Napa VS O'reilly Autoparts. Price.

[ls1mike]

I broke down and bought a larger than stock Aux transmission cooler for the Tow vehicle today. I went to Napa first because they are usually the only ones who stock plate transmission coolers.
The wanted 114.00 dollars for the Hayden 679 10,000 lbs and up cooler. (I only tow 8,000 lbs the next smaller is 5,000 lbs and under)
Decided I would check O'Reilly. The same exact cooler was 64.88 out the door. Seems odd to me that the two prices were so far apart.

 

[NYSteve]

I get the feeling that a lot of NAPA stores are more like franchises who can literally charge anything they want. I think that O'Reilly/AZ/Advance/Pepboys are corporately owned stores and will tend to stay with MSRP guidance. Hopefully some others can shed light on this.

 

[tommygunn]

I have seen AZ charge a 10% difference on the same item 10 minutes down the street from their other store.

 

[Warstud]

Amazon is even cheaper:

http://www.amazon.com/Hayden-Automotive-...4726&sr=1-1

 

[Boomer]

Many NAPAs will negotiate prices or offer consistently lower prices to workers at local industries, for example. It never hurts to ask there. Tell them the other price and ask them to match.

 

[Buick92]

The only thing I really don't like about Napa, prices can vary a lot between stores because of different owners. While O'Rielly's isn't the greatest, at least I know I'll pay the same price at the two different local stores.

 

[ls1mike]

Originally Posted By: Warstud
Amazon is even cheaper:

http://www.amazon.com/Hayden-Automotive-...4726&sr=1-1
\

The 40 bucks is for a used one. blah, I wouldn't waste my time with a used one. The other two new ones were 58 and 61 dollars shipped. I could have waited for it to get here, but I want to get it done tomorrow as the weather is supposed to be nice.

 

[NHGUY]

Yes,most all NAPAs are independently owned and operated.They can charge as they wish,but most like to make around 35-45% GP.NAPA will not interfere with local pricing decisions,they just make sure the store maintains at least 60% NAPA inventory to keep their franchise. Its funny,because Rockauto.com compares prices,and it seems NAPA and O'Reillys are always on the most expensive end of the comparison.O'Reillys got really desparate when they began sponsoring American Hot Rod (Boyd Coddington) near the end of the run of the show....I wouldnt have wanted to get involved with as mismanaged a show as that one was..

 

[daves87rs]

Bottom line-it pays to shop around..

 

[bdcardinal]

It seems like the NAPA stores depend on people that shop there and nowhere else, just depending on the name. There are no more NAPA stores in the Goleta / Santa Barbara area, but when there were they seemed to have a lot of random overpriced stuff on their shelves.

 

[dwcopple]

Originally Posted By: NYSteve
I get the feeling that a lot of NAPA stores are more like franchises who can literally charge anything they want.
+1

 

[rjundi]

You likely already know the exact same tire will have such a spread also.

Shopping around at least two quotes seems prudent typically.

 

[MNgopher]

The moral of the story is shop around. It is hit or miss who will be higher and lower on any given item. I typically shop Rockauto, Advance, O'reilly, and Napa. The Ford dealership is often competitive on parts for me as well. Any one of them can be cheaper on something, and sometimes I need it now, so I pay more. Just be a smart shopper. All of them offer the option to search online for local inventory and pricing.

 

[levi]

Originally Posted By: daves87rs
Bottom line-it pays to shop around..


Ditto.

 

[mechtech2]

To me, NAPA has always been very good, but high.

 

[HM12460]

Not sure about NAPA, but O'Reilly's oil prices are absurdly high.

 

[ltslimjim]

Another note on Napa:

A local independent repair shop had used Napa as the primary part supplier.

Over a year ago I helped them find out the 'deals' on their parts for customers(the, we can get it for you cheaper customer that if you went in the store or got the parts yourself line) from a Napa store. The catch/deal? 20% off for all purchases(at least parts) but this was AFTER about 100% markup. That Napa location was waaaay overcharging them. Get this, there are about 3 or 4 other Napa locations in a 25 mile radius, so needless to say this shop and I have been good friends since.

For instance, the Fel pro perma dry kit for repairing my dad's 4.3 Chevy S10's LIM gasket leak was about $85 at my local Napa, but this shop's Napa gave the shop a 'deal' of $125 or so. After 20% off.

BUSTED!!!

 

[jim302]

Originally Posted By: HM12460
Not sure about NAPA, but O'Reilly's oil prices are absurdly high.


That might depend on who the prices are being compared to. It seems like everyone's prices on oil are absurdly high compared to Wal-Mart. Also, Wal-Mart has a better selection in a lot of cases.

Store brand oil from the parts stores can be a decent deal... and NAPA's store brand is made by Ashland (Valvoline). There's some debate about whether the additive pack is the same, but either way it is good oil. And the oil change specials can be reasonable too at all of the stores.

In general, I find NAPA to be kind of high on certain things and reasonable on others. This definitely varies by location since the stores are franchised. Like everything else, it pays to shop around if you have enough time and patience. I honestly don't get much there because CarQuest is local to the area and has a huge warehouse + same day part availability from Worldpac. Then again, I guess NAPA is technically local too due to the franchising

.

 

[stephen9666]

1,000 of the 6,000 NAPA stores are corporate owned. In my area, all the stores in larger cities are corporate, while the franchises are in smaller communities. From what I've seen, you can only check prices/availability on the website for corporate-owned stores.

Genuine Parts Company, NAPA's parent, runs all the stores in my area.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genuine_Parts_Company

 

[MNgopher]

The non-Genuine Parts Company locations here within a 25 miles distance all have their inventory and pricing available on the Napa website. Your mileage may vary...