A large amount of our work involves diagnosis, and often it is a small part that is causing a big problem. In many cases, this part is either not a typical, off-the-shelf piece, or it is the most common pattern failure item around. Much to my customers' and my distress, either of these scenarios often result in my not being able to find a part locally. A car may have to sit in my lot for several days over a $50 part. Worse yet, to get this part I may have to pay as much as the part's cost to get it here "overnight," which generally means three days after I order it.
OK, yes I am venting a little, but I am concerned that too many of my suppliers are reducing inventory due to the economy. Please tell me how that makes sense when most repair shops are very busy? My service manager took it upon himself to see how many of our orders our main supplier was losing, and by the end of the month it resulted in 30 percent of our monthly sales.So you have a customer calling, e-mailing, basically waving money under your nose, and what is the response? I can tell you that I have e-mailed at least four small niche suppliers this month looking for something for a specialty car in our shop and received no reply at all. I have had at least three orders submitted over a supplier's parts portal that showed inventory on hand turn into special orders in the last two weeks. One of those has still not arrived, and another came with the wrong part numbers.
I know what you are thinking. These are hard-to-get parts. Actually, we are talking about universal catalytic converters and Fel-Pro High Performance Gaskets for a small-block Ford. Both of those cars are camped out at my shop, waiting. But I am done complaining — now I am going to make my point.
When salespeople show up saying they are having a hard time meeting their sales quotas, I offer them that 30 percent increase in business I mentioned earlier. So far, there have been no takers.
If one of my customers came in and said, "I will spend 30 percent more with you every month for doing what you already do," well that is a no brainer. The parts industry doesn't seem to want it. When fast-moving parts are not on the shelf, e-mails don't get answered, employees fail to order parts and consumers are getting the same discount for their $100 purchase that I do on my $30,000 purchase, what other conclusion can I come to but that this partnership is noticeably in trouble?
Donny Seyfer is a second-generation repair shop owner and ASE Master Technician. An active industry educator, Seyfer hosts two automotive radio shows, serves as chairman of the Automotive Service Association of Colorado, works nationally to help repair shops with IT and service information utilization and writes for Motor Age, a sister publication of Aftermarket Business.
