Somebody is making money during the recession

I look up the Autozone prices on-line before heading to the store. Some of their stuff I just don't. NAPA usually has better premium suspension bits IMO.

I tracked the Autozone stock back in college and it traded at $25/share about 10 years ago.

I actually like the "adult parts stores" like NAPA or Car Quest, but there aren't any around my place.

for the "college kid" parts stores I prefer my local advance, but I have to make sure I know exactly what I need before I go.

I generally don't mind the Autozone up here, but we've got a fantastic NAPA. I usually shop at O'Reilly's 'cause they're closest to my house and staffed by reasonably knowledgeable people, for the most part.

Case in point: The other day I had to buy a brake line for a buddy's 2001 Civic. Went to the O'Reillys, told them what I needed, they handed me a line that had the wrong flare and wrong thread. "That shouldn't matter" the guy (who I'd never seen before) said. Rather than argue with him I just left, and went to the Autozone. They had the right thread, but wrong flare, and the assistant manager told me I was an idiot for thinking there was more than one style of flare on brake lines. Again, rather than cause a scene, I left, and went to NAPA, where they had exactly what I needed, knew instantly what I was talking about, and charged about sixty percent of what the other two were.

The O'Reillys around the corner from my house is the cheapest (important when doing LeMons!) but is staffed by monkeys. You should have been there when Toyman and I requested a 5/16" metal inline fuel filter. The guy said he couldn't look it up that way, wanted to know what it fit, and I told him. The look on his face was priceless.

Then I looked up a power steering hose online, they had it, I went there and got it by part number, the girl wanted the installation information 'for the warranty'. I informed her that I wasn't concerned about the warranty, I just needed the hose and she looked at me like I had just sprouted three additional heads. She literally had no idea of how to proceed. She finally sold me the hose.

I like my autozone because it has cute latina girls working the counter, they don't know anything, but it's ok, I show up with the part number and gtfo.

I miss my old local chain auto parts store (Lappens) fulla older guys and people who you know, actually worked on stuff other than putting altezza tailights on their civic. I miss em :( Sadly , no napas are even close to me, so usually, if I can, I just order my stuff online.

Apexcarver wrote: actually if you want to see making money in the recession look at assualt rifle manufacturers most have a 1 year backorder, are gouging prices, and are cranking out as fast as they can gun dealers in general are raking it in lately, thanks to the recession and obama.

Obama has been President for over a month and the recession has been going on longer than that and I yet to have any need for an assualt rifle. Isn't there a cheaper way to hunt for squirrels?

I end up at AZ since most around here are open till midnight, a couple 24 hrs, nothing like swapping parts in the parking lot at 3am :)

PorschesOnTheCheap wrote: Nobody asked me, but I can't stand the local AutoZone. An actual phone conversation between me and the AutoZone flunkie: Me: I need eight spark plugs for a 1976 Mercedes Benz 450SL, preferably Bosch. Do you have them in stock? Them: Two Door or Four Door? Me: Two Door. Them: Automatic or Standard. Me: Automatic. Them: Gas or Diesel? Me (sarcastically): Are you kidding? Um, I think it runs on gas but I'll have to check and call you back. I pay more at the little local parts store because the guy behind the counter knows about cars and about parts. If I order something by part number, he doesn't ask me, "for what car?" I'm happy to pay extra for his expertise.

I think we had a thread on this before, but you can get stories like that from both sides of the parts counter. ;)