“I’ll Buy my own parts”

[jon]

I started my shop up just over 2 years ago now. Increasingly over time I have had many people ask if its okay if they purchase parts and have me install them. In the beginning I didn’t see a problem with that, as I needed to build my customer base up and hopefully win people over from some of the large chain autoshops in the area. I wanted to give my customers a decent deal, lets face it, I don’t make any money on parts anyway, its the labor that counts.

But now I’m facing a problem. I got tired of dealing with the constant problems of people ordering craptacular parts from the internet that aren’t correct, and are sub par quality, and leave me tying up a rack when I could be making money. I have decided to stop allowing certain customers to bring their own parts. So far, my business is down 30% from last year. Its partially the economy, partially my fault for allowing this to go on.

Question is, do I continue the “bring your own parts” service and market myself as a low cost option? Or do I keep the rule and try to market myself to another section of the market?

Topic

[Julian Wong]

I would allow them to bring their own parts but specify that they need to be of a certain quality. Ask them to show you the parts in hand before you commit to them.

If you have customers who regularly bring you quality replacement parts, I wouldn’t turn them away. On the other hand, if you know some cheap guys, either tell them to cough up for good parts or you will supply the parts. There is no to ways around it. Either you;re making money on the rack or you are loosing time. Time=money.

[Justin]

What if you have someone bring in factory parts?

i.e. You are contracted to do a front break job on a Honda, and some guy brings you two, new/appropriate genuine Honda Rotors and a box of OEM Honda Pads…

Presumably this is no problem right?

Instead of being stupid, I guess what I am really asking is, “don’t these customers come to you AFTER they have already purchased the parts?”

In other words, don’t you know what they want to accomplish and with what parts based on what they bring in?

In the above example of the guy bringing in factory parts, obviously, you aren’t expecting any fitment issues…

[Brian Wachsmuth]

i would allow them to bring in their own parts, with them knowing up front that if the parts look sub-standard or not factory authorized parts, that u cant guarantee the work…… as long as they know that, it would save u in the end of having to redo repairs for free

[Dave]

I let my customers get their own parts and if they are wrong or have other issues the customer still pays for the time their vehicle is in the shop.

[Aaron Abajian]

Hi Jon. I too just opened my own shop just under two years ago. In this current economy, customers do ask if they can supply their own parts. I do whatever I can to accommodate my customers since I am trying to build a decent client base. I warranty all of my repairs for 90 days (parts and labor). I mildly mark up all of the parts I order 10%-15% just to cover my additional labor when a part that I purchased fails under the warranty time. When I tell a customer this, they state that all parts suppliers warranty their parts. I tell them this is true. But, since I did not purchase the part, I am not going to guarantee it and they will have to drop off the vehicle, wait for me to remove the part, return the part themselves, bring me back the new part and pay once again for me to install it. Usually, after hearing this, the customer agrees to let me supply the part. This method has worked well for me in the past. If the customer buys the parts locally, this is a good idea. Saying that, I would strongly warn you that when they buy a part online, this can be a big headache for you. Example: Customer buys a part from eBay and brings the vehicle and part to your shop. You put the car on the lift, remove the part only to find out that they brought the wrong part. Now you have a disabled vehicle on your lift and either have to reinstall the bad part just to get the vehicle mobile again or wait several days for the new part to come in. This can cause a big problem when space (especially lift space) is limited. I hope this helps. Good luck!

PS… where is your shop?

[James]

I couldn’t agree more Aaron A. Don’t refuse to install customer supplied parts but do something to pursuade them to allow you to supply the part I.e. labor warranty and depending on who your supplier is you may be able to offer a much longer part warranty as well.

[zero]

I would gently remind them that you can get lower priced new parts and don’t have to use the good ones. I would stress that the pricier parts are such for a reason. ie: Moog chassis parts get a premium because there actually is some over engineering going into them. Making them feel a bit of shame can help. But you can always get plain oem quality.

Also I’m assuming even as a small shop you have some level of support from your parts supplier so if a part is wrong you wouldn’t be completely up the creek with it.

[stingray66]

There is an old saying Do you go to a restaurant and bring in your own

Ham and eggs and ask them to cook it
Then don’t ask a mechanic to do it It cuts in our profit line

[Peter]

I don’t let customers bring their own parts cause usually they buy the cheapest chineese crap. If you instal a crapy part and it breaks the customer will blame you not the part he bought.

[Joeseph Mama]

When you go out to eat, do you bring your own food to the cook… :pinch:

[Author]

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