they offer then the bottom of the barrel. Usually when you have them look up a part there's a decent selection to choose from. Here's a tip, pay the $2 extra for the premium part. I rarely get the cheapest thing they offer but some times I do. My buddy that shops NAPA gets more junk parts then I do at advanced.

 

Was that you behind me in line at the Napa when I had to return the u-joint that the guy guaranteed would fit? Ended up at the dealer for it finally.

Had a kid at Autopalace (bought by Autozone around Boston) tell me once that there were no bearings in the front hub of a 4x4 except the wheel bearings.....knew it was time to go elsewhere.

 

I love my napa store. For one its the only real auto parts store in a 20 mile radius. second, my dad has an acct there so I walk in get what I need show it to em smile and walk out (not so sure my mom likes that feature when the bill comes but oh well), THE OWNER IS A FORD GUY......has a 78 pullin truck w/ a ford hemi, All the guys know their stuff, their not just a bunch of kids tryin to make enough money to buy beer (yes I'm one of those kids and I'm tryin to get a job at advance auto at purdue but I at least know a lil bit), the owner has actually pulled parts off of his own truck just so I could get mine running again.

 

A guy has to remember too, just because a partsperson doesnt know exactly what part goes in every vehcile out there, doesnt make it a bad store. All depends on customer service, and how willing they are to correct their mistakes too. Hell I would love to see half of us guys out there get the correct parts for every type of different vehicle!

 

I work at a NAPA auto care garage. So we really only deal with napa unless 1 they dont have the part there or if it is a dealer part. One thing i noticed is there ignition parts example coil, are not that good. Had a pontiac bonneville in for a check engine light and it was missfiring on number 6 so turns out the coil was bad. So i replaced it no good, replaced it no good finally on my third attempt i got a good one.

 

I have an acount at NAPA and my dad has one at advanced auto so were pretty much set! My dad and the manager at advanced are good friends so we get leway in returning electrical parts and barrowing there obd II scanner when needed.

 

i agree with some of you guys on some points , i work for advance in miami when i don't have a part i call up my buddy at napa and send them over there.

vice versa i train all my guys at advance with monthly lessons on engine rebuilt certain parts etc.. on my own time . i worked for ford for about 1 year so i know my ford. we have had people from autozone join us and pepboys here at advance you can get ase certified in less than a year's time.

 

OH GEEZ! THE PART WAS BAD!

Did you verify it?

The nutz & boltz of NAPA are that they are overpriced, but they DO have access to every goldang thing...

When you cannot find it anywhere but at a dealer - you go NAPA.
If they mess up, you go DEALER.

- its the only route left.

Otherwise shear off.

 

I've never really had an issue with Napa. For those that are crying about non american made parts, you need to quit. I've not seen anything in the last 15 years that was "made in america" that was worth 2 nickels. Our workforce has this "I'm not the one buying it, so why should I care what the quality is?!" mentality. This leads to lower quality and more breakage.

 

That makes the job very very fustrating. You end up trying to trust that the new part isn't defective and that the problem lies elsewhere.

I also find that Napa's parts are pretty expensive. They're suppose to be decent parts but on most stuff they charge quite a bit and it needs to be ordered and I need to wait for it. There are times when I just need parts asap and Napa doesn't come through for me. The closest Pep Boys is terrible - went there twice and would never go there again.

Autozone has their versions of standard/premium too, valucraft and duralast haha. The starter on my 89' was questionable, rather than rebuild it I bought a valucraft and it was only $30. How can you beat that? A good starter for my other truck was $150+. The 89' is a beater truck that I don't give a hoot about, which I only needed for a year or two - perfect! I find those to be good buys because sometimes ya got a heap that you don't really care about and just want parts that'll work, or work enough lol. I got spark plug wires for an old van, ball joints for my beater, the list goes on - why spend so much for parts when the vehicle doesn't need them?

Napa's are privately owned, or atleast some/most of them are. I feel they make most of their sales off local garages and shops that buy parts from them, so it seems.

The tough thing is that you know Ford parts are the best you can get (9 times outta 10) and that your best bet is with a Ford part - but they're also usually rediculously expensive for it and unless it's a critical or important part it really just isn't worth it to buy a Ford part. I wish their prices were better cause I'd get parts there all the time.

A business sets their prices based on maxiumum revenue (obviously) and to do that they need to find the point where the price brings in the most amount of sales dollars. It sounds easy but it's not, if you have an item for 20 dollars and 5 people buy it - then reduce the price to 10 dollars, it could double - it could triple - it could do whatever and tracking/calculating that is very difficult. I have to assume Ford sets their prices right and it really amazes me that their prices are that high and they bring in the most revenue. I'd think if they lowered the prices it would make up for it but I guess it really doesn't. Dang Microeconomics.

 

This from the guy with the American flag in his avatar.....

I'll take an auto part made by American workers over parts made in Mexico, Brazil, China, India, former Soviet block counrties, etc. any day. They use lesser quality materials and have much lower quality control standards.

I'm not slamming everything made overseas at all. Hell, half of my Escapes are foreign made parts. What I have a problem with are the cheapo parts - not quality items made in developed countries.

 

When it comes to customer service, any parts store is only as good as the guys behind the counter and the store policies enacted by the franchise owners. We have three choices here: Napa, Kragen's, and a local mom-and-pop store. I deal with the Napa store almost exclusively. My boss has a charge account there and sometimes I am in there almost every day. I'm on a first-name basis with all the counter guys and they don't even have to ask my account number. The level of expertise they demonstrate is impressive.. it's one of 9 Napa stores with the same owners over a 100 mile radius and they have a good network. If they don't have it in stock they can instantly see if the computer shows it in one of the other stores and have it within a few hours at the most, or overnight from Napa's warehouse in Sacramento. If it's a really hard-to-find part they can see if any of the Napa stores throughout the country have it in stock. They have very rarely let me down, and I come to them with some oddball stuff.

Quality of parts? You get what you pay for. I make a determination if I can get by with the cheaper line or want the premium line. In each case the counter guys give me that choice. I'm a firm believer in Napa, at least around here and rarely set foot in Kragen's. About the only use I have for them is that they stock Fel-pro gaskets which I prefer over Victor, Napa's standard line. If I can wait for it I'd rather order them through Napa than buy them at Kragen's and get the wrong one anyway.

The local mom-and-pop store? Fahgetaboudit! Those guys are among the rudest and most arrogant counter people I've ever seen. I don't know how they even stay in business.

And that's my humble opinion on the great Napa debate...

 

The thing to try and do is use all your local auto parts stores, each one for a particular need or needs. Now this is not easy, it takes time and a decent memory, but if you pay attention to not only what your own experience teaches you, but also to what other people on this and other auto enthusiast forums have to say, then you can develop general understanding of which parts store best suits your needs for a particular part. For example, I think someone mentioned that they got a bad coil from Napa one time, but I know that if I wanted a coilpack for my 4.0L Ranger, Napa would be a good choice since I have come to learn that Napa's premium part is the same part (from the same place) that's on the dealer's shelves in the Motorcraft box. I agree that customer service is an important variable and it gets taken into account, as well.

I have a Napa, Autozone, Advanced Auto, CarQuest and Pep Boys all within 2 miles of where I live, and I use them all. I do a little internet research first, and combined with the knowledge that I have garnered over time of the place and the line of parts they carry (as described above), I determine which store gets the privilege of taking my hard-earned cash.