Only stocking two oil brands and grades at local garage!!!

BAJA_05

BAJA_05

Joined
Mar 22, 2012
Messages
2,904
Location
Berks County/Pa.
Went to my local garage where I get my vehicles worked on/inspected. Talking to one of the mechanics in the shop while he was replacing my battery terminals on the Acura in signature. Turned around and seen they only stocked two oils. Wolfs Head 5W30 and Napa Synthetic 0W20. Asked him whats up with that, he said it covers 90% of all oil changes done there. There is a Napa less than a mile from the garage and I seen all there oil filters were Napa also. Depending on the project being done on my cars/truck -- I normally go back and shoot the **** with the head mechanic for alittle.
 
Smart inventory management.

Less inventory means more money elsewhere. No sense stocking 5w-40 when a parts runner can drop it off.
 
Tdbo said:
Why would he stock and carry anything out of the ordinary when he has a NAPA less than a mile down the road?
That is money tied up that he can probably do better things with other than speculate.
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The local father/son shop I use stocks only NAPA oil as well. They do stock more grades/weights than mentioned above but only NAPA branded oil. Given the dizzying array of oil grades and choices it makes sense not to tie up money on slow moving inventory.
 
This makes a ton of sense. It keeps inventory width down while being able to increase depth of fast moving numbers. Plus if they do cover 90% of his business it makes perfect sense. I do that with my inventory, albeit on a larger scale, as idle inventory negatively effects us on many levels.
 
When I owned a shop, I carried two bulk tanks, Penwood 5W30 and Penwood 5W20. Both were syn blends.
It seemed to cover most clients in my area at the time.
 
Typically they would order parts for non oil change anyways, so if they are ordering some would come from AZ or Napa, and likely get free delivery and therefore tag along some oil he need. Why not?
 
Glad to hear they're apparently not destroying their client's engines by using the "wrong" oil in many cases ;)

What kind of details do they include on their invoices ? Do they dare notate the "wrong" oil on their paperwork or do they just list it as "Synthetic blend oil and filter change" ?
 
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I got a great deal yesterday from Napa on some business stuff I needed. I am not a Napa customer but they hit me with a great sale
and other incentives. Also had something I got for about 50% off.

That said I am still waiting to get the go ahead to pick up. So they are a bit slow and you would need to have stock to meet an instant oil change demand... But I'm in no hurry.
 
tasch72 said:
Smart inventory management.

Less inventory means more money elsewhere. No sense stocking 5w-40 when a parts runner can drop it off.
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Precisely.
A business needs to keep a balance between inventory and flow of work through the business to achieve efficiency and minimize downtime.
I had my mechanic put brakes on my Accord last month.
He has stock on hand that not only includes oil, oil filters, and air filters. He also maintains a supply of brake pads and rotors for common vehicles.
He had everything on hand to service my Accord. If I pulled in in a Jag? Probably not.
However, his garage is out in the boonies. He doesn't have a NAPA less than a mile down the road.
 
Wolfs Head has discontinued its dino multi-grade motor oils. Only syn blend or full synthetic, and dino in straight weights. My local NAPA stopped carrying Wolfs Head as its basic brand in favor of Cam2 oils.
 
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