i used to work for checker auto parts (CSK)and am now going to be working for advance i know that from what iwas told that the autozone lifetime warrantys on alt and starters have usually about a %30-%40 failure rate as opposed to the autolite (checker) brand which is %3-%4 failure so like y'all said you get what you pay for

i generally love going to autozone, their prices are prety good for the most part. and i like the lifetime warrantys they offer on alot of their products and the 2 near my house have prety good people working there.

i do still price match all the time though. since autozone lists rear rotors for a 89-92 f body at $90 each. where i can get them from napa for under $20 each.

Around here we have more options at AutoZone. I get my performance parts from them. I look up what I want in Jegs or Summit, then go to Autozone and tell them what I want. They price match both companies and I don't have to pay shipping or the $9.50 handling fee.

Maybe other AutoZones will pick up on this idea. Sure makes things nice.

I worked for Autozone for several years before I went to college. I must say the reputation their counter employees have for being completely unknowledgeable is entirely deserved. I usually get the worst service from Autozones and I have started spending the extra money at Napas just to avoid the AZ's. Pep Boys is also usually really terrible for parts service and their hard parts prices are always more expensive than AZ. Autozone's place is if you need a part that any idiot can look up by application, and you don't mind waiting in line. You will get the best price.

I walked into an Autozone and asked what jets they carried for a HOLLEY carb, "What year is that off of?" the employee asked as he mindlessly punched info into the computer. "It is an aftermarked carb. Just turn around, it is on the shelf behind you." I said.

AZ Employee: "What year is that off of?"
Me: "I don't know."
AZ Employee: "You don't know what year it is?"
Me: "Well I built the motor it is somewhere around 87-92, the tranny is 85-87, and the rest of the car is a 78."


When buying a lug nut for my wheels...
AZ Employee: "Does that car have a 2.8 L?"
Me: "Nope it is 5.7"
AZ Employee: "But nissan 280Z doesn't have a 5.7L"
Me: "Yeah, all stock 280Zs are 2.8 L, what does that have to do with my tires?"

AZ Employee: "We realy don't know anything about fixing cars."
Me: "Yeah, and about that..."

All reman Autozone stuff is made in China or Mexico. Only buy it if it is a dummy part, (Ie not a lot of complicated to spec moving parts) or if it is made in Japan, Britain, or US.

I applied to Autozone once, I think I knew too much about cars to get a job there.

I use to go to auto zone until I had to back there 6 time in 1 day for the same part after the sixth time I asked for my money back and went to advanced auto for my parts that I needed for my old Z28. Now I either go to advanced, NAPA, or Barbour's,

go to NAPA... actually just sayin that cuz my family owns one.. but ive never heard anything bad about NAPA

You are misinformed.

yea most of their employees are complete morons. some know their ****. i thought it was only in my town.

Have anyone you thought of complaing to the district managers? I know they don't like to get customer complaints. If you guys complained enough either the workers would get fired, or maybe the company would smarten up and make the employees take some kind of training to gain some parts knowledge. I work for AZ and at every job interview we have, we ask the applicant what parts are in each system ( cooling, tune-up, emmisions,etc)you'd be surprised what some of the answers are. But, it's also up to the employees to want to know this stuff. With the catalogs and computer system we have, there is no excuse to not know what a valve cover is. Maybe things are different where you guys are, I don't know.

haha- they got one of those here too man.. And I as well am in good w/ most of the managers at my store.. Get this- today i went in to get new plug wires right.. well the stock Valucrap plug wires only came w/ Straight boots and since those wont work w/ the hedders my buddy there went and pulled a set of Accel 8.mm Superstock wires off the shelf and goes " Hear you are" and only charged me the $19.00 for the stock ones..
----------

And no, im not misinformed my friend. I recently had an interview with the AZ here in my town after the 5th application.. The Store Manager here has been w/ the autozone company for 14+ years and he is the one who told me that Walmart owns 51% of AZ..

Thanks and have a nice day




As for parts knowledge- When you are interviewed the interviewer is supposed to ask the interviewie ( i just made that a word i think) a list of simple automotive questions including things like - What does a basic tune up consist of, what are the basic parts of a charging and starting system, what type of fluid do you use for your engine, what type of fluid do you use for your brakes, what does the clutch and flywheel assembly consist of on a manual transmission... simple things like that.. and most of the girls i know couldnt even tell you how to change thier windshield wipers......how they get hired, I dont know.. The O'reilly's here has a decent lookin girl and she tries really hard, but if it is somethin she doesnt know she asks someone else....

you know- I am only about to graduate from high school and start college at Lincoln Tech in the fall. And as there is still lots i dont know about vehicles, I believe that I have that same problem.. Im going to apply to advance or oreilleys tomorrow, im tired of dicking w/ the store manager at our AZ even though im good friends w/ the employees there...

I would apply at Oreileys had they not done what they did a while back...
I was working on a Mitsu 4G63 turbo motor and was redoing the head.
Ordered new valves. Called me and said they came in. I went and bought them and paid $9X.XX. I thought that was pretty cheap for 16 vavles, but oh well.
A week later I get a call fromt he store manager saying did you get XXX parts, I said yes. He them told me I needed to come to the store and speak with him. I go to the store and the jack *** that checked me out asks me to pay for the other 8 valves. I tell him what? you told me the total, I paid you that amount. Anything other than that, is not my problem. he goes back and gets the manager.
Manager says, well you have two options, you can either return all the valves, or pay for the other eight or I will call the police. I said go ahead and call them and accuse me of stealing. I will tell them what happened and how your employee screwed up and then they will laugh at you. I will then get a statement from the officers and send that to your district manager and insist to have you fired for accusing a customer of stealing something and then not doing anything about it for over a week.

He called the cops, I told the cops what happened. They spoke to the person that checked me out. They said "O.K., your free to go." I asked to speak to them at the station so I could get a statement and a copy of the report taken. As I am walking out behind the cops the store manager is running behind me asking me where and what I am doing. One cop stopped and waited.
I turned around and said, you get with-in arms reach I will lay you out where you stand, I am going to the station and going to do exactly what I told you I would do.
I got the statement, called a different store to get the DM's number, he gave me the guy above him immediately. I faxed the report to that guy and he asked what he could do to make the situation better, and I told him, fire that manager and give that cashier a stern talk about how to do his job. But either way I will never set foot in another Orielys again.
Two days later, they were both gone.

The next day I took the head apart, returned the valves, went to an online vendor (Jackson Auto Machine) and spent nearly 300 on a S/S polished set with upgraded springs/retainers. The sadder thing, they gave me the full refund, and I found two more valves still in my car 2 months later...

Yeah, for some reason they are called 'Discount Parts Stores' but they really charge you out the *** for those import parts.. Especially valves.. but i tell you what- I have 4 good 4g63T pistons and rods, and a rebuilt 4g63T head thats got new valves, springs, and retainers! and hasnt been put on a motor yet that i need to get rid of.. I've also got a stock 7bolt bottom end that spun a rod bearing.. - you got anyone around you who needs anything like that for thier eclipse or talon????

Thanks for the story though...

I don't think we are allowed to price match places like Jeg's or Summit. But like I said, maybe not all the stores are the same.

im still fighting for az just dont buy the spetra harmonic balancer bolt in the chrome **** i just got a motor in and it snaped got any ideas for me

The bolt broke off inside the crank snout?.. man.. normally i'd say drill it out and re-tap, but i'd take it to a machine shop....

yah about the price matching of jegs and summit....i have noticed that it goes by the discretion of the store manager and location of the store.....i worked a az store in a small town.....because it was in a small town they weren't expected to HAVE everything but the customers did have pretty high expectations when it came to being able to get whatever they wanted whether it be performance or not and for a good price...which meant price matching jegs and summit....now i work at a store in a larger city and we don't price match any magazines.....so consider youself lucky skidude

That's what it's all about when you go to auto zone! Some parts are good and some aren't. For example, I wouldn't buy hung foo spark plugs but I would buy AC rapid fires! Mostly, AZ is for cheap, quick fix part's when you don't have alot of $.

I've had ok experiences at most of the advance auto, AZ, Napa, etc. As for the lack of mechanically inclined gearheads behind the counter, its like one store manager told me--its hard to get those kind of people to work there only making $x.xx per hour. He told me that he can't seem to motivate his employees to be on time, to show up for work, etc. So he was willing to sacrifice the car knowlege in the store to hire dependable employees who DO show up for work, who might not know as much about cars. Case in point--Good help is hard to find.

I give those guys who work there a break (to a certain degree). It's the stores SOP to lookup parts by vehicle year, make, model so they are just trying to do thier jobs by asking you those questions, even when the part you need has nothing to do with that stuff. I went into O'reileys the other day to get a set of TR55 spark plugs and was asked what vehicle they were for. It wasn't until I read this thread that I found out that thier part #s for plugs are different than the manuf.'s numbers.

Yeah, there parts may not be as high of quality as others out there, but when you need a part in a jam, they're just down the street vs. ordering something and it taking 3 days to get to your door.

Having friends that used to work at these types of stores--they would always tell me about the tons of people that would come in looking for a "Cadillac convertible" part for there car, aka "catalytic converter" LOL

I get a lot of customers with the "Cadillac converter" joke. Lots of weird looks too. Or if it lists an engine that was available on a Mexican version of a vehicle. We are terrible with those things...

holy poop! I thought i was the only one that had tards working at there autozone.


But you have to know how to use the stupided to work for you.... for example

I when to the junk yard and got hatch shocks with the blue lable on them...went to autozone bought the new one and returned the old ones....I made about $20

I got a clutch from the junk yard and then went to autozone i was there for for about 45 mins and they finally let me have a new one...with a lifetime warrant....It wasn't even an autozone brand, and i didn't have it under my name or anything and they gave me a new one, and if that goes bad i just get a brand new one

I've starting to forgot all the crap i got from that place for a deal....


point is if it moves don't get it from autozone...example water pumps....fuel pumps....dist....but if it dont' move it ok to get.

point is if it moves don't get it from autozone...example water pumps....fuel pumps....dist....but if it dont' move it ok to get.[/quote]

the parts are not the problem it is the fact that 4 out of six of there water pumps are REBUILT cheap people get cheap parts spend more for heavy duty parts i havent changed a waterpump in my k5 blazer since 97 alt since 99.

the parts are not the problem it is the fact that 4 out of six of there water pumps are REBUILT cheap people get cheap parts spend more for heavy duty parts i havent changed a waterpump in my k5 blazer since 97 alt since 99.

wow myfast3rdgen you are really cool......must feel pretty proud to screw over those people like that?? I don't know where you work but would you really like it if you had to help people that did that kinda stuff to you?? That is a great way to get banned from a store....i have seen it happen...and not only from one store but all the stores in the area..... so i guess keep screwing them over if you want.....or be an honest person and PAY for what you NEED!!

And it is because of people like you that parts prices go up, I honestly hope you get busted for doing this one day. I know for a fact this wouldn't happen at the AutoZone that I shop at.

And as far as people, they are very knowledgable there, if I go in for a part and have a part number and give it to them, the get me the part.

Parts, I always buy the Duralast brand parts, never the Valucraft and if I had a choice, the Duralast Gold since they are new parts, not remanufactured.

WTF? I guess only old white guys can work on a car? I am one, but that isnt the point. One of my best friends is a black mechanic, is he capable?

That is a problem with the discount stores. They are not willing to pay employees (good people with vast knowledge of cars and their operation). The only one hurting in the end is their customers. Mistakes lead to the lack of repeat business. When you think, I need a car part, and a store left a bad memory, your more likely to drive past it to go somewhere else.

I started going to NAPA here.. Those guys know thier **** way more than the guys at our AZ.. 2 bad i cant get a job there... I will go to AZ to get like Duplicolor paints and things that the napa doesnt carry, but i think im going to go start spendin a bit more money for the better quality.. plus there are always 8 guys at the parts counter and 6 in the machine shop up stairs..

The one place you should really watch out for is VIP Discount. Man oh man. I had them put a starter in my first Camaro ( '83 Z28, 350, 5-Spd, T Tops, etc) Guys out in the garage never lined up the starter with the flywheel. I went to pick the car up and when I hopped in it to start it, there went my flywheel. I was pissed. The Store manager had to relplace it himself and they had to pay for it.

The local Carquest place here became NAPA and I had to go thru 4 masters for my truck until they finally switched to a different rebuilder. They didnt give me it at first cause they dont make as much profit off of it.


They all suck.

I remember back in 2000 when I was doing my quadrajet to Edlebrock Carb swap and my mechanic said I needed to get a vacuum advanced distributor for the swap.
I myself had no car knowledge but I was going to do this swap at my friends shop so that he could check over my work and answer questions that might arise.

So, off I go to the Advance Autoparts store for the parts.
Go to the counter and and get the Edelbrock 1406, spreadbore to squarebore adaptor plate and ask the guy for a vacuum advance distributor.

Guy: Year make and model of your car.
Me: Uh, if I give you that you will give me the wrong part.

Guy:Why is that?
Me: because my distributor is computer controlled and I am changing it. Can't you just type in "vacuum advance distributor"?

Guy: it doesn't work like that, I have to look up by year make and model.
Me: Ok, well, I'll take this stuff now then.

So I go to Autozone and the same thing happens.
Went to 3 more stores around town and got the same thing.
Finally went to an Advance Auto that happened to have a friend I used to work with working there as a Manager and I told him what I needed.
He knew cars and knew what year to search for, I think we used a 72 nova or something.

i just got all my tune up parts from autozone. i attached a pic. everything looks real nice hopefully it will perform and last a while. i usually go to oriely's though.

[quote=indirocz28]



And no, im not misinformed my friend. I recently had an interview with the AZ here in my town after the 5th application.. The Store Manager here has been w/ the autozone company for 14+ years and he is the one who told me that Walmart owns 51% of AZ..

Thanks and have a nice day




QUOTE]
You are still wrong It is owned by ESL partners directed by Edward S Lampert hence ESL

"I when to the junk yard and got hatch shocks with the blue lable on them...went to autozone bought the new one and returned the old ones....I made about $20"

Where I come from, we call that fraud....

I've been watching this post for a couple of weeks now.....and it just so happens today, -I got bit by Autozone sub-standard parts. Car died an hour or so ago and just got it towed home. I'm gonna hate seeing the tow bill.

I replaced the fuel pump about 6 months ago. Got it at Autozone. I REALLY should've known better. This was the second one. The first one I got was a defect and didn't work at all!! Luckily I found that out before I reinstalled the gas tank (this is for my '90 Z24, not the Z28)..

So I got stupid and returned it for the one that just broke. Never again...

[quote=NoItsNotForSale;2856086]actually do some digging before you go calling someone an idiot, dig deep into esl and you will find they are the major shareholders for wal-mart, autozone, and a very large number of other places, and as far as that goes, look into ford as well, why do you think there is a discount to autozone employees at ford dealerships?? ge capitol?? and several others?? please feel free to flame, but when you do perhaps you should do some investment research

autozone sucks I always have to wait behind one guy with a million stupid questions and a cople of illegal immigrants to buy anything. sometimes I run into some great people that work there its just to bad their way of doing things is so f'd up

I think this has served it's usefullness. I'm locking it.

PM me with any questions. Thanks.