[mattsauto]

Advance Auto Parts does have a good labor claim system. The more

detailed you are in your invoicing, the quicker you’ll get paid. For

example, if your original invoice to the customer simply states “Parts

– $100, “Labor – $100”, it will take more work on their part to insure

you purchased the part from them. If your invoice states “P7784 –

Alternator – $100, Labor – 1hr @ $100″, you’re likely to get a

response the same day. I’ve recently submitted a labor claim for a

fuel pump and because my invoice was detailed, I received the claim

confirmation the same day. I know of other shops in this area that do

not submit detailed invoices in their claims and it takes several

days.

KEY: contact your area Advance Auto Parts Commercial Accounts Manager

(CAM). They key the warranty claims themselves now. The store should

be able to give you his/her number.

[mattsauto]

BTW… I really appreciate your comparison with the medical field.

Try asking your doctor for a discount on his services, or the grocery

store. The only difference I see is the customer mood. At the

doctor, there is a mood of concern for their health and well-being.

At the shop or parts store, their mood is often frustration because

they “have to spend more money on that !#@$! car”. Around here we have

a lot of “old school” shade-trees that still disconnect the battery to

test the alternator while that 2005 Honda is running. Very rarely do

we see someone who says, “I just want it fixed, let me know what I

owe.” It’s more like, “why do I have to buy head bolts; why can’t you

just re-use the old ones? You’re just trying to make more money.” Do

any of ya’ll have ideas of how to overcome this type of mood or

mentality? I have a method in mind, that works, but I’d love to hear

what you all have to say.

[mattsauto]

“As an industry we sometimes discount ourselves for the

professionals that we are because we may have misssed a step in the

process, we thought that it was what the customer would accept or it

was a “knee-jerk” resolution; we need to stop that so that we remain

profitable and stay in business to meet their future needs; it is a

pseudo resolution that creates bad consumer behavior.”

Ray, this is something I’m dealing with at my “full-time” job at a

leading parts store. The last few years, previous/former team members

were quick to offer discounts and even set-up some frequent walk-in

customers as commercial customers to give them discounts. Apart from

the bottom line damage, the store lost its Asst. Mgr. position (not

the person, but the position itself) because their actions made the

balance of sales completely lopsided toward commercial. This has had

a lasting effect in that we have those people come in today and wonder

what happened to their discount. When we explain that the reason they

see so many new faces in the store is as a result of those decisions,

they understand.

This is a small community, but we have 5 parts house competitors, 4

national chains and 1 local. As you can imagine, every sale is a

fight. How should any of us go about changing bad customer behavior?

[mattsauto]

I’ve heard a lot lately about leaky p/s systems and the use

of typical p/s fluid. What fluid did you top the system off

with? I’ve seen dexron/mercon stop a leak in p/s systems

since it contains conditioners for seals. Just a thought.