New guy... lol

hey whats up guys? My name is justin.
I registered here in hopes of picking up this 82 750 maxim i found on craigslist.
well i'm happy to report i picked it up last night for the price of $250 and rode it home (about 40 miles) without incident!
So you'll be seeing a lot more of me on here.

Just a little backround.... I'm 23...
I work for an Auto Parts wholesaler doing inside sales in Oakland, CA.
I've gone to school for Automotive (cars), and I have worked as a diagnostic tech, shop manager, bodyshop manager, autobody estimater, etc etc

So yeah. just saying hi.

I should have pics sometime over the weekend

 

Welcome aboard! Hope you don't mind me asking, what Auto Parts group do you work for? I've been with CARQUEST for around nine years and before that with NAPA for about five. Just curious...

 

FAST UNDERCAR... hehe

we kick everyone's a** out here lol

***Edited By Robert, Mind the language please! Thanks and welcome to the forum!***

 

Gotcha. A two-stepper like Olympic Distributing, IMC, or WorldPac. Seems that this business model may be the way the industry is heading for professional repair shops. Let the CSKs, Autozones, etc. handle the retail customers and wholesalers handle the dealer accounts.

 

exactly. we get parts out within the hour. we send pizza to our top 3 shops once a month. a dozen donuts to the first 10 shops once a week, and starbucks giftcards/mcdonalds giftcards to our customers who purchase monroe pads etc etc haha we have the BEST customer service in the area by far.

oh and we're about to start advertising on craigslist and sell wholesale parts to the shade tree mechanics at wholesale prices! we're taking over....

 

Welcome to the fold JustBurn! Ahhh... Miss the good old days wrenching in Alameda. Had a great time there with APC. Pity they went under. Heard tell it was because of the theft. Bet your glad you don't deal with the public... They can be downright annoying.

 

yeah... but now i even have a repair shop trying to buy me out and hire me as a service writer.... i love my job but they are offering me more $$$... lol

But work aside... I'm glad to be a member on this forum. there seems to be a lot of knowledge here...

 

Welcome ! 8)

 

welcome, now, can we see some pics?

 

ooh i'll take some tonight.... I'm at work now

 

Gamaru, looks like we have a bit in common. My family owned 4 Napa stores from the mid 80's till '95, and now I am managing a retailer/wholesaler that is currently looking into a possible changeover towards Carquest. How do you like the program? How does it compare to Napa as a company?

It is interesting to see how many Partspeople share an interest in motorcycles. I have found that bikes have renewed an interest I had sort of "lost" a while ago on wrenching and "hot-rodding".

 

Very interesting, I was in the parts and wrench business for about 10 yrs before I started making electricity.
Worked for a company called Brown & Root in the heavy equipt shop.
stuff like 12 & 14-G Cat motor graders, D-6 D-8 & D-9 Cat Dozers,
about 3 different size scrapers, several track hoes, abunch of loaders and back hoes.......... the list goes on.
We were building a power plant.

I really dont miss it but I did at 1st.

 

To answer your last question I'll say that it's a whole lot better. You must understand that I never worked for a corporate NAPA, just an independent. CARQUEST, on the whole, strives to take care of its people. It is entirely a privately held corporation, i.e. their are no stockholders besides the employees. You can't buy CARQUEST shares on Wall Street like you can with NAPA. Because of this, stockholders don't get to dictate business planning to you. In this day and age, for a company the size of CARQUEST to be privately held is almost unheard of. I'd venture to say we may be one of the largest privately held companies in America.

As far as switching from NAPA to CARQUEST... The obvious answer is do it. But, why? You'll find excellent parts which are of the highest quality, of course, but I think you'll also find the support that independents need. I remember that while working for the NAPA jobber we use to buy the majority of our parts direct from the suppliers going around our servicing DC. Why? Because of the games they would play. Trying to make money in this business is pretty tough. The last thing you want is your warehouse eating most of your lunch for you. In the end, we were NAPA in name only. We never participated in any of their sales or programs. That says a lot about the politics and the bureaucracy that goes on between stores and their servicing DC.

I hope I've sufficiently answered your questions. I'm not knocking NAPA; they're an excellent company in many ways. I'm just saying that CARQUEST is better.

I'll second that. With a bad back, I find it difficult to work on cars and trucks for any length of time. But the motorcycle. Much smaller and no fenders you have to lean over. Very nice, indeed!

 

Yeah i'm still young... So i never got out of my "Hot Rodding" although i've taken a break on hot rods for the last 6 months.... my last "hot rod" was a 1968 Galaxie LTD (2 door hardtop) with a pumped 390...

Bikes are just faster cheaper and scarier... hehehe
I can't wait to start chopping/welding/hardtailing