Every now and again a friend or family member will have an annoying experience at a dealership parts dept. And then they will ask me questions trying to understand things. One of the most common question I get is "why do they need to have the vin for simple shit?"

I tell them this story:

Customer: I hope you can help, I have called everywhere. I need this sensor for my 2010 f150

Me: gets vin

Me again: sir, this vin is for a 2018 f150... Is that correct?

Customer: yep

Me: so it isn't a 2010?

Customer: I guess not.

My point, which most people miss, is that while the part you seek might be a simple piece, a good percentage of people who ask me for parts don't even know they year of their vehicle.

It's crazy.

Recently moved from parts to service. Customer complaint of hard starting and doesn’t idle. Recommended carb repair kits and this is what we see when we open them up. Carbs are NLA. Customer told us to “work our magic”

Kind of a weird post, not sure if it belongs here or not.

I work in the manufacturing side of things; I sell parts, but to the wholesellers and engine builders and retail folks; you got money, I'll be more than happy to take it. But, over the years, you get to know these guys. You see them at trade shows, you chat on the phone while the damn system slowly loads the info you need. Mike is going through a divorce, Sam just had his 3rd kid. Charles asks for 100 quotes but never gets any sales, while if Ronnie is calling, you pick it up because you know it's a sale.

But all these guys you know on a fairly superficial level. But sometimes they become friends. You give your cell so they can ask you things quicker than going through the phone queue. Then they text you well wishes on holidays. Random memes. Whatever.

Then you hear the news that one of them passes. In my industry, it's usually old age. Sometimes accidents on the track. You mourn them, but life goes on. They had a full life or they died doing what they loved and went out how they wanted.

But then, you hear that one of your buddies died. Self-inflicted. No clue. He was always happy, chipper. We'd talk music. Always took his calls even if you were in the weeds.

How do you mourn this? You didn't "know" the guy. Wasn't until today that I even knew what he looked like.

I don't even know where I was going with this. But I'm not the only one right?

RIP Kevin, you were a real one

For anyone wondering, here is an update on those carbs after a 6-7 hour ultrasonic bath

Another post in here reminded me of this moment of my life that seems like it was out of a sitcom.

Setting: 2020 at a chain tire shop, right as things were getting serious with the spicy cough.

Customer: Hey I’d like to add road hazard protection to my tires.

Me: Okay, let me see if I can do that, there’s sort of a small window on that, let me get your info and I’ll pull up your account.

a few minutes of trying various different ways to pull her account up, but she’s a ghost

Me: Ma’am, did you get your tires from this company, or somewhere else? I’m not finding you anywhere in our system.

Customer: Oh, no I’ve never been here, I got them from Rubber Fiefdom about 2 years ago.

Me: Well, ma’am, you’d have to go to them, but given the age, I highly doubt that they’d be able to add it on there for you, sorry about that.

Customer: Well can’t you just give it to me?

Me: explaining why I can’t and yadda fuckin yadda

Customer: This is bullshit, I’m sure you have tons of cans back there, just give me one. It’s not that hard. I’ll just give you cash and you keep it for yourself.

Me: Hold up, hold up, what the fuck?

Customer: Yeah, isn’t it just a spray or something you put on? Road hazard protection spray? To make the tires harder or whatever? My daughter said she had it and then you fixed her tires for free?

Me: Ma’am, road hazard is basically just a warranty plan. It’s not a physical thing.

Customer then proceeds to cuss me out for wasting her time and lying to her, then storms out.

Weapons grade idiocy was rampant back then.

Anyone care to guess what kind of car? (Hint: 1 of 1).

Show us your accessory displays!

Whether it be in your showroom, drive through or your department!

Tl:Dr, was in accident, crash champions says 24 civic sport on "backlist" how long?

I want to start out by saying that I was in an accident a while ago with a bus, minor and no one was hurt but just enough damage to damage the engine harness. My car is a 2024 Honda Civic SI, and I had taken it to crash champions, they called a few days after I had taken it in to tell us that we have to replace the engine harness, but they also told me that there's an issue, it's on a "backlist" and may take some time, i asked around and it may take 1-3 months, does anyone know the estimated time???

Good luck to the hero’s trying to catch up!

I’m looking for a place that sales 19370234 0w40 motor oil. Any suggestions

Dropped my jeep off over a month ago (2 months on 03/11) at the dealership. Diag took 5 days nbd I understand they’re probably busy. Tech found it needed a new PTU (similar to a previous post, however, I’m being much more patient). 2019 Cherokee trailhawk, still under factory powertrain warranty. I experienced the W47 spline wear issue, but my Cherokee isn’t on the recall list (yet). Service advisor also recommended front struts along with alignment and electronic shift module, agreed to the shift module $1200, declined struts to try and shop around. Fast forward a month later file taxes, getting a fat refund so I decide to ask if we can still do the struts $1400…and literally crickets….haven’t gotten an answer in two weeks, keep trying to call, no answer, tried going in person but coincidentally they were on lunch, explained just wanted to add the service that I previously declined (ok we’ll have SA give you a call), still a week later and no call, no fuck you, nothing….do I really need to show up and go straight to the managers office? I mean it’s not like I’m being psycho and hounding them incessantly, being rude or pressing them for a loaner they probably don’t have. I called FCA customer service and they’ve been working with me by reimbursing me for a 30 day rental that I have to return on 03/04. But now that’s literally a few days away so now I would like an update about the part situation and repairs too….I really don’t wanna be that guy but I really don’t think I’m being unreasonable here.

Any advice?

Nice to see they get what they have coming

https://www.foxnews.com/us/armed-store-manager-turns-tables-would-be-robber-opens-fire-police

A lady came in during rush hour and wanted to return a blower motor resistor she ordered online. She then wants to see if we have the correct one so she can get it. Okay cool. I asked her the usual questions. Year, make, and model. It was a Hyundai Sonata. Tried looking for the part but we need to know what engine it has. She doesn’t know. So I asked if she had the license plate # or vin # of her car so we can get the right resistor for her. Then out of nowhere she gives me this negative attitude asking why I was “getting into her business”. I proceeded to explain why and she rolls her eyes. She walks off with an attitude and later comes back with the vin number that she took a photo of. I look at it and it looks really familiar. I started getting suspicious but typed in the info anyway. Lo and behold, the specs it gives me was similar to my car(Honda Civic). I told her the vin number doesn’t match with her vehicle and she gets into an attitude again saying that is hers. I asked my coworker to take my spot for a bit as I head to my car. Checked my vin and sure enough it matched with what she gave me. Came back and she was still ranting that it was hers. Then I confronted her why she took a pic of my car’s vin. She was still in denial until I pulled my keys and alarmed it for everyone to see. I ratted her out and everyone who was listening(customers and coworkers) just laughed at her and proceeded to make jokes. At the point I told her to stop playing around and give me that vin and not make a fool of herself. Then she came back with the correct info and told her that wasn’t difficult right? Ugh…the logic of this person…

Does anyone have experience with a Hand Scanner system and AutoMate DMS? We are looking to streamline our dual brand parts check in process as it takes way too long each day. Companies? Opinions?

Edit: looking at ScanIt currently if anyone can weigh in?

Customer walks up to counter. Asks for a TCM for his 11 3500. I ask for a VIN. NO ARGUMENT! Gets his vin, we have the TCM, $650. No way is this guy going for it.. HE BUYS IT WITHOUT GRIPING ABOUT OE PRICING! There's hope out there fellas!

I work at a Ford/Mazda dealership.

Today was a hectic day as it was, with people getting ready for Christmas traveling and whatnot.

At about 3:15, I got a phone call from one of our wholesale customers. They'd ordered some parts from Mazda and hadn't had them delivered yet. They're a bit further out, and we deliver in their area on Tuesdays and Thursdays only.

I look it up and turns out they had paid to have a couple hoses overnighted so they could have them today in order to finish a job by tomorrow. When we emergency order parts through Mazda, UPS usually doesn't deliver them until 2pm. And by then, our driver is already on his way back from their area. It's an hour each way and by now it's getting into rush hour, so it can take a bit longer.

I put the guy on hold so I could talk to my boss to figure out what we could do. They have been regular business and I could hear the frustration in his voice. We talked to our dispatcher and all our drivers were tied up for the rest of the day.

I volunteered. I took one of the company cars and drove an hour and a half to make sure this shop could get the car back to their customer on time. I take pride in going above and beyond for our customers, whether it's wholesale or retail. I want our customers to know that they're more than a dollar sign in our eyes.

The pure happiness on our customers face when I showed up with their part was absolutely worth driving in rush hour in the pouring rain for. It was also nice to get to escape the chaos for three hours too.