I am usually the first to say stay clear of Autozone, but I have to give them credit on this one... They carry the Bilstein shocks, and at a $10 per side savings versus anywhere I found on the net! They don't have them in stock at the store, but it was only a 2 day wait, no shipping, no backorder hassle because they can tell you on the spot if the warehouse has them, no waiting 4-7 days on UPS. The rears were $89.99 ea. (same as everyone else) and the front struts were $179.99 ea. - best I found anywhere else was $191 each on the front struts. And, again not my favorite parts place, but for the Eibach springs, Advance Auto - same deal, 2 days wait, no hassle, no backorder, and only $9 more than Summit/Jegs - but no shipping costs. I went to Autozone Tuesday night at 8:30pm, ordered the shocks, went 3 miles to Advance, ordered the springs, and Thursday afternoon, they were in my trunk! Too Sweet!

You know whats even better? Go into AutoZone before 3 or 4 pm and order something. Generally it will be there next day for almost no extra charge.
I ordered a pair of Bilsteins for the rear of my '83 Z28 and they showed up next day around 11 am. The price was the same..($90/each)

I work for an auto parts store.. everyone comes to us bitching about their stupidty... Its the only way we get business..lol

where i work is over priced

only bad thing about that is sometimes their part numbers don't match up to the book numbers, so you spend 10 minutes looking for a part you already knew the number to before you even arrived...
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oh btw...I check autozone for a price quote on a holley 650DP. They wanted 250$, Summit sells for 320ish, and advance wanted 340ish.

typo? should i cash in on it? the product numbers prolly got crossed and i'd end up with a spoiler or something...

Thats why their is a interchange... they use the "mechanics" computer system.. it sucks azz.. They should be able to cross over any part #.

around here I only really care to deal with A-zone, but most the time I look up my own parts anyway.

Advance Auto All the way! Great Parts. Great Prices. I won't go anywhere else besides a junkyard.

No, that's what they sell for.

I work at AutoZone part time and I have gotten my last 3 "bigger" purchases at Advance because they were either unavailable at work or cheaper even counting my 20% discount WTF???

i work for oriellys... we actually know what we are doing and will pricematch autozone/advanced if they are actually lower ^_^

Autozone will match it as well. Several things that Advanced hasn't had when I goto AZ and tell them they were cheaper they matched it no problem.

I usually use advance because it is closer to me but there has been some times that a-zone has had some stuff that advance didnt...and the other way around. I take advance over a-zone though because i no all the people that work there!

I think you could see this post go one way or the other, depending on who you talk to. A person's experience could be different whenever they walk into any given chain parts store at any time. Depends on the salesperson, and many other factors.

I am a fan of supporting small local parts places that might be just a bit higher priced, but you get great service from the owners.

It does seem adventagous to use the chain stores as opposed to Jegs / Summit these days though. I can't stand the stupid shipping AND handling fees that Summit charges. Much better to use Advance or Auto Zone if possible and that way you can even return the stuff easier if it is not satisfactory / wrong...

Order $1500 worth of parts from Summit maybe then you wont think there Shipping and Handling charges are stupid.

I use Advanced Auto Parts commercial division (PDQ). I guess I'm lucky cause the dealership I work for has an account there. The guys at the store I go to know me by name, my car, and even deliver the parts to me at work! I have never had an issue, even when they didn't have the part/s in stock, they get it for me, without paying up front. If I lose my receipt they look it up on the computer. I think with any of these parts stores it's the luck of who the person is that was hired. Some of these chain stores have great employees who are helpful and knowledgeable. Some have some stupid guy/kid behind the counter. I guess I'm lucky that the store I go to hired good people. Only advice i have is go check out the individual store. By saying "All _____ stores suck", is kinda like saying "All Camaro owners are red neck hicks."

glad to hear people have been having good experiences with advance. its nice to still have a job

The Advance Auto by me is horrible. The people dont know their azz from their elbow. I went there 3 times for 2 belts and they kept getting it wrong even with the right part number. Their only good for the import junk. I support the local parts shop and NAPA

its very hard to have consistency in every store because it is such a big company. i've been on every front in relations to parts; worked for a mechanic, repaired my own stuff, and now behind the counter. having seen all the sides, it helps me better run my store and hire people who are capable of helping out all the customers. and i know that we cant get it right everytime, but we try our best to get it right.

lol thats what people say about advance auto over here.

Ground is always free for me and I can understand why they charge handling fees, I see it as the shipping cost is fixed. Also I have ordered some parts and some have shipped from Nevada and they sent out that stuff second day and I still got everything at the same time, really cant complain.....

If you know what your looking for then they're great, if you dont then you probably will be spending a good bit of time talking in circles with some of the workers there. I think a lot of the reason we all think they're idiots is because they dont just focus on SBC's or something like that like many of us do but they deal with everything from the V-TEC to a Cummins to a Hemi, kind of hard to be an expert on everything

I agree with the "jack of all trades and master of none" theory - I'd probably loose it if I had to try it. And, there are parts I refuse to get there - things I don't wanna have to replace anytime soon (I just replaced yet again my shifter cable). But I thought it was great that if you knew what you wanted, and got hold of a mgr person, you could get it quick with no hassles, no shipping, and sometimes cheaper than mail order.

thank you to those who understand the "jack of all trades" aspect. i have people come in and get pissed off because i dont know the exact details about their hyundai or dodge, yet dont even know what they need for their own cars. i know sbc and 3rd gens cause ive owned them, now i'm learning about the quirks of the 3800s and gtps. but i also know that i need other people who do know the other stuff; so i hired 2 uti guys that know their imports, got a retired mechanic who knows his fords, and i swear someone knows a bit about dodge around the place.

all i can say is be nice to your parts guys, if you think its hard dealing with some of us, try being on the recieving end. if the guys are just useless, go elsewhere. stop by our place, i'll hook ya up (and i know a few of ya have taken me up on the offer)