It’s been a year marked by undercurrents of unease in the car industry. From layoffs at automakers to beloved aftermarket brands declaring bankruptcy, headlines have left enthusiasts wondering where doom and gloom will come from next, and as it turns out, it might be from where you buy your car parts. Hundreds of Advance Auto Parts locations are shutting down in the next few months, meaning there’s a good chance you could lose a local auto parts store soon.
Actually, it’s bigger than that. In addition to hundreds of Advance Auto Parts locations, the company is also getting out of franchise locations, and downsizing its distribution network. As Reuters reports:
As part of its turnaround efforts, Advance Auto Parts announced plans to close 523 corporate stores, exit 204 independent locations, and shutter four distribution centers by mid-2025. The company aims to improve its adjusted operating income margin by over 500 basis points through fiscal 2027.
Holy crap. If my math checks out, 727 retail locations will be affected by this restructuring, including a whopping 10.6 percent of all corporate-owned Advance Auto Parts stores. Those are some massive cuts that could result in hundreds of job losses, and it makes you wonder what exactly happened.
Well, the truth is that Advance Auto Parts has been struggling for a while. In November 2023, the company reported losses of $0.83 cents per share, and considering it had more than 59 million outstanding shares at the time, we’re talking total losses in excess of $48 million. Clearly, something had to change, and it had to change relatively quickly.
Flash forward roughly a year to now, and Advance has found a lifeline by selling business-to-business subsidiary WorldPac to private equity firm Carlyle Group for $1.5 billion. Depending on how WorldPac is managed going forward, this might be an even bigger deal than closing a huge number of retail locations, because pretty much every shop that works on European cars uses WorldPac to source OE parts using the company’s speedDIAL portal, shown above.
At the same time, things have turned around enough for Advance Auto Parts to be nigh-on breakeven. For the third quarter of 2024, the company reported losses of four cents per share, considerably better than the situation a year before but still not in the zone of profitability. While closing hundreds of locations ought to swing things in the right direction, what headwinds put Advance here in the first place?
Well, Reuters claims that fewer people are repairing cars at home, and while there’s likely some truth to that, it probably isn’t the only explanation. For starters, as commerce in general has shifted from brick-and-mortar to online for many industries, auto parts has followed suit. This means that companies with less overhead in their models, such as RockAuto’s plan of being entirely online, can be competitive on a nationwide scale. Even Amazon is cashing in on auto parts, with its Automotive Part Finder function. If it isn’t in stock at the local auto parts store but you can get it from Amazon the next day, how many people would go through Amazon?
The other side of things is a supply chain crunch. It’s no real secret that auto parts suppliers have been under some serious pressure over the past few years, from inflation affecting cost of materials to reduced automaker demand hurting the OEM side of the business to shipping issues affecting timeliness, these are all hurdles that end up being passed onto retailers, and if you’re a retailer that doesn’t use a lean model, you have less ability to absorb some of those fluctuations.
Of course, heading into a more tumultuous era like the past four years, it probably helps if a company doesn’t spend big. In 2019, CNBC reported that Advance Auto Parts purchased the DieHard battery brand from Sears for $200 million in cash. Oh, and then Advance paid Bruce Willis to start in a “Die Hard”-themed TV ad in 2020. At the same time, Advance continued expansion in 2021, inking agreements to lease 109 Pep Boys retail stores in California, converting them to Advance Auto Parts locations. Keep in mind, this was fully in the depths of a digital-first era, so it might not have been the most prudent capital decision.
It’s worth noting that the physical parts store of old still has a place. If you need a part right now and it’s in stock at a local auto parts store, chances are you’re taking the bus, going on a bike ride, or taking another car down to the store to get what you need. If your daily driver breaks at 3:00 p.m. on a Sunday and you need to clock in at 8:30 a.m. on Monday, you’re looking to get the job done if you can wrench, and the extra cost of going local is worth it compared to the alternative of calling into work.
Still, in a digital-first era, perhaps scaling back isn’t such a bad thing. Maybe it’s time to be more conscientious about the parts in stock, pay better wages for greater knowledge behind the counter, and find ways to be more price-competitive with online retailers. The losses that come with shuttering hundreds of Advance Auto Parts locations will have a serious impact, but for a situation to end up like this, it usually requires people in charge not seeing the forest for the trees.
(Photo credits: Advance Auto Parts, WorldPac)
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At least where I live, there is a ridiculous overabundance of these stores. Within five-six miles of my house I can think of FOUR Advance Auto Parts locations. That seems like about three too many for an area where getting from place to place is generally easy and not particularly annoying. Plus at least three Autozones, a couple of O’Rielly’s, and a NAPA.
Of course, I hope the one closest to my house survives. It is my go-to for generic automotive supplies.
In the early 2000’s all through college, I was a proponent of Advance. The local Autozone was trash. I got all my parts from Advance, the people were helpful and the pricing was fair. Fast forward to 2021 and I am working on a hooptie. The local Advance is now dingy, unhelpful and parts aren’t in stock. Across the street, Autozone is brightly lit, friendly, helpful and has the parts I need on the shelf.
If you had told me in the early 2000’s that I would be an Autozone customer I would have laughed at you. After seeing the decline in Advance, news about closures doesn’t surprise me.
I have Advance and AutoZone right across the street from each other about a mile from my house. They are all but interchangeable. I prefer Advance only because they seem to carry a slightly better selection of the sorts of things I go to a store like that for (I don’t buy parts from either of them). But I had to go across the street to buy the right coolant for my BMW – Advance only had pre-mix, AutoZone sold concentrate for the same price, making it effectively half the price.I can provide my own distilled water…
Oof. Carlyle Group. Not a great track record for entities swallowed up by them….
I worked for a company bought by Carlyle and they were an excellent owner. It was quite surprising as most of us figured it was going to be the typical loot and pillage private equity approach. And when they took it public the stock did really well, admittedly riding the wave of a good market.
Advanced has the weird ability to stock what others can only attempt to order. At least in my area.
Advanced was the only place in the city to stock an outer seal for a ’16 Camry CV axle shaft. None of the 3 Toyota dealers could even identify the seal, nor did they seem to stock it (they hunted for like 20 minutes in their stock rooms). It was a Saturday, so the transmission techs were not working, and weren’t there to provide the part number. AZ, O’R nor Napa had it or could get it for 3 days. Walked into Advanced and the woman behind the counter knew exactly what I was looking for and they stocked it.
Hope they don’t close the one near me. It’s a busy location in a working class part of town, so maybe it will remain.
couldn’t remember if my local was an Advance or an Autozone, turns out it’s the latter! phew.
I’m really torn about this. I much prefer stopping by a local store, but auto parts stores have gotten increasingly crappy. They never seem to have parts in stock that I need, and if I have to wait for them to arrive, I’m just going to order the parts from Rock Auto instead. Maybe they should use more floor space to actually stock parts instead of shitty knockoff brand LED light bars and “deer whistles.” Only time I bother going there any more is if I need some fuel injector cleaner or oil. Hell, they don’t even seem to have wiper blades in stock most of the time!
My experience is that brick and mortar auto parts stores have given up on price competition and are primarily going to sell to those who need a part immediately. Looking for a fairly common piece (Toyota power steering pump) they were literally 2x Amazon and Rockauto pricing. As a retiree with a small fleet I can always wait for the hardware to ship.
My Advance Auto is usually pretty nice. It’s easier to get to than my Autozone and it’s a nicer building. I also take my old oil there. I wish I had more of a choice but NAPA is only open 8-5 monday through friday. I don’t have an O’Reilly’s either. The joys of living in rural and failing Ohio.
$22.99 for a filter from Advance or $9.99 for OEM from RockAuto. I can wait a couple of days, thanks.
I tried to get a friend to buy ignition coils through RA; he didn’t believe they really were $30 cheaper apiece from RA until he looked at it himself, standing in the driveway with the Advance-purchased one already installed (which took about five minutes. But still, I warned him!)
Edit: plus, at least around here, every Advance employee swears and mutters and behaves with complete disdain and condescension on every single interaction. That same friend was like “yeah the lady was super bitchy like she was mad at me for buying this.”
Bye bye WorldPac. It’s gonna be gone in the next five years. Private equity toxin is fatal.
I used to do all maintenance and repair on my cars and trucks. But I’m 56 and have bought new or newer vehicles the last 5 years. Since then, all I buy is accessories. I had my 98 Dodge Ram 1500 for 15 or 16 years and 220k miles. I replaced parts as they wore out and broke and it was a bunch cheaper than buying a new truck. But then I got a new truck with a 120k mile warranty in 2020 and I never do any maintenance or repair.
There’s an O’Reilly’s at the entrance of my neighborhood, so I go there if I need something *now* and I also get my Wix oil filters from there. My in-laws often give me a gift card to there for my birthday or Christmas, too. Otherwise, I’m a RockAuto person – usually.
Advance never has what I need and their online part finder gives me irrelevant search results 99% of the time. I tried to find brakes for my 2016 Mazda6 and it was giving me brakes for a 5.0 Mustang???
I don’t get why everybody is peeing in their pants over how great Rock Auto and Amazon is. I’ve had just as much trouble with Rock Auto’s parts as any parts store, and if they’re wrong, I have to pay to ship it back and wait days for a replacement. I had three bad reman alternators in a row for my Buick, two from Napa, one from O’Reilly’s. If I had that happen with Rock Auto it would have cost me a fuggin’ fortune in shipping costs! And don’t give me any bullshit about their stuff being better, it’s all the same crap!
And I’m sorry, getting the right part on Amazon is a total crapshoot. They love to throw the most random shit into your searches. And will it be counterfeit???? You wanna bet your lunch money on it?
I use Rock Auto for things like headlight housings and wiper blades. Light weight, low consequence items. If I’m buying a set of brake calipers, you’ll find me at the friendly local Napa or the slightly slower but better hours and just as friendly O’reilly’s.
Yeah. When the alternator started squeaking on my Mazda6, my mechanic told me to either call the local guy that rebuilds alternators or get one locally. He said every one he’s tried from RockAuto was either DOA or bit the dust shortly after he installed it.
Local guy couldn’t get the parts to rebuild it because it’s not a common failure point on these Mazdas, so I ended up getting a DuraLast brand rebuilt one from AutoZone for a decent price after the core was given back to me for returning my squeaky OEM one. Been doing fine ever since.
After the three bad ones, I had my old one rebuilt by a local shop. Which I didn’t realize was a thing until I got desperate/frustrated. I’ll be using that shop for all my starter/alternator needs as long as they’re in business.
Shout out to Checo’s Rebuilders in Lyons, IL, for anybody in the Chicago area. They’re a great old school shop!
I’ve tried Amazon a few times. You gotta be super critical about the parts you get because there are a lot of fakes. I generally now only order parts from Amazon that are less likely be counterfeit and only fulfilled from Amazon or a known, trusted reseller.
I will say that their probably were too many of them. My town has one on one side of town, and then another one on the other side of town five minutes away within a few hundred yards away of an Autozone, NAPA and an O’Reilly’s; and a quarter mile away from a Tractor Supply which is a different kind of store but has an awful lot of overlap in the “I need this thing right now” department.
The most local one to me closed a couple years ago, so I rarely go to an Advance Auto since I’d drive past an O’Reilly’s and Auto Zone on the way to the next closest one.
They also didn’t happen to have the closest store to Factory Zero, so I ended up at Auto Zone yesterday when the 12v battery in my 500e decided to be completely dead when I got out of work. Apparently they can start on less voltage than an ICE car, so according to some posts I read, by the time the 12v is actually too low to let the car start, it’s also too dead to jump. Good thing my brother only lives 20 minutes away from that plant.
Advance Auto kinda built their reputation on the Hobby Lobby model of slightly higher prices with some killer coupons. The problem (for me anyway) was they’ve gradually reduced the effectiveness of the coupon so they’re basically unusable through all the restrictions. Pair that with higher prices and generally more poorly managed stores… Yeah I basically only go there if I’m desperate
The UPS store in my tiny town closed. The only reason I go to advance now is because I can drop my packages there for pickup when I have an Amazon return. No lie.
They never have anything I need in stock, and what is in stock is so much more money than ordering online I don’t bother.
There used to be two stores in my town. One was by itself, the other was in a row with every other parts retailer you could imagine. They closed the one that was by itself several years ago. The other one has been declining for years. It’s very dingy, and half of the lights don’t work. The only times I have ever gone in there was when the four other stores didn’t have what I was looking for. The only time I even go to any of them is when I haven’t planned ahead and gotten the parts from rockauto or amazon. I maybe go in there once a year and every time it just looks worse and worse.
This was my local Pep Boys for years. I gamely tried to support it, even as the very parking lot itself started to crumble, but it was frequently old-school scary inside, esp. if I went at night after work. Sometimes, it would be unclear there was anyone actually working there as I’d browse the aisles under the flickering lights.
I live in a fairly small city with several suburbs that makes up about 650,000 people.
Within a 20 minute drive, there are:
9 Advance Auto Parts
6 AutoZones
4 O’Reillys
5 Napa
Yeah, they are crazy oversaturated around me, too. Although, to be honest, I can never remember which ones are Advance Autos and which are AutoZones, even when I’m in the store, I often forget which one I went to and then get mad that they don’t have what the website showed as being in stock
OMG. I’m glad I’m not the only one. My 7 year old daughter has started to ask, “are you sure we are in the right store?” Whenever we go to get auto parts. It is always those two that I get confused which are on the same street.
Staples would like a word… Or was it Office Depot that wanted a word? Okay. I’m sure it was Office Max that wanted a word.
Maybe. The red and white office supply store. You know what I’m talking about.
I was at a DUI checkpoint a few months back. I told Popo that we just got back on the road after dinner. When he asked which restaurant I went to I was drawing a complete blank–all these fast casual places were essentially identical.
Popo let me by without blowing when I told him my destination was 5 hours away and last thing I needed was a drink.
When you’re worse than the likes of AutoZone and O’Reilly’s, it’s no wonder you’re going down in flames. Comparing parts, Advance is usually full of the cheap stuff but the brands you want are more costly than the other two, and a lot more than Rock Auto. In some cases, NAPA beat their price.
I would choose NAPA every time…if they didn’t work bankers’ hours.
That’s my problem with NAPA. What are people supposed to do when they have to work but would like to go to NAPA? You can’t. Is their staff usually full-time then since they only open from 8-5?
The NAPAs near me seem to do mostly sales to mechanics and those guys keep roughly the same hours as bankers. I’m lucky that the two kinda, sorta near me also do some weekend hours.
I’ve noticed a massive general decline in Advance Auto over the last few years. I used to be a die hard shopper there, but noticed that their stock was often not available in store even though the website said it was, the stores got dingier, and their not-behind the parts counter stock was super limited.
I now actively pass the Advance Auto by my house (that I can walk to) to go to a Napa or Autozone. It may be the worst store I’ve been in with employees that don’t help, have a different return policy than corporate, and is always in a state of disarray. If the Napa doesn’t have it, I can get it same day pretty much because the distrobution center is very very close and Autozone will call another store and hold something for me. Not something I’ve ever had Advance do.
This. I used to go to Advanced, but now I drive right past it to Autozone or O’Reilly’s. No point in even giving Advanced a shot, as they never have the part I need and the others almost always do.
My town has O’Reilly, Autozone, and Advance, all in a single row.
I mostly shop from RockAuto when I can plan 4-5 days out. (Or in many cases if I have to pay a ridiculously expensive price for 1 day shipping, and STILL be cheaper than the local store.)
O’Reilly carries Wix, and generally better quality stuff.
Autozone has lower prices, and a wider selection of I “need it today!”: odd sockets, tools, etc.
Advance… I’m actually not sure why I would go to advance. I can try them next time I guess, just to be fair.
If you’re in a pinch for an oil filter, the Carquest Silver filters they sell at Advance are made by Wix..
Carquest. That’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time. Didn’t realize Advanced bought them. Carquests didn’t re-brand in my area. Just closed down.
I read this the other day, as you can imagine among us NAPA store owners it was of interest. I’m actually on a Teams call getting an update on it right now.
One thing to remember is that auto parts stores don’t subsist on DIY’ers doing work in their driveways. It’s nice, because there’s a bit more margin in that, but selling to the repair shops and fleets is where the bread and butter is. Advance acquired CarQuest a few years back to try to tap into that market a little better, I’m surprised this was not mentioned in the article (I do wonder how much that acquisition affected the balance sheet and led to the situation they’re in today). At our store probably 80% of our sales go out the back door. There’s a lot of volume there and it explains why O’Reilly’s in particular is after NAPA’s share of that market.
Auto parts is a fantastically competitive and complex business and there’s price pressure from all sides. Knowledgeable talent is at a premium. Margins are embarrassingly thin but everyone “can get it cheaper” somewhere else, and now the online retailers are strong as well. Sales are fairly soft in the industry right now, one theory I have is all the cars that weren’t sold in 2020 are not coming off-lease now nor out of OEM warranty (which is where the aftermarket comes in). Some folks disagree with my theory but we saw a bump a few years after Cash for Clunkers so there’s precedence. Between the Blue, Green, Orange and Red I’m not surprised one of the four is feeling the squeeze. Advance in particular has been so desperate for sales that they’ve been known to blitz areas at low margins, which has made things difficult at times.
Online retailers are a burden, to be sure, as evidenced by the number of folks here who say they’re willing to wait for parts. A shop that has to manage rack time doesn’t have this luxury, which is why it’s important to be successful in wholesale. You can combat the online guys buy having inventory, getting it to the shop faster, and providing good service. Personally I obviously feel an independently owned NAPA store is more likely to invest in these areas (in particular inventory), as they have their skin in the game. Your mileage may vary based on your local ownership though, and more NAPA’s are corporate owned now than ever before in my career, so it pays to know who runs yours.
TL;DR: From my perspective Advance was a retail-focused parts operation that tried to buy more wholesale market buy acquiring CarQuest and then didn’t know how to best use them, and amid a tough market is simply feeling the squeeze. I’m far from the smartest guy in the room though so take it for what it’s worth.
Interesting inside perspective, thank you.
Great stuff
I appreciate your perspective. It is interesting.
Parts prices for these “out the back door” sales are almost the sole reason that I really, really, resist taking any car to a local mechanic.
**Could you help to explain how local mechanics order parts, and how much competition there is on prices for these “out the back door” sales?
From my perspective as a consumer, when I go to a mechanic, he gives me parts prices which can sometimes be 2-3x more than what I could buy the exact same brand and part numbers on the competitive retail market.
I understand that there are costs for the local suppliers (NAPA, O’Reilly, etc.) of land, having parts in-stock, counter labor, driver labor, etc.
But it doesn’t seem like a competitive market. The mechanic gets a deal with a specific local supplier (I don’t know how, could be bribery and kick-backs for all I know.) and uses them for all parts orders. It doesn’t matter how much the parts cost, because they’ll just pass the cost to the customer, and most customers don’t look, don’t understand, and can’t negotiate repair bill line-items. The customer has no choice; they either get the work done or go elsewhere (to another place that also has a monopoly source for parts, likely with the same parts store!). Mechanics won’t allow the customer to use a competitive parts market and bring their own. I understand managing rack time in case the parts aren’t correct, but even if I verify the exact part number before hand, they won’t allow it. I really do understand that they are just reducing their risk to rack time.
So, where does the competition happen for the prices on “out the back door” sales to mechanics?
Thanks!
I’d be interested to know more on this too.
I think labor and book rates can get high, but I don’t begrudge a shop for them too much. But when the price is quadruple what I can buy the exact same thing for I usually throw in the towel and figure the issue out myself.
Mechanic shops (usually) won’t let you bring your own parts to fix your car because parts markup is part of their profit. If they let you do this, then they should be charging more for their labor to make up the difference. The old saying is you can’t bring a steak to the restaurant and have them cook it for you either.
As far as what markup the shops put on the parts I sell them, that varies by shop but let’s just say they’re making way more on it than I am.
Shops ask me to price match all the time. Never mind that I have it in stock and my competitors don’t, or that I’ll have it to them in 35 minutes versus a couple hours. I know of shops that have multiple tabs on their browser open and order from who’s cheapest. There’s a lot to be said for parts brand preference though, and a bad experience from one will swear a shop off for a long time.
The price you pay from Rock Auto to buy a part versus getting one put on your car via a shop, is your cash-and-carry discount, and presumes you are going to do the work yourself. If you’re competent and have the time and the necessary equipment that can save you a lot.
Thank you! This is helpful. (I do DIY most things for this very reason.)
I don’t begrudge the mechanics their fair labor rate, which is already supposed to include all of their overhead costs, profit margin, etc. (We all know mechanics don’t make $150/hr!) I also understand why they don’t want customer brought parts, at least for logistics and risk reasons.
But then further padding their profit with a crazy parts markup was the missing piece of the equation for me.
Now I’m even more offended that they are burying pure profit into a line item that makes the consumer think it’s a fixed cost; that NAPA or whoever is charging that much and they’re just passing it on. It’s incredibly dishonest and they are making NAPA look bad!
I don’t shop from NAPA retail because I assumed it was your parts markup! (Not that your competing for my retail business. I understand.)
I wonder what would happen if I stood in the mechanics office, asked who they were getting it from, and then called and got my own quote right in front of them?
Probably kick me out or sabotage my car.
“I wonder what would happen if I stood in the mechanics office, asked who they were getting it from, and then called and got my own quote right in front of them?”
That happens more than you realize, and then the shop gets mad at me for quoting a retail cash-and-carry price to a random person on the phone who I have no idea who or where they are. There’s an unknown certain percentage of our retail P&A calls that are just folks checking up on their shop.
Shops resell parts at a markup, that’s just the facts of business. Your contractor charges you more for a furnace they’re installing in your house than you can buy one at Menards for too.
I knew some of that, but I guess I just get annoyed at dishonest pricing. If you’re adding a markup, tell me your adding a markup!
They know it’s dishonest, that’s why they get mad at you.
Getting a fair price from you gets them caught! If they just listed the parts markup, then it wouldn’t matter if the customer checked on the price or not.
Well, thanks for all of your input. I do appreciate it.
Everyone adds a markup, it’s assumed. No one is going to be transparent on how much that is because customers will always say it’s unfair. Do you really expect the grocery store to let you know how much that bottle of water cost them? Do you really want to know? My guess is you don’t.
They’d probably shrug and tell you to fix it yourself or take it to another shop who will do the same thing with parts markup. It’s not so much a way of screwing anyone as it is a way of making more money without having to raise labor rates. It’s not like these guys are out buying yachts—it’s probably the toughest and worst paying of any of the trades with a very high starting investment cost for tools, it’s pretty abusive on the body, and most people think they’re either a thief or a moron or both.
To be clear, I know it’s hard, and I’ll pay a fair wage for the work.
Charge me $200/hr or more for labor then.
Your example above of the guy charging $40 is sad. Definitely should have charged more, and I would have paid it.
Or, they could itemize the parts price and separately list a +100% installation markup cost, or whatever.
I just think it’s fair to know what I’m buying, versus burying markups, fees, profit, etc, and making it look like it’s something else.
/Old man yelling in the wind.
I get it. I hope I didn’t sound like I was attacking.
I don’t know what makes more sense in terms of profit: charging more for labor or parts markup. I think that would be something that would be difficult to quantify as it would vary so much by job. Either way, though, I think it’s kind of a psychological game where, if they advertise a higher labor rate, but don’t mark up parts, would most customers prefer that over the traditional markup shop with appreciably lower rates? I suspect not, but that’s purely my gut feel. It might be like all the advertising out there for items listed as $xx.99 to make it look slightly cheaper because that single cent keeps the price under some threshold and I read somewhere that this works to some extent even when people know the trick.
The usual argument, though, is that when they control the part sourcing, they own its failure, so the charge is kind of like a warranty whether labor is included or just the part. There’s also the question of proper fit, knock offs, etc. that might be an issue for a customer bringing in their own parts. Sure, maybe you get your part from the same place they do, but maybe not. For a similar example, with junk yard parts, the shops I knew would use yards that had some guarantee on function whereas the guy off the street pulling it off a junker wouldn’t have that. Of course, the guy off the street would pay less for the same part from the same yard than the mechanic would charge the customer, but they also need to guarantee their work. Plus there’s the convenience factor, which still applies to new parts, if not to anywhere near the same degree.
To add a related anecdote, my old mechanic used to allow people to bring in their own parts and he charged $40 for labor when f’n Pep Boys was $95 (and a dealer $110, WTF would anyone go to PB at that point!?). He was a damn good mechanic, but felt bad for all the broke people going to him, so he didn’t want to charge more, but he was killing himself and barely getting by. I told him that his low prices were probably pushing away new customers as they might figure he sucks if he’s charging so little and that maybe he could charge on a curve or something for individual old broke customers if he wanted, but he really needed to be charging more in general (including from me—I had to practically force him to take money for something that turned out to be a quick fix that he didn’t want to charge me for when it took him an hour to diagnose it). Not only that, but too many of the customers he was getting were broke ass people that he had to chase for money with shitty cars that took a lot longer and were more frustrating to fix with corrosion and brittle parts that broke. Ultimately, it didn’t end well for him.
In my career I’ve seen a lot of small or single-man shops that fit this description.
Charging more can raise the perceived value of your product / service, especially when you can educate your buyer on why yours is better.
That’s the argument I tried to make, but he was stubborn. Ultimately, it would have been better for the poor customers, too, as he still could have undercut the other places (not only if he was still cheaper, but by doing the jobs faster and better, saving the customer money on labor as he charged by book or actual labor, whichever was less, which I just remembered now) and stayed in business longer. In the end, when he was gone sooner, they all had to end up going to the much more expensive shops. I learned from him that there is such a thing as being too good for your own good.
Matt, I’ve read in the various media pieces about Advance’s plans to consolidate stores to create “market hubs”…can you tell us a little more about what that means exactly?
I’m not entirely sure, but if I had to speculate they are going to close underperforming stores and attempt to service those markets from “hub” stores, which will be farther away but presumably with more inventory / manpower.
If I heard correctly in my meeting most of the closures are going to be on the west coast. Of note in the above article is the mention of exiting independent locations; I didn’t know there were any independently owned Advance locations, so by this I’m assuming these are remaining CarQuest stores. Again, this is speculation on my part.
Fascinating and thanks! I wondered about that, as by me, a lot of Advances are fairly light on stock usually, so I often end up having to go to a couple to find what I need actually on the shelf.
We’ve always been big believers in inventory. If a guy comes in needing five things, you want to be able to sell him six. That’s why our store is so big. 😉
Great perspective! Thanks for sharing
I used to be a contractor store runner for five Advance Autos all across different parts of the state, a hundred and twenty mile round circuit each night. Started at three in the morning when the van (an actual minivan, a Toyota Sienna) full of our boxes came, then we’d check inventory and rocket off. It took me four hours hitting eighty on mountain roads to get done before the stores opened, and more than once I had the police called one me because delivering parts in a personal vehicle at four in the morning looks suspicious as hell.
We were the only ones doing store to store deliveries, where parts would get ferried halfway across the country using this method. They didn’t have trucks bring them in.
That kind of showed me that Advance was doing everything it could to cut costs in the most jank ass way possible. I really doubt that switching to this hub method is going to help that much at all.
Another thing is that cars just break down a whole lot less and are much harder to DIY when they do. Back in the 1980s I did Starter, alternator, muffler, plugs, points and condenser, plug wires, hoses, and belts on my 60’s crap can car nearly every year or two. Now I can own cars for a dozen years with the same alternator/starter, hoses, and plugs.
Yeah, I used to have to go frequently. It was mostly for minor, cheap stuff, but I’d be buying things. Now, it’s just fluids that I tend to get at Walmart or it’s odd stuff I order online or else I’m bringing the car in to get fixed as DIY is just too much aggravation now.
I worked in a CarQuest as a driver and a counter guy when I was in high school, so I watch this industry with a mixture of nostalgia and sadness. Depending on the job I’ve rotated between the Autozone that’s been here a while or the O’Reilly that opened last year, with a NAPA and a once locally owned but now owned by Parts Authority. There is an Advance basically within shouting distance of all of these but I can’t remember the last time I went in there. Rock Auto has proven to be a mixed bag, with Centric brand parts once being okay, but now something I won’t touch.
I use Rock Auto, but I’ll go name-brand whenever possible. Their economy brands are a mixed bag.
But the prices are so much better than the brick and mortar stores, at least around here, that it’s still worth it to get a name-brand Bosch or whatever part, and still save money.
There’s so much junk on there. I stick with Delco or Denso or something I’ve at least heard of.
The unknown brands of Rock Auto are fascinating because you never know when one sounds sketchy but are actually the exact same part as a known brand. I feel like every enthusiast community has at least one of those hidden gem type parts on Rock Auto that are much cheaper but great.
the issue with Advance and autozone to an extent, even O’Reilly’s lately is the selection and quality of parts available. little things like filters all the way to actual engine and vehicle specific parts like water pumps and even rotors are just not available as readily as they once were, and if they are downtown at some warehouse it seems like buying actual name brands from Rock auto or even Amazon is a faster and usually lower cost option.
I mean the other side is the people hired to work the counters. so few have a clue about anything automotive that it just baffles you how they got the job in the first place.
I’ve run into some good staff who really like the business and are very knowledgeable on cars – they’re able to answer questions right off the top of their head – but too many of them seem to have been hired b/c they could be taught how to enter things into the computer.
there are a few. There are also a few that try, but are definitely more the Bench racer types versus the actual racer type.
They’re not going to get good retail staffing at that rate of pay. Nobody does.
Hell, just doing a routine oil change usually takes Napa a couple of days to get everything together, or else I have to run around to a bunch of stores myself, 2 quarts from one, 1 quart from another, the filter from a third, etc. This is basic shit, I’m not buying anything weird or exotic here