Pedler: Interview With a Service Advisor, Part One: Have We Actually Fixed Parts Buying? 

Not that long ago, buying parts inside a repair shop followed a familiar routine. You picked up the phone, rattled off year, make, model, engine, scribbled prices on a notepad, hung up, and called the next store. Somewhere between call three and call five, you hoped you remembered which option was cheapest, fastest, or least likely to come back on a tow truck.

Today, that ritual has mostly disappeared.

In many shops, what once took 20 to 30 minutes now takes five. Multiple suppliers appear on one screen. Prices, brands, availability, and delivery windows are visible instantly. Orders are placed with a click.

So here’s the real question: Have we actually fixed parts buying—or just sped it up?

To find out, I spoke with Brad Palfreyman, a veteran service advisor (and an unsung hero of the repair segment) at Performance Place in South Jordan, Utah. Brad spent several years as a repair technician before moving into service advising, and he works in a high-volume shop with 23 bays, a full schedule booked weeks out, and a 4.9 Google rating.

In other words, this is not a theoretical conversation. This is parts buying in the real world.

A Five-Minute Brake Job (On Paper)

When Brad realizes a vehicle needs parts, the process is straightforward. The shop uses shop management software with an integrated parts lookup tool, allowing him to build estimates and order parts without re-entering vehicle information or jumping between systems.

“We build the job, go into parts lookup, type in what we need—front brake pads, for example—and it pulls up multiple suppliers and multiple brands right away,” Brad explained. “We can see suppliers and parts all in one place.”

That integration matters. “Twenty years ago, a brake job could take 20 or 30 minutes just to price out,” he said. “Now I can build the whole thing in maybe five minutes.”  From a workflow perspective, that’s real progress. Faster estimates mean faster approvals, quicker repairs, and fewer vehicles sitting idle in bays (the most expensive parking spots in the shop.)

Technology Hasn’t Replaced Judgment

What modern systems provide is speed and visibility. What they don’t provide is judgment—and that’s where the service advisor becomes indispensable.

“When you’ve got multiple options, price isn’t the only thing that matters,” Brad said. “Brand matters. Quality matters. We’re not going to put the cheapest part on a car if it’s going to fail and come back.”

Certain systems demand near-OE precision. Ignition components are a prime example. “If we’re pulling spark plugs on a vehicle, we’ll replace those with as close to OE as possible whenever we can,” Brad explained. “Ignition systems are so sensitive. If you change resistance or materials, you can stress coils and cause failures later.”

Other systems allow more flexibility, but the decision always balances quality, availability, delivery time, and customer expectations. Technology delivers the choices. Experience selects the part.

What’s Actually Better Now

When asked what has improved the most over the past 10 to 20 years, Brad didn’t hesitate. “It’s much easier now. And much faster,” he said. “You get multiple suppliers and multiple parts all in one look, instead of calling five different parts houses and writing everything down.”

Confidence in data has improved as well. Photos, measurements, and product attributes help advisors verify parts before ordering. “Pictures help a lot. Measurements help a lot,” Brad noted. “If I’m ordering a belt and I can see the length and width, I feel way better about what I’m buying.” That kind of information reduces guesswork—and guesswork leads to returns, delays, and customer frustration.

Two Places the Process Still Breaks Down

Despite improvements in lookup and data, Brad pointed to one area that hasn’t kept pace: delivery. “Delivery is probably the hardest thing right now,” he said. “All suppliers are trying to cut costs.”

In some cases, that has led suppliers to use third-party delivery services unfamiliar with repair shops. (Maybe these delivery services should stick to delivering donuts to my house.) “We’ve had parts marked as delivered, and nobody brought us anything,” Brad said. “Then we find them sitting outside on the sidewalk.” That kind of disruption ripples through a shop. A delayed part isn’t just inconvenient—it can derail an entire day’s workflow.

“We’ve told parts houses, if you send us parts that way, we’ll stop ordering from you,” Brad said.

The irony is clear: we can order the right part faster than ever—and still lose time waiting for it to arrive. Even with great systems and clear preferences, reality still applies pressure. When a vehicle is on the lift and a customer is waiting, availability can trump ideal choice.

When asked if he honors the time-tested technique of ordering the same part from multiple suppliers and keeping the one that gets to the shop the fastest, Brad admitted, “Oh yeah, we do that all the time. You order it from a couple places and see who shows up first.” That’s not poor planning, it’s triage.

“If it’s a quality part I really want, and I can get it in three hours, I’ll wait,” he said. “But if I can get something acceptable in ten minutes and keep the job moving, sometimes that wins.” Parts buying doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It happens against the clock.

Manufacturers own the responsibility for the second place where the process breaks down. The demand from parts buyers for more product data is universal. This includes more images, detailed measurements, and other specifications. While Brad finds modern catalog data more trustworthy and available than in the past, more product data makes for more confident purchasing decisions and fewer returns.

Fewer Data Errors, More Logistics Problems

Despite industry statistics about high return rates, Brad said true data-driven errors are relatively rare in his shop. “When it goes wrong, it’s usually mis-boxed parts or used parts or cores sent back out as new,” he said. “That shouldn’t happen, but it does.”

This suggests that while data quality still needs improvement, logistics and quality control now play an equally important role in reducing returns and delays.

The Service Advisor at the Hub of the Wheel

Throughout the conversation, one theme kept surfacing: none of this works without a skilled service advisor orchestrating it. Service advisors juggle:

• Multiple vehicles at different stages
• Technician workflows
• Customer expectations
• Parts availability and delivery windows

“All my technicians have 10 to 15 cars going at the same time,” Brad said. “My job is to keep everything moving.” Technology didn’t make that job easier—it made it faster and more complex.

On a scale from “lifesaver” to “four-letter word,” Brad didn’t hesitate to describe modern parts systems as a “lifesaver.” But only when paired with experience, communication, and judgment.

So … Have We Fixed Parts Buying?

Mostly, yes.

We’ve dramatically reduced the time it takes to identify and order parts. We’ve improved visibility, confidence, and choice. We’ve given service advisors better tools to do an already difficult job. But parts buying isn’t finished evolving.

Delivery logistics need to catch up with lookup speed. Data quality and quantity still matter. And as systems grow smarter, the role of the service advisor becomes even more critical.

From five calls to five minutes, we’ve come a long way. Now the challenge is making sure those five minutes lead to the right part, right place, right time, every time.

Stay tuned for next month’s article, where Brad discusses the human aspects of service advising. (Hint: we’ve come a long way there, too.)