Why Autozone sucks!

[Ry_Trapp0]

The failure rate on OE remans from Ford, Toyota, Honda, GM etc is vastly lower than the failure rate from most auto parts store chains.

The failure rate of the Ford remans improved by an order of magnitude when Ford got more involved and reduced the number of re-builders and instituted strict minimum rebuild standards and testing.

They used to be really crappy and in the late 90s made some really great changes.

In that bad turbo vid Travis posted, I would almost bet that unit had been dropped. Probably had a ring on the cardboard inside the box as a witness mark from the force of the drop. Maybe not?:shrug:

A badly dropped alternator will do the same thing if the shaft side is what hits the ground.

do they have reasonable prices on their reman parts? from my very limited dealings with dealership parts counters, the new parts are generally quite a bit more expensive than what you can get elsewhere(and i'm not talking about duralast junk:lol1. i'll have to drop by the local dealership and do some price checking, i need a transfer case shift motor for my explorer(****in bullshit electronics, just give me a damn lever through the floor:cuss.

 

[DSG2003Mach1]

something that randomly struck me, I was always under the impression that rebuilt meant they fixed what was broken/out of spec and reman (remanufactured) was supposed to mean it was completely rebuilt only re-using non wear items (like the housing). Looks alot like they're trying to mislead to people to me

 

[mustang john]

yep, sure did read the first post. it only mentioned autozone's reman process. and what you're doing is assuming that, for some reason, autozone is the only parts chain that operates this way and that every other parts chain does a full complete rebuild, replacing every part. yet there are many posts in this thread that say that most other parts chains operate under the same process that autozone does - I.E., autozone's reman parts are no worse than any other parts chain remans:idea:
you must've missed those posts that i'm talking about, i'll help you out here...

Oh i read all that but thank you for pointing out the obvious for me, just because i have focused on AZ doesnt mean they are the only crappy ones out there. Its just AZ are the ones i choose to pick on :rolling:

 

[Ry_Trapp0]

so you're saying don't buy parts from any parts store then...

 

[jrd699]

Ummmmmm....you are complaining about remanufactured parts. By definition they are used parts that have been reconditioned... If you want a new part, buy a new part. Don't complain about buying a cheaper part, that isn't as good as new.

 

[mrlrd1]

The failure rate of the Ford remans improved by an order of magnitude when Ford got more involved and reduced the number of re-builders and instituted strict minimum rebuild standards and testing.

They used to be really crappy and in the late 90s made some really great changes.

Yeah, only to F up again in the last 3-4 years. Ford's reman stuff lately has been downright awful. Last Thursday I pulled the plugs off a reman PS pump for a 4.0 SOHC Explorer. The return was partially restricted by half dried flakes of some unknown sludge. Turned it upside down and out came dirty strawberry milkshake. The box staples were intact as was the tape on the plastic bag, so it hadn't been tampered with. I also now use NAPA for alternators. Ford's rebuilder simply refuses to replace voltage regulators, even the melted Focus ones.

 

[reivaxtorres]

Dont normally post on SVTP, but here goes....

vatozone sucks when it comes to those parts but they mostly suck for their employees behind the counter. Beware of the slick guy with the belly he will not look up the part correctly then he will say that they don't carry it. When you tell him the exact part number for it and even show him the printout from the vatozone website, he will still deny it and say that is a web only item.

my experience is that usually only about 2 out of 5 of the workers actually know about cars enough to actually give advice on working on them. most of the people they hire (as it was my experience when i used to work for them) dont know crap about cars. i remember we had a new hire once that was helping a customer and they turned around and asked me for help because the customer was looking for spark plugs and she had no clue what they were. yeah, that bad. sad thing was that she wasnt the only one that we had working for us that was like that. Now that i dont work for them anymore, i still go back for parts and i hate it when people try to shrug me off as just another dumb customer and tell me BS. i usually just ask if i can borrow their keyboard to prove me wrong. So far ive only had one person tell me no. haha.

on the bright side tho, we did have a few people in the store who actually knew about cars and actually worked on them at home or as a side job.

I have also heard from the same guy that AZ trains their guys to sell you the wrong part if they dont have the correct one on hand. By the time you find out its wrong and return they will more than likely have the correct one in the store to make sure they keep your sale.

i must have missed that part of the management "training" they gave me. they always told us that if we didnt have the part, send them to a store that had it in stock or offer to have it transferred in. on the other hand, i have known some shady store managers who would probably make their employees do that.....good thing is that those store managers usually never last.


also....for most of their reman parts, autozone sells two types: thier "rebuilt" versions that are rebuilt replacing ONLY the broken parts, and their "premium rebuilt" version which are rebuilt replacing all wear items. ive had their regular rebuilt and premium rebuilt starters, and their regular rebuilt starters suck.

 

[charged351]

Agreed with the above poster. I worked for AZ for 4 years in management. As far as complaints against the employees, you guys know they pay minimum wage starting for non management right? Typically with the alternators and starters you are given the chance to step up to the gold line, which only reuses a few pieces, and have much better reliability.

 

[mustang john]

so you're saying don't buy parts from any parts store then...

lol Your one of those guys arent you? I like that, it keeps me honest. lol

All im saying is watch out for the quality of the reman you buy. Is it crap patched together with lifetime warranty?

Or is it a reman that has been truely remanufactured with new parts through out and is a few steps short of being a new part from an outfit that has a reputation to back it.

You would be surprised how close in price the crap is to a real reman under alot of circumstances.

 

[ford_racer]

O'Reillys, with their 1 year warranty parts, replaces what failed and checks other parts for wear as well. With their lifetimes, they replace everything.

 

[Ry_Trapp0]

lol Your one of those guys arent you? I like that, it keeps me honest. lol

All im saying is watch out for the quality of the reman you buy. Is it crap patched together with lifetime warranty?

Or is it a reman that has been truely remanufactured with new parts through out and is a few steps short of being a new part from an outfit that has a reputation to back it.

You would be surprised how close in price the crap is to a real reman under alot of circumstances.

damn straight i'm one of those guys, and i have 10,000 posts to prove it:lol1:

i agree with this post though, i buy very few things reman from anywhere. but that doesn't mean i won't go buy some spark plugs, wiper blades, and a case of oil from autozone.

 

[Mr.Venom]

My brother has had pretty crappy luck on remanned starters for his 91 z28. But other than that, I've had no issues with Autozone and will continue to use them when I need em.

 

[mustang john]

damn straight i'm one of those guys, and i have 10,000 posts to prove it:lol1:

i agree with this post though, i buy very few things reman from anywhere. but that doesn't mean i won't go buy some spark plugs, wiper blades, and a case of oil from autozone.

:beer:

Im running out of stuff to say on the subject so i will leave it with your quote

 

[Jimmysidecarr]

Does Royal Purple need a Texas Based technical Rep? maybe you could convince them they do, here in austin. LOL

With double digit growth expected again this year, no doubt we will eventually have to add more tech help people on. However expanding it to another city is not part of the plan.

Porter Texas is still our international world headquarters, and where we "build our oil".:-D Though we did have to move much of our sales staff to an office in Kingwood, TX.

do they have reasonable prices on their reman parts? from my very limited dealings with dealership parts counters, the new parts are generally quite a bit more expensive than what you can get elsewhere(and i'm not talking about duralast junk:lol1. i'll have to drop by the local dealership and do some price checking, i need a transfer case shift motor for my explorer(****in bullshit electronics, just give me a damn lever through the floor:cuss.

Yes, but in many areas things are quoted above retail with the typical dealer matrix pricing bump. Unless you have a friend in the business, not only might you not be getting a discount off of retail, you might not even be paying retail.

I have connections on Ford stuff but even still I regularly will use Steve at Tousley Ford to buy stuff I happen to be fixing at a legitimate 10% over cost plus reasonable freight.
Tousley Ford: Full line Ford, Lincoln, Mercury and Ford Racing Distributors. - SVTPerformance

 

[PSUCOBRA96]

I avoid auto zone as much as possible, I drive way outta the way to the pep boys as it is bigger, cleaner, and staff are not as retarded

 

[mustangted06]

pep boys better? you cant be serious

 

[Tractorman]

Find a local rebuilder for stuff like starters and alternators. We have a local one here in GB that is dirt cheap, and seems to have a large inventory for our tractors we run, but is able to do anything.

 

[scottg]

I use autozone for all my oil and tune up needs. Plus I just got a duralast battery for my cobra last month. I have no problems with them. In my town we have autozone, advanced, o'reilly's, & napa.

 

[dooberGN]

I use autozone for all my oil and tune up needs. Plus I just got a duralast battery for my cobra last month. I have no problems with them. In my town we have autozone, advanced, o'reilly's, & napa.

I agree my bro wanted me to change his oil I went to Autozone got a five quart jug of oil, filter, hand wipes, oil drip pan thingy,funnel and hand cleaner for twenty bucks. Can't beat that, plus I showed my bro how to do it so he can keep all that stuff because I already have it.

 

[Ry_Trapp0]

:beer:

Im running out of stuff to say on the subject so i will leave it with your quote

:beer:

Yes, but in many areas things are quoted above retail with the typical dealer matrix pricing bump. Unless you have a friend in the business, not only might you not be getting a discount off of retail, you might not even be paying retail.

I have connections on Ford stuff but even still I regularly will use Steve at Tousley Ford to buy stuff I happen to be fixing at a legitimate 10% over cost plus reasonable freight.
Tousley Ford: Full line Ford, Lincoln, Mercury and Ford Racing Distributors. - SVTPerformance

thanks man, i'll post up and see what tousley offers. i'd definitely prefer a ford sourced part over an internet mystery part, even if i am planning on gettin rid of this thing soon, lol.