NAPA?pricing

[buck12]

Isn't that the truth! I find Checker, Autozone, Pep Boys about as worthless as **** on a log.

My local NAPA just moved into brand new digs; so I expect the prices will remain high to pay for the new space they are in.

Autozone and Orileys are the only option in our town on Sundays. A couple of weeks ago I needed a chainsaw sparkplug. Stopped in Autozone and the kid at the counter said he could order it. I am not sure it qualifies as a parts store when they don't stock sparkplugs.

 

[mjncad]

Autozone and Orileys are the only option in our town on Sundays. A couple of weeks ago I needed a chainsaw sparkplug. Stopped in Autozone and the kid at the counter said he could order it. I am not sure it qualifies as a parts store when they don't stock sparkplugs.

That's as bad as the time in 1989 a coworker and I stopped in an Arby's on a 1/2-hour lunch break, wait 15-minutes to get help from the counter monkey, only to be told they were out of roast beef.

 

[tlbuser]

I had worked in the auto parts business for fifteen years, seven at a NAPA store. I do agree that NAPA parts cost more, but I always felt that they had the best quality in the market. I don't want cheep imported junk. I do feel that if a store advertises a price to the gereral public they should honor it when you walk in the door without question.

Oh please. How do you know where that particular NAPA part came from? There are so many items that are repackaged and rebadged that the source of origin gets blurred quickly. Not honoring advertised prices is why threads like this start. What a horrible business practice for a franchisee to exhibit.
Our local NAPA has next to nothing in stock, tried 3 times, never again. In my area, Carquest beats the pants off the rest of them.

 

[tlbuser]

Bottom line is bottom line- don't mess it up by throwing a bunch of different numbers at the customer.
They should all stop playing games. Be up front about all costs associated with the sale.

Exactly, especially when shopping for things like furniture, appliances or big toys. Any business should know their operating costs, inventory (or lack thereof) and expected profit margin. The SO decided it was time for me to get new LR stuff. It was also decided that we would rather have 2 recliners and 2 love seats. Found what we liked at a local place (non stock) and the others in the area were priced similarly. Called a place in NC and they were 1/2 price plus a $200 shippimg charge. While some extra is due the local places for having a display room, do they really deserve that much extra??

 

[jmc]

The other part of this pricing game may be that the commercial users need a "legitimate" price to charge their own customers. That price being the List Price, of course.

 

[ray66v]

It's apples, and oranges, when you compare prices with discount places, with NAPA.

NAPA is not a discount parts store.

> Not every retailer is in business to offer the absolute lowest prices. <

Though sometimes it is the same part, NAPA generally offers better quality parts, and that usually comes with a higher price.

They have brought in cheaper lines, to compete with the discount places, but the apparently will not go head to head with them. Such a price war, inevitably leads to lower quality, so no one gains.

 

[The Haymaker]

It's apples, and oranges, when you compare prices with discount places, with NAPA.

NAPA is not a discount parts store.

> Not every retailer is in business to offer the absolute lowest prices. <

Though sometimes it is the same part, NAPA generally offers better quality parts, and that usually comes with a higher price.

They have brought in cheaper lines, to compete with the discount places, but the apparently will not go head to head with them. Such a price war, inevitably leads to lower quality, so no one gains.

A rebuilt caliper is a rebuilt caliper. If I am not desperate for the part and they aren't the only ones that have it, I will go for a cheaper price. 5 or 10 bucks and I'll buy wherever I find one first, but when it's 40 bucks more, no sale.

 

[wdchyd]

The interesting fact here is that NAPA's are a franchise.....unfortunately we as consumers go into these stores thinking we are getting "National Company" for price and quality (as the TV commercials elude us to), but instead we still are dealing with individual owned stores.....BUYER BEWARE!!!

 

[brain55]

I get a discount at the NAPA store and find their prices to be inline for most things. It helps to be a repeat customer I guess. they also have a better stock of the things I want.

I think the other stores may be better if you need some blue lights to install under your running boards.

I agree with this. For the last 8 years I was a fleet manager for a good sized landscape contractor. At the height of the housing boom in 2005 and 2006 I was spending $40K+ a month on parts to keep the fleet of trucks and equipment running. I got to establish some pretty good working relationships with many of of the local parts houses and dealerships for trucks and equipment. Volume and relationship does make a difference. Most of the time I was shopping for service and availability over price. Price might get get a suppliers foot in the door, but service and parts availability kept me coming back. Getting a truck or piece of equipment on the road was more important than saving a couple of bucks, and so was support after the sale. I had a local small chain auto parts store that I loved, and was spending $7K+ a month at. Unfortunately they started hiring the deer-in-the-headlight types that were unable to help with the one off issues I had. The Napa store was much better equipped to help me and got my business. I could go on and on with examples of companies that lost my business over support and not price. I had a company that I was getting Donaldson filters from, I was paying 40% less than the Napa master installer price. The problem was I could never count on getting them in any kind of timely fashion, at the time I was trying to stock enough filters to service the entire fleet without running out, and I was on a 2 month cycle, so there was no excuse when I did run out. My supplier dropped their contract with Donaldson for that reason. In my experience, the automotive dealer almost never beat the local parts houses prices. And I rarely noticed a real difference in quality or longevity.

Brian

 

[ray66v]

A rebuilt caliper is a rebuilt caliper. If I am not desperate for the part and they aren't the only ones that have it, I will go for a cheaper price. 5 or 10 bucks and I'll buy wherever I find one first, but when it's 40 bucks more, no sale.

I don't buy from NAPA. And, I don't really care if anyone buys NAPA or not. I am just explaining why there is a difference in price.

There is however, potentially a big difference in rebuilt parts. Not everyone has the same standards, and tolerances. A lot of rebuilders just put in what has failed, the rest gets put back in service, to fail later. Or, they use low quality Chinese bearings, O-rings, and seals, that have a fraction of the service life the OEM parts have.

It's not at all uncommon to see brand new budget Chinese Calipers, and wheel cylinders, which have all but replaced rebuilt, come out of the box without any threads cut in them. So you box it up, and go back, and find out, that was the only one they had, (of course).

After decades in the automotive business, I know from experience, a cheaper part is usually not as good. On the other hand, sometimes on an older vehicle, cheaper is fine, they will still outlast the vehicle.