Advance Auto / CARQUEST merger

[Charles Talbert]

Not sure how many know this has taken place; it is approx. 3 months old now. CARQUEST has been bought out by Advance Auto parts.

My understanding is that beginning on the west coast and working eastward over a 3 year time span, changes will take place. No one here seems to know exactly what that means. We have an Advance and CARQUEST store side by side on Main St., the Advance is a corporate store, while the CARQUEST is an independent. I do know the 2 now have unlimited access to each others computer system parts supply chains. That has been a plus for locals who like dealing with Advance. You can walk into Advance with a CARQUEST part # for an item Advance can't supply, and you can have the item quickly from the Advance store. This is very good for vintage parts which CARQUEST offers a much broader line. If you have a local Advance, but no CARQUEST, this will be a big help to you.

My main question is for folks on the west coast. What changes, if any have you seen with these 2 franchises? Even corporate and upper level store officials here don't seem to know much about what to expect.

[Ron in Indiana]

We have Advance stores in our area along with Autozone and O'Reilly's. If I do go to one it's Autozone since the other two don't seem to carry much unless you have a Ferd or Bowtie. Mergers are never good for one party or the other as someone is going to loose a job. It's usually for economic reasons in the first place and duplication of stores does not fit in with that reasoning. I have an excellent Napa store which is owned by the same family for over 40 years now. They do their best to get the parts I need and deliver them to my door. They mix the paint I need and my outside salesman brings the Martin Senour rep around at least once a month for any questions I might have. Charles I hope the merger doesn't make things worse for you and your business. Time will tell.

[W_A_Watson_II]

Our CarQuest is just down the road from an Advanced. Between the two, I rarely go to Advanced, as CarQuest is much more helpful (all the great parts books and knowledge) and it's also the local machine shop. I tend to buy more fro O's, and hardly make is across town to Napa. Sure hope this doesn't hurt the guys or business at our CarQuest.

[Charles Talbert]

We have Advance stores in our area along with Autozone and O'Reilly's. If I do go to one it's Autozone since the other two don't seem to carry much unless you have a Ferd or Bowtie. Mergers are never good for one party or the other as someone is going to loose a job. It's usually for economic reasons in the first place and duplication of stores does not fit in with that reasoning. I have an excellent Napa store which is owned by the same family for over 40 years now. They do their best to get the parts I need and deliver them to my door. They mix the paint I need and my outside salesman brings the Martin Senour rep around at least once a month for any questions I might have. Charles I hope the merger doesn't make things worse for you and your business. Time will tell.

We too still do a lot of business with NAPA, they are 30 minutes away in another town, but still deliver to our door. It is an independent jobber, and the only NAPA left in the county. NAPA's requirements for independents are really out there these days. That alone has driven at least 2 former NAPA jobbers out in our area. One of the former store owners works for us now, so we get the straight line scoop on NAPA Corporate. It seems corporate calls threatening 30 days till compliance or we'll come and clean the place out, which is so stringent that it's a death sentence to a small town store. The guy that works for us now just told them straight up when they called, don't bother waiting 30 days, I'll tell you now it ain't happening because it can't. He was running a store that was doing very well, but not so said corporate. 30 days later, here they come in masses with trucks and plenty of help for loading. He is still struggling with paying personal loans from when he opened the store more than 10 years ago now.

Our CARQUEST is independent, and was NAPA for over 50 years with 4 stores some years back. They were on the verge of being driven out when they struck a deal with CARQUEST. They are now down to 2 stores. The CARQUEST here in Norwood is by far the top dog in this town; Advance I'm told is operating at a loss every month, but because it is a corporate store, they are able to absorb the loss and keep it open.

Tough to run a business now a days, Washington DC has made it nearly impossible for small business, seems too that everyone else wants to jump on the wagon to see how much they can add to make it even harder.

[Matthew Welcher PWA]

Working in the automotive aftermarket for a good portion of my life I never thought this would happen. I figure that in the next few years there will only be 3 or 4 named parts stores left nation wide. I know that corporate pricing structure should be better than that of a jobbing store. And yes being able to pull parts from other corporate stores should work easier and better. But Corporate store managers have there hands tied much tighter when it comes to service, price, and the ability to service the customer all around. The good and the bad will happen, and in my opinion it is staffing of the parts store that will ultimately make the difference of how the store is at being able to help you out. A good parts guy is hard to find no matter where you go.

[Clint Dixon]

A good parts guy is hard to find no matter where you go.

Soooooo.....do you know any good parts guys? ;^)

[Charles Talbert]

I agree, it is really hard to find a person who is any good if it doesn't fly out of a computer screen; most vintage parts don't. We are fortunate to have 1 on staff here, he was the owner of an independent NAPA store before being closed down, basically for stocking his shelves with saleable items instead of stocking like the big city stores with items some of which he would never sell in his setting. Later he was manager of 3 independent CARQUEST stores before coming with us. He calls up our local CARQUEST for parts now, and literally has to tell the counter person where to look in the store to find a given item, or which source to order it from in many cases. Some have come to rely on him to do that instead of taking initiative to learn from him. This is a different world we live in now. Where will it be in another 10 years?

[Matthew Welcher PWA]

Clint, I may know a few

[Charles Talbert]

I stand corrected

In my first post concerning this merger; I said the 2 stores had access to each others inventory. I have since learned that is only half true, CARQUEST has complete access to Advance inventory, however as we learn more detail of the agreement, turns out that is not the same for Advance, they are not able to access CARQUEST inventory. Wanted to make that clear so there was no confusion for anyone.

[DrPepper]

Not much new on the merger...?

Did a Google search to see any reactions...nothing since January 2014?
I'm not a fan of Carquest, they bought the independent auto parts store I went to for years, changed from a nice place to get parts to a nightmare of overpricing and employee griping. They shut down the machine shop and moved to a fancy store, bad got worse and now I go to NAPA when they are open. Saturday & Sunday I check the other big 3 and see if they have what I need.
DP

[Charles Talbert]

Did a Google search to see any reactions...nothing since January 2014?
I'm not a fan of Carquest, they bought the independent auto parts store I went to for years, changed from a nice place to get parts to a nightmare of overpricing and employee griping. They shut down the machine shop and moved to a fancy store, bad got worse and now I go to NAPA when they are open. Saturday & Sunday I check the other big 3 and see if they have what I need.
DP

Same scenario with lots of places. Just the opposite for us, CARQUEST is by far the best thing going here in town, they are an independent jobber though, the corporate stores are just like you described. NAPA only has 1 independent jobber (Butch's Auto Parts) in the county, they are great also. We do massive business with both, they both deliver when we call, NAPA is a 30 minute drive away, they still show up promptly.

[W_A_Watson_II]

Carquest here is also the engine machine shop. Prices are a little high on parts, but they have the best collection of parts books of any of the places I've found in town. Unfortunately they are separated from Advance Auto by only one building!