Hi Guys,
Well,
This one has me thinking again,
I've been in the Restoration Addiction (read Hobby) for the past 15 years (not long really) and worked for almost a decade at various Dealerships selling parts, before I moved into 'Corporate' America.
Just a couple things you have to keep in mind with dealing with Dealerships-
The first-
that a manufacturer is only required to supply parts for 7 year after the manufacture date. That means today (2007), the dealers are only going to have good information/data/parts for cars made AFTER the year 2000. This is because the manufacturer (Ford, Chevy, Mopar, etc) only PROVIDES information from the last 7 years.
The books you guys keep referring to- Long Gone. Most manufacturers went to EPC (Electronic Parts Catalog) systems around the year 2000. Most Parts departments have very limited space, so around well- Now, they should be throwing away most of those remaining books. When I worked at a Jag dealer that HAD sold BMC (British Motor Corporation) products in the 80's I was told to pitch ALL the old books- we didn't have room, or time to dig through them.
MOST dealers are geared not toward the individual walk up customer, but to repair shops and internal customers. That is where 99% of thier money comes from.
So- come in with a request for a 1950-anything and chances are they either are
1. Not Interested because it will take WAY more work for just a single sale.
2. Not going to have ANY information on it. As some of you noted with your calls to Mopar proper, they just DON'T have the info, or the access to that info.
So-
With that in mind, it leaves it up to us, the restorers to come up with the parts numbers and the research BEFORE we go to a dealer.
I have YET to go into ANY dealer with part numbers in hand and be turned away. And that includes having them search for remaining inventory through a remote locator. You just DON'T tell them what it is for.
The Second point-
You get what you pay for.
People want parts to be cheap. The cheaper the better. Companies have to make a profit- some more than others.
So- that means that the manufacturers or in the case of the aftermarket, places like AutoZone, have to keep all thier overhead to a minimum.
And what is the biggest source of overhead you may ask???
LABOR.
So, what do you do?
You pay them minimum wage or just a little over, you offer no benefits and you work them as many hours as possible so that you have to hire as few as possible.
So, What do you get when you can't provide a decent wage to attract decent talent?
I think everyone knows the answer- the repeated complaints about AutoZone tells me that.
You have to remember that those kids are the only ones who are willing to work for 7 or 8 bucks an hour, get Zero benefits and do 50 hour weeks. Would ANY of YOU do that job for that amount in those conditions???
I wouldn't. My time is worth more than that.
Unfortunately, this is the situation in EVERY aspect of Customer Service these days. Look on Monster, or Career Builder and see what the starting wages are. It doesn't take a braintrust to figure out what's going on.
And some manufacturers (such as Dell Computer, Bank Of America, Etc) have taken it the step further and outsourced the Customer Service to the cheapest place possible- India!
And then all of us complain about the bad customer service.
Sorry about the rant guys,
Now back to our regularly-scheduled fin appreciation.
Did they EVER clean up Miss Belvedere? Just curious if anyone knows what they found under all that Cosmoline?
Just MY Pennies,
Charles.
BTW- I have been reading 'Where have all the Leaders Gone' by Lee Iococca. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants a no-bull take on America today.
Especially with an Election coming up. You DO vote don't you?
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