Why do places offer junk parts?

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Profit margins are tight for shops on parts and it’s expensive to run a store, especially in high COLA areas. I can get decent parts from Rock or Amazon than I can from O’Reilly/AZ(IMO, O’Reilly and AAP/CarQuest are the better of the big box parts chains) and the local Toyota dealer does throw me a bone every now and then.

The local Firestones installs a lot of Duralast brakes and chassis despite their deal with AAP for DieHard. They get a lot of Uber business. Likewise, I see a lot of O’Reilly’s BrakeBest/MasterPro at the local Big O/Goodyear store and white-box Chinese from the local parts house at a garage that’s a stones throw from me(and I happened to have went to grade school with the owner).
 
Ise
Even the Dealers will use them if they don't have a part in stock and need something fixed quick. The customer is never going to know.
I can attest to that - years ago when I worked at the local Honda dealer, a lease return comes, even if it’s becoming a CPO, it’s getting Carquest or Raybestos(this was before O’Reilly bought out Kragen/Schuck’s/Checker) brakes and any small repairs done for safety.

The other day ago, I saw the O’Reilly truck pull up to the local Toyota dealer with an house-brand starter.
 
A few posters mentioned Worldpac. Worldpac is distributor of auto parts to independent shops. There are still brand names associated with those parts.

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A few posters mentioned Worldpac. Worldpac is distributor of auto parts to independent shops. There are still brand names associated with those parts.

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And Worldpac was bought out by Carquest, who then got absorbed by AAP.

A while ago, there were online parts stores that seemed to have drop-shipped from Worldpac, especially for Euro cars. MercedesShop, now Pelican Parts did this.
 
Our mech told me he tries to get parts thru NAPA first, says they seem to be a step up from the others, what ever that means. He also knows we want lifetime warranty on the parts he gets for our vehicles. Not sure what else a guy can do!
 
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Profit margins are tight for shops on parts and it’s expensive to run a store, especially in high COLA areas. I can get decent parts from Rock or Amazon than I can from O’Reilly/AZ(IMO, O’Reilly and AAP/CarQuest are the better of the big box parts chains) and the local Toyota dealer does throw me a bone every now and then.

The local Firestones installs a lot of Duralast brakes and chassis despite their deal with AAP for DieHard. They get a lot of Uber business. Likewise, I see a lot of O’Reilly’s BrakeBest/MasterPro at the local Big O/Goodyear store and white-box Chinese from the local parts house at a garage that’s a stones throw from me(and I happened to have went to grade school with the owner).
Duralast gold brakes are pretty good.
 
Simple because Johnny weekend super mechanic thinks they are all the same and the expensive OE/OEM parts are just greedy places charging more money

Then after the “over priced” parts some body wants more than $100 an hour to put it on oh the humanity
 
What about the case when the only parts available for your vehicle are garbage?

My 2001 Dodge Ram 1500 2wd only issue is that the entire front end wheels and all should be **** canned.

I can get the whole front end for about $250 and it will last about a year
Or I can spend 10x more on things that are supposedly high quality OEM or whatever and no matter what it’s not going to last more than 30,000 miles because all the ball joint offerings are total garbage aftermarket or not. Bearings are also very questionable at best. Brand literally doesn’t matter anymore no matter what anyone tells you as parts aren’t the same as they were 15 years ago.

Quite a sad situation for an otherwise good truck that just turned 90,000 miles and just needs the front end replaced (which I used to be able to buy southern pulls fully complete about 10 years ago)
I think PST makes front end stuff for Rams.
 
Most of the independent shops around here get their parts from O'Reillys and Autozone. Even the Dealers will use them if they don't have a part in stock and need something fixed quick. The customer is never going to know.
My Challenger had a CarQuest ABS sensor from the dealer. I knew-the Mopar sensor was a 2 week wait.
 
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I can attest to that - years ago when I worked at the local Honda dealer, a lease return comes, even if it’s becoming a CPO, it’s getting Carquest or Raybestos(this was before O’Reilly bought out Kragen/Schuck’s/Checker) brakes and any small repairs done for safety.

The other day ago, I saw the O’Reilly truck pull up to the local Toyota dealer with an house-brand starter.
I was at the local Chevy dealer the other day getting a part for my truck and on the parts counter was a new part from one of the local parts stores. I bet it happens more than people know.
 
There's a 4-year discussion/evaluation on thirdgen.org about idler arms with funky geometry; the arm is not "bent" the same as factory installed. Moog being the worst offender. Appears the ACDelco replacement is the only one that is identical to factory.
But is the geometry ACTUALLY different?
 
I was at the local Chevy dealer the other day getting a part for my truck and on the parts counter was a new part from one of the local parts stores. I bet it happens more than people know.
Happens all the time. Had a guy tell me to order his radiator from the Chevy dealer. When it got to us the 1800 radiator sticker was scratching off but still readable. I could have sold him that same radiator for $400 less.
 
I live about 17 miles from the city (Marksville, La.).
Whenever my cousin can't do work on my truck l take it to an Indy shop in Marksville. The owner and 1 other mechanic (both ASE certified) are the only 2 working. The owners wife works the counter.
Usually he gives me a price up front for the work. He even encourages you to bring your own parts and charges $60 an hour labor.
He's the only one l trust to do a front end alignment on my truck. He's very well known for his alignment skills.
If you know of an Indy shop near you that does great work, by all means bring your vehicles there.
 
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