Are dealership parts departments useless?

Bobzilla wrote:

MG Bryan wrote:

Bobzilla wrote:

EvanB wrote:

MG Bryan wrote: Call and ask about electrical connectors. Just the the connectors. It won't happen, but they will offer to sell you an entire harness, which will cost something like the going rate of a virgin and 3 goats.

That is the fault of the manufacturer, not the parts staff. Saturn/GM catalog had a handy diagram of all the connectors with descriptions of them that you could order separately, they were expensive but at least you could get them. Mitsubishi had nothing of the sort, it was either the harness or nothing. From my time working in dealership parts I have seen the good guys as well as worthless ones. Some aren't much better than the FLAP employees, some are fantastic. It is easier to be knowledgeable in a dealership parts department though since there only a few different vehicles you are working with usually.

This. Honda offers about 10 connectors total. 90% of the connectors on the car are ONLY available in the harness. Believe me, we'd love to be able to get you just connectors because we're losing a sale when you walk out the door.

You gents speak the truth. I'm just salty because the local Mazda/Honda dealer is the worst I've ever dealt with. The Ford dealer, however, used to give me all of the reference books and a chair. When they weren't busy, they spent an hour or two at a time helping me find the part numbers for the pigtails I needed. Still, connectors are are consistently the most difficult thing for me to source and it's berkeleying annoying.

Sounds like you should be dealing with me for your hondar needs

If I asked you for a shifter bushing, you'd probably know what I'm talking about, too, wouldn't you?

MG Bryan wrote:

Bobzilla wrote:

MG Bryan wrote:

Bobzilla wrote:

EvanB wrote:

MG Bryan wrote: Call and ask about electrical connectors. Just the the connectors. It won't happen, but they will offer to sell you an entire harness, which will cost something like the going rate of a virgin and 3 goats.

That is the fault of the manufacturer, not the parts staff. Saturn/GM catalog had a handy diagram of all the connectors with descriptions of them that you could order separately, they were expensive but at least you could get them. Mitsubishi had nothing of the sort, it was either the harness or nothing. From my time working in dealership parts I have seen the good guys as well as worthless ones. Some aren't much better than the FLAP employees, some are fantastic. It is easier to be knowledgeable in a dealership parts department though since there only a few different vehicles you are working with usually.

This. Honda offers about 10 connectors total. 90% of the connectors on the car are ONLY available in the harness. Believe me, we'd love to be able to get you just connectors because we're losing a sale when you walk out the door.

You gents speak the truth. I'm just salty because the local Mazda/Honda dealer is the worst I've ever dealt with. The Ford dealer, however, used to give me all of the reference books and a chair. When they weren't busy, they spent an hour or two at a time helping me find the part numbers for the pigtails I needed. Still, connectors are are consistently the most difficult thing for me to source and it's berkeleying annoying.

Sounds like you should be dealing with me for your hondar needs

If I asked you for a shifter bushing, you'd probably know what I'm talking about, too, wouldn't you?

Cable or shaft shifter? and we have a website with our catalogs on them as well. Just sayin'.....

My Ford parts dept.has alway been very helpful. Not in stock ? We will have it tomorrow morning. For hardware, it generally is easier to go to the ACE hardware store. The dealers supply is pretty much the same. In trays.

I don't consider fasteners (bolts/screws/nuts etc.) as parts. So I don't shop for them at parts stores or parts counters at the dealership. I go to a old hardware store that stocks all grades of fasteners, or a specialty shop like Fastenal. You get a salesman that knows what bolts etc. are good for what, and you pay what the dealership pays when they order them from the same place.

z31maniac wrote:

foxtrapper wrote: they can order it for me and get it in a few days.

This. I find it odd when people get upset that every local place doesn't always have every little odd thing in stock. Yeah, if you're driving a '94 Chevy pick-up, your local shop/dealer could probably rebuild the entire truck from stock. I just ordered $425 worth of bolts/ball joints from the local Mazda dealership here. He worked up a quote on Monday, I ordered it Tuesday, most of it should be here tomorrow. Then again, it's easier for me to be patient as my play car isn't my DD.

There's a difference between that and having NONE of the things in stock, and then consistently taking 2 weeks minimum to fulfill your order.

I try not to complain too much, because in the end, at least Mazda will get me parts for my Ford Escort. Ford won't.

4eyes wrote: I don't consider fasteners (bolts/screws/nuts etc.) as parts. So I don't shop for them at parts stores or parts counters at the dealership. I go to a old hardware store that stocks all grades of fasteners, or a specialty shop like Fastenal. You get a salesman that knows what bolts etc. are good for what, and you pay what the dealership pays when they order them from the same place.

I've noticed with the imports there are a lot more "specialty" bolts than on the domestics. 99% of what we order in comes with a honda part number and a retarded price tag because Honda likes to rape the dealers. Bumper clips that they charge us $3 EACH for and I sell to a customer for $4.19. That's not a lot of market on our side. The manufacturer is the one making all the money there.... not us.

If it doesn't have a part number, and you only need a few, I don't charge a dime. I don't see a point in wasting paper and a customer's time to make up some price on a 4 cent nut to hold his wiper arm on and it doesn't come with the wiper motor.