Yeah, I did. I started it months ago.
Which of the national chain auto-parts store are franchise?
Of the one’s near me - the only one I know of is NAPA.
Autozone, Pep-boys and Advance auto are all company stores. O’Reilly just moved in, so I don’t know it they are or not.
We have a couple local auto parts stores (Sanel is the one I use). They have at least 20 stores in ME, MA and NH. Good quality products with very knowledgeable counter help.
Unfortunately in today’s “information is free” mindset, that’s not the way the average DIYer sees it anymore. I think Dorman is looking beyond price per unit, volume sold, or short-term profit. I think they’re looking to raise their market placement, perceived quality, and image, and along with that goes maintaining a higher price point. I think they may be trying to avoid doing business with the bottom-feeder price shoppers and trying to move their products upmarket.
Those are the ones I’m thinking of. Over the years I have had very good service from the NAPA stores I’ve done business with.
I think Dorman is looking beyond price per unit, volume sold, or short-term profit. I think they’re looking to raise their market placement, perceived quality, and image,
To any serious lookers, they have already raised their perceived quality. They advertise that they find the early-mortality parts and improve on them–in fact they have a separate product line for them. From their 2016 Annual Report:
What is Dorman OE FIX?
Engineered solutions designed to correct known OE failures
• Engineered improvements to eliminate known OE failures
• Replacements for only the failed original component rather than the entire assembly
• Designed to solve the original problem, saving time and
money, and creating “customers for life”
They don’t even mention that they also guarantee the parts for life. Case in point: My GF and I each have 2006 GM SUVs. The high-mounted stop light is an expensive weak link and failed on both cars. The dealer wants $500 for the factory part with 90 day guarantee. The Dorman part cost around $43.71 from Amazon with lifetime guarantee when I bought one for each car in October 2011. In October of 2014, they both failed and were replaced at no charge. The new ones continue to work fine.
(Incidentally, the price today has dropped to $41.49. They must not be on the eMRP list.)
The serious DIYer and the professional know that Dorman is high-quality. Joe Six-Pack will take whatever the parts counterman hands him.
Dorman parts have been behind the counter at parts houses for many years. Freeze plugs, wheel lugs and studs, nuts, bolts, cotter pins, etc., were/are sold as loose individual pieces and often the customer never sees the package. When Dorman brought out the HELP line and marketed displaying it prominently in parts stores the success resulted in them taking on more and more costly parts until today Dorman is a major player in auto parts, not just a supplier of incidental pieces. And as for the incidental pieces, the HELP shelf is where lug studs, nuts, etc are packaged with enough pieces to total $4-5 and a self service look up chart is at the display. That has eliminated customers wasting a clerks time looking up and bringing out a single <$1 lug nut. If you want one you must buy whatever is in the package and once the package is open there’s no return.
But the evolution of Dorman appears to be linked to the evolution of McParts chains that now rule the parts market.
Meh. I can tell you as a professional that Dorman quality is passable, average at best. I cringe every time a I see a Dorman window regulator, electric component, or emissions control component come in. I’ll ask why a Dorman part was sold, and be told that it’s half the price of Motorcraft. It’s also half the quality.
Dorman has improved by leaps and bounds since they hit the aftermarket hard with their expanded offerings, but they still have a long way to go. Your brake light example shows that, the replacement parts lasted only about half as long as the originals.
In a different vein, raising your prices also tends to allow you to deal with higher quality customers, reducing the number of part returns or alleged defective claims. I think that is also a reason for them to want to maintain a minimum price.
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I notice that Dorman is selling the replacement brake lights with a different part number now, possibly the improved version. The replacements they sent me have yet to fail. My experience with OEM parts is that when you go the dealer to get one after a few years, the new one has the same weak spot. At least that seems to be the case with US manufacturers. If the dealer has an oddball part (e.g., parking brake pedal, camshaft) in stock, you know it fails a lot. I’ve gotten in the habit of asking “How many of these do you sell each week?” When the parts counterman says “About 25”, you know something’s been broken. About the only time the US manufacturers change something is when there is 100% failures like GM wipers ir VSS units in 1995,
Often, in Dorman catalogs, they state the difference, as in “The OEM water outlet is plastic and frequently cracks. The Dorman replacement is aluminum.” or “The OEM brake lines rust through in a few years. The Dorman replacements are stainless steel.”
I retired before Dorman got too deep into the upper end of the parts market and I have been slow to recognize their improved quality in parts such as intake and exhaust manifolds and especially electrical parts. I bought the Dorman oil filter housing that fits the Rav 4 engine and have been pleased with its apparent quality. Maybe, like Honda and Hyundai Dorman can pull itself off the bottom of the barrel. Those 2 automakers began as one step above beaters in the U.S. and look at them now.
I don’t have any issues with the ancillary accessories like you describe, @Rod_Knox. Those parts all seem to work fine. But the GM intake manifolds never seemed to fit as well as Delco, the window regulators (especially for the Jettas and New Beetles) rarely lasted as long as the original equipment did. Earlier this year I got a transfer case motor bad right out of the box. Airbag clocksprings were of marginal quality and longevity.
Last year when I started working where I am now, one of the first jobs I did was replace a cracked exhaust manifold on an F150 5.4. I was given a Dorman part. The manifold fit fine but the cheap gasket that came in the box blew out 1000 miles later. Joy having to do that job again, but second time used a Ford gasket.
I am not sure how this works but the way I see if rockauto wants to make less profit and sell Dorman parts cheaper, they could easily discount their high shipping cost and the end result would be the same. Somehow they have to reflect that on the listed price,maybe i say (20% discount on shipoing fee) next to the price.
There’s just too much flim flam in advertising prices these days. As I have mentioned somewhere else on this forum automobile advertising is outrageous. Advertising a pickup at $52,000 then hammering on about $10,000 off plus zero interest financing leaves me questioning the entire situation. New car dealers are out doing the used car dealers in scamming the public. And buying parts now includes becoming a member of each parts store’s EXCLUSIVE CUSTOMER CLUB to get the SPECIAL PRICE and of course your membership will include junk mail both paper and spam. And the only people who get the real bargains are the ones who surf through all the web sites and take advantage of price matching and other gimmicks. It’s becoming too much of a game in my opinion. But who’s asking?
My experience with Dorman parts has been mostly very good. I read reviews people make on vehicle specific web sites regarding their experiences with certain parts and tend to avoid those where there are several people expressing concerns. Example- a steering wheel position sensor for my truck. A number of people had early failures with Dorman so I steered clear (pun intended) on that one. However, I recently replaced a window regulator for the same truck and the Dorman part was obviously better built then the OEM. It was thoroughly greased on all contact surfaces, certain installation issues were designed away, plastic track runners were much better and the motor was beefier.
That’s not the worst of it. When I worked in the garage (1962-63) I was well aware of the parts discounts we got at the dealers and auto parts stores. (The only chain in those days was Western Auto and we didn’t have one.) I had always thought that the new chains like Advance Auto and AutoZone were charging the same price to all comers.
And then I had a rude awakening. My GF was living in a travel trailer at the time and regularly had to replace the 1141 lamps used for interior lighting. We walked into AutoZone and I reached for a bubble pack of two at $4.99. I remarked that the price was rather steep and would order some online. She said “No, no. You’re doing it wrong.” She walked up to the counter and said “Give me a box of 1141 bulbs in bulk pack.” and the counterman handed her a white box of ten, saying “That will be $3.83.”
I’ve tried that several times since, and every time they ask for an EIN (tax number) or letterhead. I guess you have to be a woman to get the discount.
Well, there is a Robbins auto parts store near here that stocks the bulk items behind the counter. When you walk up and ask for a lamp replacement, they pull as many as you need from the bin and charge you a fraction of the price for those blister packed lamps at the bigger parts stores. Last time I only needed one and that’s what I bought. I left the change from the $1 in their coin tray.
I thought Robbins was bought out?
I heard that too. They still have the Robbins sign out front of the store near me.