Slow economy helping and hurting import business
A diverse panel of shop owners, regional buyers and technicians — all of whom deal daily with parts stores and counter people — discussed specifically what they want and need from their auto parts suppliers.
At the “Selling parts for imports: Did you ever consider listening to your customers? The installer’s view” panel, moderated by former AIA chairman Marty Gold, S-G Imported Car Parts, panelists Mitch Schneider, director of the Car Care Professionals Network (CCPN) segment of AAIA, and current contributing editor for Babcox’s ImportCar, Underhood Service, Brake & Front End and Counterman magazines, Simi Valley, Calif.; Vic Tarasik, owner of Vic’s Precision Automotive, The Woodlands, Texas; Carlos Rodriguez, Operations Manager, Ted Wiens Firestone, Las Vegas, Nev.; and, Stacy Le Piere, CFO/Owner, Midas of
The panelists touched on “How can your parts supplier help you to compete with expanding dealer service networks?”; “Is your road salesperson doing what the shops need?”; and “How well can your parts store help you with new technologies, such as telematics?”
The economy has had an impact on the import industry, Schneider says. "We have to be careful because the nature of the work coming in now is different than the nature of the work that was coming in six months ago," he says. "We are going from repair and maintenance to catastrophic failures."
It is the job of the import repair shop owners to guide customers to complete the repairs necessary to keep their vehicles running at peak condition. However limited disposable income has caused many drivers to simply park their car, instead of repair and drive it, when major improvements are needed, Schneider says. "Cars that need the least repairs are now being repaired first," he says.
Tarasik counters that his repair shops are getting business, as fewer people are buying cars and instead performing larger repairs. But with traffic counts down 20 percent in his area, they are still feeling the pinch of an economic downturn.
When the discussion turned to sales, all panelists said they mainly use the Internet to purchase parts. Rodriguez purchases 95 percent of his parts online and sees about a 2 percent return rate, he says.