How come the auto parts stores don't carry oem parts?

[The motor guy]

It's always some house brand knock off that's always a bit different than the original part. Like I bought a blower motor for my dodge because it was august and the oem motor at the dealer was backordered until October for whatever reason. So while the auto parts store blower motor was probably half the price, it didn't really utilize the nice factory wiring where it could be nicely tucked up under the dash, and not rub against anything. The aftermarket wiring was shorter. Then the plastic cover that goes over the motor also had to be trimmed to fit, can't remember what the reason was now, but you get the idea. The aftermarket stuff is always different for whatever reason. Why can't you just buy an oem mopar blower motor at the auto parts store with a nice qaulity denso motor on it, not sure no name motor that I doubt will last 25 years like the original one did.

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

Because that's what dealerships are for.

The whole parts store business model is based on dealing with the aftermarket.

 

[zzyzzx]

They carry some OEM parts, but typically don't stock them.

 

[TheOilWizard]

Another perspective: why would the parts shops want to sell OEM parts when they can sell aftermarket with potentially much higher profit margins?

 

[Hall]

and the oem motor at the dealer was backordered

Guess what ? It would be back-ordered for them as well.

O'Reilly seems to be able to order OEM parts but I've never noticed this with Autozone, AAP, etc, not that I've looked that hard either. Why would they though ? The automakers aren't likely to offer them better pricing than they offer to their own "network" of dealers so cost-wise, it would probably be cheaper to buy from the dealer. Plus, you have the distribution/logistics headache. The automakers seem to have warehouses pretty well spread around and when a dealer orders parts, they show up in a day or two along with all the parts they ordered (and are in stock). When it comes to parts stores, they will not be shipping single parts directly to a store - it's not cost-effective. They'll only ship high volumes of parts to an O'Reilly warehouse somewhere and then they'll have to further distribute them to regional warehouses.

 

[D60]

Agree, it's profit margin and consumers are cheap. VERY few would opt for the OEM price tag.

Eric O addressed this a bit in a video once. Basically he said he'd love to do OEM everything, but he'd have a lot full of cars waiting on parts. Thus, most of us learn where OEM really matters (I think blower motors are one as the aftermarket ones lately seem to all be short-lived)

 

[FowVay]

I don't know how it is today but back when I was a youngster the manufacturers would franchise their services. You had Parts, Sales, and Service and often times this was advertised by the dealerships.

If so desired, an individual could get a franchise to only sell a particular brand of items without offering parts or service. They could also offer parts without sales. The entire business model was based on the license/franchise granted by the OEM.

So you can see Honda mowers or generators sold at big box stores but never see a Honda service center there. You can buy a select set of parts from them but not receive warranty work because they're not a franchised service center.

Somewhere in the back offices of these businesses are agreements of the terms related to their business dealings.

 

[D60]

I'll be putting a blower motor in a GMT400 today and I went out of my way to get OEM. Made in Canaduh

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

It's always some house brand knock off that's always a bit different than the original part. Like I bought a blower motor for my dodge because it was august and the oem motor at the dealer was backordered until October for whatever reason. So while the auto parts store blower motor was probably half the price, it didn't really utilize the nice factory wiring where it could be nicely tucked up under the dash, and not rub against anything. The aftermarket wiring was shorter. Then the plastic cover that goes over the motor also had to be trimmed to fit, can't remember what the reason was now, but you get the idea. The aftermarket stuff is always different for whatever reason. Why can't you just buy an oem mopar blower motor at the auto parts store with a nice qaulity denso motor on it, not sure no name motor that I doubt will last 25 years like the original one did.

OE part will put a squeeze profit margins.

 

[KGMtech]

The OEM blower motor will fit perfect, but the same base 12V motor with different mounting tabs and wire attachments will fit probably 25+ other models covering model years -7 to + 5 years from your vehicle. So from the perspective of the average aftermarket supplier what models to they try to cover with the least amount of part numbers? usually the highest volume applications.

Many moons ago the company I worked for made end caps, cut tubing motor pieces and brass contactors for Siemens Automotive Electric. The same DOM cut tube was used for 30-50 different applications, the same end cap might see same variety of uses. IF I was a aftermarket supplier choosing what end uses I would support would be the single most important decision made because nobody wants to have to sit on assemblies that don't move off the shelves.

 

[Hall]

OE part will put a squeeze profit margins.

Also, how does a warranty work ? I know if a shop buys "house" brand parts from Autozone, O'Reilly, etc, the retailer reimburses the shop for their labor in case of a warranty claim. Will GM, Ford, Honda, etc do the same when it's sold by a non-dealership or does the parts shop cover it ? I doubt that.... With their house parts, they'll have a LOT more margin built-in vs a lot less with OEM parts.

Going back to profit margins (any shop owners / managers here ??) - in some cases with OEM parts, the purchase cost will be higher but you still have to mark it up. It's hard to mark it up higher than MSRP, yeah ? I know most customers wouldn't know that cost anyway and the shop will just say, "Mannnnn, that part was expensive !". With aftermarket parts, a less expensive part could be marked up 3-4x, yeah ?

 

[Vern_in_IL]

I see all these OEM parts websites, which is nice, cause you get to look at diagrams, and get part numbers. They are usually cheaper than the dealer.
To me the only OEM parts I would certainly want, off the top of my head, would be headlamps and fuel pumps.

 

[eljefino]

The OEM blower motor will fit perfect, but the same base 12V motor with different mounting tabs and wire attachments will fit probably 25+ other models covering model years -7 to + 5 years from your vehicle. So from the perspective of the average aftermarket supplier what models to they try to cover with the least amount of part numbers? usually the highest volume applications.
.

Yeah, this. I remember getting a radiator hose that had a couple bends in it and instructions on how to cut it down to size. Easier to carry a more universal part.

Also remember that chain stores like Advance Auto are "parts convenience stores." Serious shoppers either get OE through the dealer or quality aftermarket through RockAuto. Look at a phone charging cord next time you're in a bodega; it won't be a genuine Apple or Samsung, but it'll be what you need when you need it.

There are so many makes and models of car now, and they last 20+ years, so any chain has to be very particular about what they keep in stock, and where, so their money isn't even more completely tied up in inventory. They are getting better about saying, hey, the store eight miles from you doesn't have something but the one 17 miles away does.

 

[StumblingElk]

The manufacturer of the part (or sometimes just the packaging/label on the part) will dictate profit margin.

The whole model is based on buying large quantities of cheaper parts (parts which often "fit" multiple vehicles) in order to leverage a higher profit.

Some of these parts are just oem parts under a different name while others are cheap junk. Autozone doesn't care one way or the other as long as the profit is there (to include warranty claims)

I want to know why my autozone doesn't seem to have ANYTHING in stock anymore. This kind of defeats the whole purpose of the concept for me. If I wanted to wait for parts I could order them myself, cheaper.

 

[Hall]

I want to know why my autozone doesn't seem to have ANYTHING in stock anymore.

My experience (mostly in the past) with Autozone is individual stores are pretty fine-tuned in what they have in each store. If the nearby store doesn't have it, odds are they have a "hub" store that does. They can typically get it brought to your local store in a few hours (sometimes same-day, often next day) or you can drive to the other location. The local O'Reilly store can always seem to "order" something they don't have on-hand and get it very quickly but in the case of them, I believe it comes from a distribution center in the metro area.

 

[Vern_in_IL]

I want to know why my autozone doesn't seem to have ANYTHING in stock anymore.

I DO like the Autozone.com website that shows you surrounding stores that HAS the part, if yours do not.

very handy.

 

[Exhaustgases]

Their whole sale price at the dealer is or used to be 20% off retail. So they would have to go get the parts and still only get a 20% markup for them. It is likely something they just don't want to deal with.

 

[bdcardinal]

I get calls from parts houses for parts, usually ones they don't carry or they try to figure out the right one based on the price we quote. The ones with more chutzbah will straight out say they just want the part number so they can order on Amazon.

As for warranty, Ford will pay up to $150 labor for non engine/transmission assemblies to a genuine IRF (Independent Repair Facility) under the Service Part Warranty. For those powertrain items, the shop can either have their customer some to the dealer or they can call the warranty assistance hotline and get approval to do the work on their own. Sometimes this can turn into a mess when we find the issue is from a poor install, then the finger pointing begins.

Also parts purchased from a non approved source don't have a warranty through the dealer. So like a Motorcraft part purchased from eBay that didn't come from a dealer or from O'AdvanceZone will have the warranty through them, same with RA.

 

[SC Maintenance]

OEM parts are part of the OEM franchise agreement. So if Autozone wanted to sell OEM parts they would need to buy it from a dealer somewhere. I suspect this is what Rock Auto does. OEM margins at retail are probably good enough to afford that on some items.

Which is the entire point of the aftermarket. To get around buying OEM. Of course the aftermarket only makes high volume parts. Some parts are dealer only.

 

[clinebarger]

I get calls from parts houses for parts, usually ones they don't carry or they try to figure out the right one based on the price we quote. The ones with more chutzbah will straight out say they just want the part number so they can order on Amazon.

As for warranty, Ford will pay up to $150 labor for non engine/transmission assemblies to a genuine IRF (Independent Repair Facility) under the Service Part Warranty. For those powertrain items, the shop can either have their customer some to the dealer or they can call the warranty assistance hotline and get approval to do the work on their own. Sometimes this can turn into a mess when we find the issue is from a poor install, then the finger pointing begins.

Also parts purchased from a non approved source don't have a warranty through the dealer. So like a Motorcraft part purchased from eBay that didn't come from a dealer or from O'AdvanceZone will have the warranty through them, same with RA.

I've used Ford's warranty hotline, Never an issue other than a little argument about 6R80 lead frames being replaced on all remans....Which is not true.

Some shops try to skip the solenoid strategy programming & burn a clutch then scream warranty, Coverage will get denied every time.