r/partscounter

Or do you guys have your own cash drawers?

*I'd rather not turn this post into a svc bashing post, looking for solid solutions*

When a customer is scheduled to come in for either a parts install, or whatever, and they miss their appointment, what does your SVC dept generally do? Ours seems to do nothing, and it gets annoying especially for the customers who we have parts ordered for.

I have placed a shelf near our back counter for daily appointments, so it is easier for me to see who misses an appt.

Thanks for any input.

*EDIT* This pertains to mainly warranty jobs, or customers who have some sort of extended warranty, all of our CP orders are pre-pay, so that isn't an issue thank goodness.

We spend a lot of time inside aftermarket service and parts operations, and this is one we keep bumping into. A tech can't tell from the catalog whether a unit takes revision A, B, or C. Rather than risk a second truck roll and an angry customer, they order all three, use one, and the other two ride around in the van until someone remembers to return them.

It makes sense from the tech's perspective, but upstream it creates a huge headache - inventory accuracy takes a hit, the warehouse eats a steady stream of open-box returns, and planning sees demand for parts that never failed.

What we find interesting is how often it gets treated as a behavior problem (tighter return policy, chase the techs) when it looks more like a data problem. The catalog or the supersession history isn't usable at the point of service. We don't think we've seen anyone solve it cleanly without touching that.

Curious how you all handle this on the floor. Are you seeing this kind of "safety ordering" inflate your return numbers? And if so, how are you bridging the gap between what your catalog shows and what the tech needs to see?

The parts department takes the responsibility of stocking hats to sell to customers and well… our supplier went to trash after a recent “update” leaving us with 15 hat options which aren’t nice looking at all. Who has everyone gone through for a vendor? Our current cost per cap is at $16ea but can adjust slightly if necessary

Obviously, if AI keeps improving, every job, from farming to tech support will be automated one day and I'm not so much worried about.

What I'm worried about is whether AI will take our jobs ahead of the curve, before the government gets around to regulating it or instituting some kind of UBI so half the population doesn't go homeless (I'm not even going to entertain the idea that civilisation is going to collapse or something).

The danger:

• We're computer based desk workers
• We mostly work for large corporations or on software made by large corporations

Reasons to be optimistic:

• Our job requires more physical presence than your average desk job (picking parts/inspecting vehicles/warehousing etc
• Aftermarket parts/bodywork etc aren't usually listed on the manufacturer's software which means an AI agent would need to be designed to interface with several different systems and catalogues, which may prove difficult
• Often customers don't even know what they want or what to call what they want. Even if AI tools get implemented, they may still require a skilled pilot
• AI advancement is potentially slowing down, the implementation of AI may be slow enough that natural attrition outpaces the increase in efficiency. Instead of one mass layoff, we may simply see that sometimes people don't get replaced when they quit.

I know Reddit loves to act like AI is causing the sky to fall, but I'm not super worried. I'm reasonably confident that our jobs will still be safe by the time AI starts coming for all the white collar email jobs and the government steps in.

We seem to do a lot of extended warranty work. We have to back down our matrix and charge list. What do you do?

I have been a parts manager since I was 20 now I’m 31, I have grown a few dealers very efficiently while I was there, because of this I now have an opportunity to get into an actual big dealer group. Not just a group with 1 or 2 roofs. However. They want to grow wholesale, and from the numbers I have seen they already do over 1.5million yearly in sales. The dealerships I have been at would be lucky to hit 200k in sales a year. Obviously this would be a huge jump in scale for me, but how do you other stores even do that? How do you even scale something already so large. I’m a very if I don’t know how to do something or can’t find an answer I will hire, or find someone who can/teach me. I don’t let the ego get in the way, but just the thought of this is intimidating. Any tips? Iv never even had a co-op and this dealer has one so even that is new. Advice, strategies, cautions are welcome.

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.

Any dealers willing to let go of 16 lifters? If not I understand, I’ve tried calling most of the dealerships with over 40. I know they’re a hot ticket item right now! Thank you!

I am looking for 16 lifters, part # 12740071. I have tried calling most of the dealers with 40+ in inventory, but haven’t been able to find one to let them go. I know they’re a hot ticket item, just let me know if anybody can do anything? Hell I’ll even do 8 and 8 if I have too. Thank you!

Running a tight Parts Department isn’t optional it’s the backbone of fixed ops profitability. I came across this list during training and wanted to open up a real discussion with people who live this every day.

Which of these warning signs have you seen firsthand, and what did they lead to?

• Large variance between parts pad and G/L
• Excessive inventory adjustments
• Unpaid parts tickets (cash or AR)
• Missing receipts for scrap parts
• Shipping locations that don’t match the dealership
• Gross margins lower than expected

I’m especially interested in hearing stories where one small red flag turned into a major operational or financial issue.

What’s the biggest Parts Department surprise you’ve ever uncovered?

Thanks for apparently working on Parts LinQ in Prod instead of Dev over the weekend. Now nobody can put their emergency orders in because the Availability function has been borked most of the day.

One can still see general availability in Cross Part Lookup, but order verification uses the standard process only.

Bravo!

Everytime I go to lunch some techs yell "must be nice!" And I respond "It is nice!"

Just cracks me up everytime. Don't shit on my party. Being a tech was your choice, don't try to put me down cause you decide to work through your lunches. Two tears in a bucket.

With AI coming in, and cutting labor do you think it will affect automotive? (Specifically parts side)

Howdy. So I just started a new job that seems to be going really well. The department has been an afterthought for this dealership for over a decade and they seem to like and respect what I bring to the table (6 years in parts and another 6 as a tech prior). The main issue I have right now is the parts room is a disaster. It is a used tractor dealership that has stuff stocked for pretty much any brand you can think of.

Right now, I'm mostly focused on getting the books cleaned up, keeping the techs happy, and learning a new DMS (Flyntlock) but the parts room is not functional in its current state and I have been brainstorming on the best way to organize multiple brands and all the random stuff we have. Any of you also dealing with a wide variety of brands and care to share some thoughts?

Thanks!

I’m at a niche dealer so I understand it’s not exactly high sales but anyone got any tips for increasing sales what works and doesn’t work? I recently moved into parts from wrenching so I’m trying to help grow the department while learning so it and myself are successful. Thanks for any helpful insight.

Any VW dealers out there strictly using VW recommended oil, or do you have a source you buy out from? If so, are the oils meeting required specs? Corporate is possibly wanting to make a switch to find something more cost effective. TIA!

PM and coworker are lazy and do the bare minimum to scrape by, while kissing up to the bosses just enough to keep their jobs. Getting sick and tired of it.