Adventures in Online Auto Parts (Part 2)

The frequent viewers of this blog know that I love to finds situations where complex systems and people not doing their jobs come together. The following story in the realm of Online Auto Parts just happened to me, and I have mixed emotions about it. An earlier version of me would have been merely angry.

Back Story

About six months ago, we had an incident where I had to order multiple expensive versions of the same part to get one that worked. Feel free to refer back to this post to reference what happened. I, the former member of the Society of Automotive Engineers, had an interesting experience on this, which was related to emissions equipment.

The issue at the time was the multiple levels of failure experienced in ordering online auto parts. It literally took me 4 attempts to get a part that was right and would fit.

This actually happened to me.

I have a junky old Chrysler van and also my daily driver, a Nissan Rouge (No, I did not misspell this. It says so right on the car).

As it happens, both of these vehicles had nails in a tire.

The 1990 version of me would have gone to the auto parts store, and bought a plugging kit. Easy enough to pull out the nail, insert a plug, and keep driving. Note: Not everybody knows how to do this.

But the current version of me decided to take both of these cars to the local auto repair place. The first one was finished no problem, $25, and out the door. It is running distance, I combined it with my workout. Also, I know that a lot of the weight has been taken out of the tires, and where there used to be two or more body plies, there is now only one between you and the road.

The van job took a half hour and cost me $25, No problem

On the second car I got a concerned call from the manager.

This car was in bad shape, and here is my estimate as to what it will take to fix it.

Is it OK to be mad in this case?

At some point in my life, taking my car in expecting to pay $25 and having this guy want to charge me $1040 would have made me mad.

The key issue, he thought, was the outer tie rod end, and the brake hose. Both of these parts needed to be replaced. He also wanted to change 3 tires, replace the wipers, and change the oil.

All of these things need to be done to make your car happy. Question #1: Why did this fellow go through the work of preparing this complete diagnostic of what was wrong with my car if I did not ask for that service? Question #2: Why did they not go through my junky van and give me something similar? I have the answer to that one. They knew I wasn’t going to pay them to fix the van. Paying the $1000 to fix my daily driver is something different.

Online Auto Parts Fail Lessons Learned

Luckily since you tube is useful for something besides animated cartoons, I got the following information. Neither of these were from the Rouge, but the concept is the same. Manufacturers try to standardize this stuff as much as they can. The former Society of Automotive Engineer member knows this.

I googled the cost of the parts. The estimate from the repair shop was that both of the parts cme to $160. The online parts came to a total of about $100, which was the same percentage markup I got last time. I was doing this one myself.

I went to this auto parts store:

The young clerk behind the counter looked up the parts. “Sorry”, he said, “Don’t have these in stock. We can order them, and they’ll be here at 8 AM tomorrow.

So I went back into the auto parts store two days later (to give them an extra day) and… no parts.

Question #3

Did the guy behind the counter just not order the parts? Or did they show up, get put into inventory somehow, and the day shift guy just not be able to find them? Why did this non-conformity happen?

“I can order them again for you” the day shift guy asked. “Eh” I said “I am not getting the warm fuzzy feeling that your system can get it right the second time. I will go somewhere up the street.

So I went in to this place:

walked in, and asked for the parts. “Sorry, we have the brake hose, but we will have to order the tie rod end. It’ll be here at 1 today.”

So I went in at 4.

“Uh, sorry. We tried to get it from a different store, and they were out. It’ll be here at 8 tomorrow.”

Question #4: Isn’t it just a little purpose-defeating to go into a brick and mortar store, to get the part, if they are going to just order it online?

Question #5: If they told me they were getting it at 1 and the part did not show up, couldn’t they have called or texted me before 4 and told me so I didn’t have to go into the store? The girl behind the counter looked pretty text-friendly to me.

So the following morning I went in and got my parts, bought the wrenches suggested by You Tube to remove brass fittings without gnarling them up, and started the job.

The total was $59. There was a $20 aftermarket tie rod end, rather than the $69 one, and the brake hose was $39.

By the way, yes I did look up the “International Suspension Group”, which supposedly made my tie rod end. This operation is a parts importer, set up by Advance Auto Parts, and HQ is in California. The box said “made in Taiwan” but not specific as to actually where physically this might have taken place, and no C of A or apparent ISO status.

Am I okay with Aftermarket Suspension Parts?

Am I okay with this? Once again, we are back to the idea where if this was a Mustang, I might be more particular. It’s a junky little commuter car, and I am not more particular. I got the cheapest one that said it would go in that spot. Also, if they had represented anywhere that they were certified in anything, I would have been very interested.

Note: The vehicle now has about 130K miles on it. If it lasts half as long as the first one, I will be pushing 200k. At the rate of about 20K/year miles driven, it will be four years from now. My car needs will be different and also, by then, the chances are greater than zero that the transmission or something else expensive will die first. I am accepting some minimal risk that this is the case.

The job itself

Not rocket science. I had changed a tie rod end years ago, in the snow in New Haven. This one was no worse minus the snow. Inspection of the old parts showed they were indeed shot. The brake line was identical. The tie rod end was some kind of aftermarket part. No real problem getting them to fit. The you tube instruction was helpful.

The main difference was that I used my big slasher saw to cut the old tie rod end off of the car, rather than coax it off gently. I believe these used to be high carbon steel. Not anymore. Slash and burn.

Obviously the outer tie rod end was a slightly different shape than the original. It fit on the car fine, but I knew it would require adjustment.

There were a couple of incidences of profanity. It took me a couple of hours to do the work, and another hour or so to re-adjust the alignment so the car would drive straight. This involved jacking the car up, adjusting the tie rod end to compensate for them being different shapes, and call it good. Blood was shed, as it always is now.

Question #6

Should I have known that this stuff was wearing out? I suppose it is my responsibility if I am running a car to go out and look at it occasionally. As a 30-year tire industry person, I look at the tires all the time, and the need for the tires was disputable, but not so the steering and stopping parts.

This happens all the time in my line of work, and in fact does show the benefit of having an outside set of eyes look at your stuff. People that are used to looking at cars can spot this stuff no problem. None of this surprises me. The fact that I never jack it up is a contributing factor.

The Tires

I was tempted just to do what I said above which was plug the one and call it good. Instead I took it to Wally, and had them replace the tire with the nail hole, along with the baldest of the remaining four.

Wally still sells that exact kind of tire. I could get tires that match, so there would be no problem with the traction. Note: Online auto parts are not the same as online tires. Evidently the tires show up at your door, and you then have to take them up the street to get them mounted, which costs greater than zero.

Alignment

I went to this shop and walked in at 8 when the place opened. II did learn at one point that your new tires will wear out pretty fast without an alignment, especially since I have the weird front end part on it now. The guy at the first place wanted $89.

The young clerk at the desk told me to have a seat. What she didn’t tell me is that their one shop worker wasn’t going to show up until 9. If I had known that I might have planned my morning differently. I walked around and it was done by 9:30. For all I knew, it didn’t need much adjustment after I got it close. Cost of the alignment was $99.

The Grand Total (Cost)

Item	Cost
Steering and Brake parts	$60
Wrenches	$22
Tires and Oil Change	$280
Alignment	$100
Brake Fluid	(zero since I had some on hand)
Total	$468
Not included	Profanity, drawing blood, life force drainage
Also not included	Dropping off vehicles and running home combining it with a workout (which is a good thing)

Estimated Trouble

Trip	Time Consumed
Original trip to drop off cars	0.5 hours(ran home as a workout)
2 Trip to first auto parts place	0.66 hours
2 trips to the second auto place	0.66 hours
Time to actually do the job	4 hours (including approximate alignment and cleaning up blood)
Trip to Wally to get tires	.75 hours (ran home as a workout which was a wise time usage)
Trip to alignment place	1.5 hours
Total Time	7.33 Hours

So I did end up spending one full day doing this. I had a spare day, I can use it to illustrate a point about system cost, and most importantly I had the ability to fix it myself. This is not for everybody.

Depending on how much money I make in a day, this might have not been worth it. But I did not have to pay the cash, and cash is good.

Yes, I am aware I still need to replace the wiper blades.

Incidences of people not doing their jobs

Person	Failure Incident
Clerk at Original Auto Store	Either didn’t order the online auto parts or “the system” didn’t deliver it. Also did not bother to call and tell me my parts weren’t there. This guy is at the end of a complex system which had multiple failure points.
Clerk at Second Auto Store	Also did not bother to tell me my parts hadn’t showed up.
Guy who did the Alignment	Showed up for work late.
Clerk at Alignment Place	Didn’t tell me that there was no one in the shop working on my car even though it was on the rack jacked up.
Tire buster at Wally	Was supposed to get finished in 90 minutes. I brought it in at 4, closing is at 6. I knew he was going to take until 6.
Clerk at the original auto shop	Questionable (see below).

I am ready to give the original auto shop guy the benefit of the doubt. They did, after all, correctly tell me my car was falling apart. They did not, however, tell me that my van is falling apart, which suggests that they were being a bit disingenuous.

On the other hand, I didn’t ask for this information. It’s likely that he was following the shop protocol, which meant that from the standpoint of the auto shop, he was doing his job.

It is also likely that he pushed the truth on the suggestion of replacing the third tire.

Online Auto Parts Do Over

If I had to do this over again, would I do it the same way? You bet, as long as I could.

But, that’s just me.

The point is: There is a huge complex system involved with the production, and repair, of this junky car. This includes logistics, deliveries, and retail operations, all of which are dependent on people doing their jobs.

Online Auto Parts Conscious Management Decisions

I chose the conscious management decision to do this work myself. Even at that, there were a half dozen people, mainly shop level, that didn’t do their jobs, either because of training, or the underlying systems were not working quite right.

It is true that I am accepting risk by doing so. It is also true that I don’t know what the outcome of the aftermarket part is going to be. I also don’t know if the original repair shop quoted me OE parts or aftermarket when they did their work.

We now know that the auto parts people themselves are ordering their parts online too. The one consolation is that if the parts had not fit, I could have returned them without quite as much hassle. I would have had a store to take them back and complain at.

Do what this information what you will.