Quote:
Originally Posted by Norm K
Without knowing anything more than the name on the door, NAPA, as they typically inventory higher quality in-stock offerings.
Beyond that, it comes down to staffing. Stores of the same company, often separated by only a few miles, can be wildly different in their level of knowledge and approach to customer service.
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What he said. ^^^
The problem with NAPA, really the only problem, is that they are not as ubiquitous as the others, i.e. there are not enough locations and many people do not have one nearby.
When I was up at the cabin in WI. in 2020, my choices were O'Reilly's or an independently owned Carquest in the nearest small town. They were both actually quite good, the independent was a salty old dude who had been working there for 50 years and the O'R guys were very nice and tried their best to be helpful. One positive thing about O'R that not everyone knows; they can order absolutely any part or brand for you and price-match stuff on the internet if the manager feels like it. This one did...a dollar was a dollar to him if he could make something on the part.
I rebuilt the front axles on my F-250 4x4 while there, (plenty of time on my hands for projects), once I got it apart I discovered a damaged stub shaft from a bearing that self-destructed. Normal crap when working on vehicles. I went to the local junkyard first and he had one but I had to buy the whole axle half for $150, they would not sell just the stub. For once in my life, I made a smart decision and decided to look into a new part first. I went to the independent guy first and he took all kinds of measurements of the old one and said that he had to call some place down in St. Paul, he'd get back to me the next day.
The next day, he calls me and a new stub shaft would be ~$300. Ouch. I decide to look online and holy fk, several places are selling a brand new Spicer part under $100!
The axle is a Dana, Spicer is original part. So I go to the O'Reilleys to see if they could order it for me and the manager goes in the back and comes out with the part in his hands!! "Is this it?" Well slap my ass and call me Sally, it is.
Then he price-matched the cheapest online ad, I think it wound up being $80. I had to order and buy some seals at the Ford dealer in town but I had already made a deal with the parts manager and was getting everything at wholesale, sometimes close to 40% off. So the moral of the story is, you need to do your homework and no one parts source is "best" in all circumstances. Sometimes the dealer is the ONLY place to get a part, or at least the only intelligent place to get it.
Sometimes O'Reilly's is the absolute best place on earth to get a part, even though they generally sell crap. NAPA sells good stuff including several proprietary products but not always nearby or available. In Minneapolis, I have the main NAPA warehouse 15 minutes away with a retail counter in front. If they don't have the part in stock, it doesn't exist in their inventory. It's freaking awesome.
The end.