Parts Manager in Training Looking for Advice — CDJR/Chevy/GMC Under One Roof
Looking for some advice from experienced dealership Parts Managers, especially CDJR/GM managers.
I’m currently a Parts Manager in Training at a CDJR/Chevy/GMC dealership under one roof in a lower-income area in the Northeast. I came from an import brand (Parts Manager) in a much more metropolitan/high-volume market, so I’m trying to adjust to a very different market and figure out where we have opportunities to improve.
Our Parts Department is doing $300K+ in monthly sales, and interestingly, we actually outsell our Service Department most months. The problem is we’re only grossing roughly $90K–$95K, so I feel like there are some significant opportunities/profit leaks that I’m not seeing yet.
The dealership also doesn’t really participate in wholesale. We don’t have delivery drivers and don’t currently deliver, so there isn’t much outside dealer business coming through. I’d love advice from anyone who has successfully built wholesale in a similar market without initially having a delivery operation.
A few areas I’m specifically looking for advice on:
PASE money — how are you maximizing it and making sure you’re not leaving money on the table?
Maintenance penetration — what are you doing that actually moves the needle?
Backorders — best practices for tracking, follow-up, customer communication, etc.
CSO vs. DRO and other order types — any tips, rules of thumb, or mistakes to avoid?
D2D — how are you handling it and accounting for it?
RIM/ARO — what are you doing to keep inventory healthy and avoid unnecessary obsolescence?
Obsolete inventory — we have a TON of it. Looking for proven strategies for getting rid of it and preventing the problem from continuing.
Automated inventory/sticking systems — anyone using these successfully? What has actually worked for you?
Parts gross — what are some of the biggest areas you’ve found where dealerships unknowingly give away gross?
Accounting/chart of accounts — we use the GM chart of accounts, and for Chrysler accounts we basically add a “J” to the end of the account number. If anyone has a better way of organizing/reporting a combined GM/CDJR operation, I’d be interested in hearing it.
One obvious issue I’ve noticed is oil changes. We basically give away a lot of the oil. For example, some of our oil change kits are only $49 in parts and contain 5 quarts. If the vehicle takes 7 quarts, the additional 2 quarts are being billed at $0.00, so we’re eating that cost.
I’m also involved with our in-house body shop. We sell parts to the body shop at cost, so there isn’t really much Parts Department gross coming from that business, but I’m still expected to help the Body Shop Manager improve the operation and help coordinate the body shop and parts teams to improve turnaround time.
We use CollisionLink for our body shop orders. Since we don’t deliver, we don’t have other dealers ordering through us, so I’m also interested in hearing from anyone who has figured out how to make CollisionLink/wholesale work when you don't have an established delivery operation.
Overall, I’m looking for anything and everything that experienced Parts Managers think is important to running a profitable, efficient department.
If you’ve managed a CDJR, GM, or combined domestic store — especially in a smaller/lower-income market — I’d really appreciate hearing what you would look at first if you walked into my department.
What numbers would you immediately pull?
What reports would you run every morning/weekly/monthly?
Where would you look for lost gross?
What would you change first?
And what do you wish someone had taught you when you first became a Parts Manager?
I’m not looking for a “this is how my store does it” answer as much as practical, proven things I can take back to my dealership and implement.
Thanks in advance to anyone willing to share their experience. I’m trying to learn as much as I can before I officially step into the Parts Manager role.