O'Reilly Auto Parts - Any Good?

I guess I am lucky enough have worked at the local dealership in the parts dept to know everyone in this two horse town.

Advance cleaned house even though it was one of the better store for the region. So, I now know one person who works there. Napa is run by the guy I replaced at the dealership. Carquest is/was the "preferred" vendor for the dealership.

I really wish there was an AZ or Oreilly's here to compete with Advance.

I hate the incompetence@Advance that comes from the complete and utter lack of proper training.

Brian

The O'Reilly's near me have the best staff and great prices. They're my go-to parts store.

The trick to dealing with these big chain idiot stores is to get to their commercial side. They hide the people with half a brain there. I worked at Advance for a bit until their corporate mentality drove me to leave. ( I put the stapler anywhere it fits dam it!)
NAPA comes in both franchise and corporate flavors which is the reason for the variance in their stores.
Carquest is aimed at the shop primarily so doesn't keep as much DIY type items on hand. However they are the same company as worldpac so have a HUGE foreign car selection available to order.

internetautomart wrote: The trick to dealing with these big chain idiot stores is to get to their commercial side. They hide the people with half a brain there. I worked at Advance for a bit until their corporate mentality drove me to leave. ( I put the stapler anywhere it fits dam it!) NAPA comes in both franchise and corporate flavors which is the reason for the variance in their stores. Carquest is aimed at the shop primarily so doesn't keep as much DIY type items on hand. However they are the same company as worldpac so have a HUGE foreign car selection available to order.

But the commercial guy works M-F 8-5 or at least I did.

Brian

At my shop, my go-to supplier can be any of the above. Here at this shop, the AutoZone rocks, O'reillys is great but farther away, and Napa can't even get in the ballpark. The parts quality is great from either as long as you know what to order and what not to order. I don't get ignition components from AZ and I don't get fluids and suspension parts from O'R (unless its brand-name)

Napa doesn't really work for us that much. They have very good quality parts, but they are not set up for efficient corporate and commercial accounts. Its kinda like their commercial accounts are a little side benefit, not a priority. In terms of normal consumer stuff, they're great.

For instance, today I got a Lincoln in for coil replacement. No hesitation, I called O'R, ordered the BWD brand coils and a store-brand intake gasket set (because I happen to know that O'R gaskets are almost always re-boxed FelPro or Victor Reinz stuff.) It was here in 15 minutes. If I had called Napa, it would have been here sometime this afternoon once they locate all of the parts from different stores, it would have cost 30% more, and it would have been the same quality.

Last week I did axles and struts on a Camry. Didn't even shop, just called AZ. $44 each for new axles, and the Duralast struts are made by Monroe but at half the price.

With some geographic exceptions, here is something good to know: AZ brand oil is made by Pennzoil and/or Quaker State, O'R brand oil is Castrol, and Napa's is Valvoline.

At least in Austin, Advance is not even something I would consider. I gave them several chances to get things right, but over 50% of the time the parts are wrong and they are of such terrible quality that I can't afford the warranty returns.

For the most part, the commercial parts people at AZ, O'R, and Napa are highly trained and very accurate. It seems like Advanced commercial accounts are staffed by the typical 16 year old idiots who ask if your car has air conditioning before they can sell you a ball joint.

aircooled wrote: Didn't Kragen and O'Reilys just merge?

O"Reillys just took over CSK which includes Checker Schucks and Kragen. The local Schucks was bad, O'Reillys is worse. If I don't have to deal with the staff for anything but check out - I am willing to go there. They are the same people that, while standing with a broken part in my hand, tells me, "We don't carry that part cause they never break."

If the nearest CarQuest was within 15 miles I would be there every time.

Just installed an O'Reilly starter in the Land Cruiser. They had the quickest time to get it to me, and it comes well reviewed on the Cruiser forums.

Fingers crossed!

T.J. wrote: There are two NAPA's in town. One is in a nice new building that looks a lot like a yellow and blue version of an autozone. The other is an old school Napa in a smaller run-down old building that is farther from my house. I go to that one when I want to go to a NAPA because the people there know what they are doing and are not just 20 year old minimum wage kids who've never worked on a car in their life. One of the two NAPAs is for sale, but I don't know which one.

That would be the one with the least inventory. Privately owned ones can do what they want, but corporately owned ones are always for sale. They are generally trying to keep the value of their warehouse as low as possible to attract a buyer.

Call any one of the parts houses. Find out which one has the closest DC and shop there. They will have everything, including the most knowledgeable staff.

belteshazzar wrote: Call any one of the parts houses. Find out which one has the closest DC and shop there. They will have everything, including the most knowledgeable staff.

Agreed. I used O'Reilly's in Knoxville because the regional warehouse was in town. I never even bothered driving to the store closest to me, I went across town to the warehouse to make it a one stop trip.

O'Reilly's is my preferred of the big-3. Get parts quicker, no hassle order, seem to have a better inventory of foriegn car parts and more knowledgeable staff. At least the ones close to me. Advance and AZ are good if you want generic things, like nuts/bolts, cleaners, paint, that kind of stuff or want hod rod goodies for a muscle car. Years ago, I slung parts at an Advance in a different town than I live in now. Very corporate world, forced to push certain items due to advertisement $$ that changed weekly. Have a Carquest near by but don't frequent regularly although they are the only store I found that still carries the old style European fuses. NAPA close by doesn't seem to carry much on the shelf, especially for foriegn cars but they did have the best deal on Miata rotors. RockAuto rocks.

As a guy who keeps his cars a loooong time, the lifetime warranty is something I use. The difference between O'Reilly and AZ is that AZ uses disappearing ink on their receipts. After about a year it's just a blank strip of paper. The O'Reilly ones hold up. The local OR has a high turnover of employees and there have been times I just had to shop elswhere because the current crop was too clueless.

I have used the local Kragen/O'Reilly and they are my go to place for parts on the toyota. I won't buy anything for the mercedes there because I buy either online or at an import specialty shop. The local O'reilly has had mostly the same staff for the past 5 years so you get to know the guys working there.

Autozone around here is absolutely clueless so I refuse to use them.

Ranger50 wrote:

internetautomart wrote: The trick to dealing with these big chain idiot stores is to get to their commercial side. They hide the people with half a brain there. I worked at Advance for a bit until their corporate mentality drove me to leave. ( I put the stapler anywhere it fits dam it!) NAPA comes in both franchise and corporate flavors which is the reason for the variance in their stores. Carquest is aimed at the shop primarily so doesn't keep as much DIY type items on hand. However they are the same company as worldpac so have a HUGE foreign car selection available to order.

But the commercial guy works M-F 8-5 or at least I did. Brian

depends on the store. Latest I've seen is 7pm.
I had some goofy hours at Advance. WTF did they need me there at 6:30am for? to do the $8hr guys job?

AZ struts are not monroe, they are Gabriel.
CSK is O'reily which also bought Murrays.
FWIW, My advance is experience is from 2 yrs ago as their commercial guy. MY AZ knowledge comes from a current commercial manager who they hired away from CQ where he was Manager of a corporate store. He is a friend of mine so I'm first call for outside buys :D

internetautomart wrote: depends on the store. Latest I've seen is 7pm. I had some goofy hours at Advance. WTF did they need me there at 6:30am for? to do the $8hr guys job?

I had that as a set schedule, even on holidays. You probably worked in a larger area then what I did. I did work until 6 or 630 a few nights, but "OT, what is that?" prevailed, aka time clock "fixing".

I do agree the corporate structure doesn't make any sense to cater to the "packet man" and upselling in general. I know why you do it, free money, it just doesn't make sense to badger someone over something they don't even need, want, and do not know how to use.

Advance Auto used to be part of "PartsAmerica" which also included CSK (Checkers/Shucks/Kragen) I started using them because the PartsAmerica website was by far the best free parts cross-reference around. You could drill down to a part and then click on a link to show any other vehicle that it was used on. When looking for used parts I would print their list before I went to the junkyard ;-) I could purchase the parts online cheaper than store price and then go pick it up at the store. If I bought a part online that wasn't correct I could take it to the local Advanced for a refund even if they didn't carry the part in their stores. Oh yes, the local Advance had the better staff as well. One day the PartsAmerica website disappeared. Then the good staff at Advance disappeared. Then I found out O'Reilly's bought CSK and now O'Reilly's has the good database on their website. The only problem is that around here they're all new stores with newly confused employees...,

I go to O'Reilly's very often. The store has been consistently staffed with the same people, they have a clue, and the prices are competitive. Its also my nearest oil recycling station. I also go to Advance for some things and Napa for others. I usually call all three to get quotes if I need something. I have the numbers saved to my phone, which is helpful.

I did pick up brake pads for my Benz at an O'Reilly's I'd never been to in the middle of the state. The guy working there had the same model car I did, so that was fun (84 W123).

The closest Oh, Really? to my house is OK. It used to be better, but the old guy with the knowledge and the kid with the enthusiasm are now gone. The next closest store is staffed with incompetents.

I use the NAPA warehouse near work when I can. Good stuff, but short on some of the accessories.

Advance is about as good as any, but not convenient.

I really don't like the local AutoStoned - or any that I've ever used, come to think of it. Long waits just to talk to the counterperson and find out they don't have what I want. I'll use them when I strike out at Oh, Reallys?, NAPA, and Advance.

internetautomart wrote: AZ struts are not monroe, they are Gabriel.

\ I wonder if that's regional. Mine have Monroe stamped right in the body of the strut.

curtis73 wrote:

internetautomart wrote: AZ struts are not monroe, they are Gabriel.

\ I wonder if that's regional. Mine have Monroe stamped right in the body of the strut.

Very possible. not likely but possible. Maybe they are running down old stock?

It's also possible Gabriel doesn't manufacture that particular item for your car, so they buy it from Monroe and put it in their box. No company in the automotive aftermarket makes everything they sell. But to be able to offer a complete line of parts to their customer, they've gotta get the parts from somewhere. Some companies, like Beck Arnley, don't make anything.

It's also possible that the manufacturer changes from time to time and one or the other is old stock.

the local O'Reilys is my #1 choice... the assistant manager is a racer... a drag racer (Eclipse) but a racer nontheless

Being that I work at an Advance.... it's "Advance" not Advanced!!!!!

Now, where was I....

I agree, that alot of the people that they staff at all three really are clueless, but my GM told me that the retail part of the job (knowing registers, fronting and facing, cycle counts etc.) is more important. My best bud (the one with the Merkur) finally got promoted to Assistant Manager, so I finally had the pull to get on, since the old bastard GM was now gone.

The Oreilly here has some older dudes that know what they're doing, but most of the younger staff is clueless. Napa lacks the ability to smile, and Autozone really doesn't give a damn, nor will they look to find the part if they don't have it. We call all the parts stores around if we don't have/can't get, and send the customer there. My biggest complaint about NAPA and Car Quest is that they both close at like five, and are closed weekends, must be nice!!!

But I have heard and agree with all your concerns, its a problem we as gearheads must face, and that I am trying to fix one customer at a time!