Anyone got some pointers for Volvo Parts, specifically the business application tool portion of it. Looks super dated.

Hello all! Just started at a new dealer group who runs CDK. I’m extremely familiar with automate and at my former dealer all ROs and quotes were ran through there. For context I’m formerly Ford and am now GM and a couple other brands. I’m also on the wholesale side of things now and I was just wondering if there’s anyone who’s made a similar software switch that would have any tips or key shortcuts to make picking it up easier. Everything I’m understanding so far makes this seem like such a superior software but I feel like a primate at my desk currently. Thanks for any help!

Hi /rpartscounter,

I'm currently facing a bit of a career dilemma and could really use some outside perspective. I've been offered a position as an Assistant Parts Manager at a dealership same brand, but there's a catch. The new dealership is much larger than where I currently work, and a high volume dealer with a big parts team.

Also it would mean taking a step down in terms of title and responsibility. While it might seem like a setback, I'm wondering if it could actually be a smart move. They are willing to match my pay plan(getting paid really well right now) minus the company car as I won’t be the manager. However, I do own a car. Also better benefits, more support as they are well organized and a lot bigger company with 40 dealerships. The company I work for currently only owns 5.

I’ve been a PM for 2 years now and I’m 29 years old managing a team of 2 advisors and one driver.

I'd love to hear from anyone who has faced a similar decision. Any advice or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated too!

Hi guys. We know when we ordered windshield from GM, it's always direct ship part. And sometimes from where I'm at, some delivery driver come and deliver it to us, without box. There are some auto glass shop around my area which convenience for the body shop getting from them... and CHEAPER. My question is, do you guys give away the GM part# to those auto glass shop? We've been doing this for the past few years and we are kind of tired doing it free for them. Don't they have their own catalog for that? Thanks

Do you know of any dealers that don’t have a wholesale parts operation? (i.e. no shop pricing discounts, no deliveries, no giving out part numbers etc)

Thank you in advance.

Is there condensed reports for appreciation/depreciation by source? Same for inventory adjustments? I’m trying to create a monthly rec for our parts managers that will not take a month for them to complete?

Hi all, semi new to the Ford world and looking to see if any can point me in the direction of a reference guide and what purpose the class a part has on PDCORDER represents?

I’ve looked through inFord and can’t seem to find a thing. For Example OE Drop-in Bed Liners have a class of A60, 7L1Z4B496C has a class of U22, or the one I do know BOD being Build-on-Demand.

Any other good-to-know niche info or tips about the PDCORDER screen would be appreciated as well!

Hey guys considering making the switch. Any pros/cons? Have any of you done it?

I recently turned down a parts manager job due to distance,it was 45 mins to an hour away and CSI being linked to payplan. 730am to 6pm,Rotating Sat.

Now I've been offered a position as an advisor.The advisor position is M-F 8am -530pm Only 3 miles away at an independent shop. Off every weekend

So while it may be less money is closer to home .My question is this,is it hard to make the transition??

PM for the last 2.5 years. Been with the company for 7.

I have worked closely with leadership to not only help turn around our department but also the service team. Brought in new programs, help with parts warranty increases, service labor rate increases, hiring, etc..

Was happy with my pay until I found out every service advisor makes more than me .. even after a record breaking month where I get a small bump once we pass a certain threshold in sales.

Someone we just hired 3 months ago with zero experience made 400 more this month in commission than I did.

Should I just move into service and not have the responsibilities of a manager? Do I quit? Do I talk to someone and ask how to earn more money? Is it just normal for advisors to make more than management?

Just not sure how to feel after all I’ve done to help get the shop in the right direction.

In a healthy business relationship, good service should flow in both directions. I always provide part numbers( on my responsibility if wrong), pay agreed terms, try not to hazzle over delays.

I'm really just curious what I can do to improve and streamline orders for both of us.

This seems like a stupid question, but I can't seem to find a promoter when I Google it. I'm looking to get on one or more "route sheets", or whatever it's called when those people go 'round to various repair shops and promote my business for my market. What do I need to be searching for? I feel like this should not be so hard to find, especially in a major metro area. Please help?

Alright, so I am a new Parts Manager at an Acura store and I have a shop that is adamant on buying a remanufactured transmission from me. The problem is I don't see anywhere on my I.N. Reman parts tab that would allow me to order said transmission. I remember from my Honda days I was able to order them, but maybe at Acura their policy is different? I'm not sure. They transferred me to manage this location with very minimal training so everything has been a learning process.

Hey all-

CDK user here Anyone know how to batch change sources? Basically trying to move all our hardware to one source, body parts to one source, batteries to one source.. etc and I don’t want manually enter each part number if there’s an easier way…

I'm at a VW dealership that currently has no e-commerce footprint. You could Google our name and the part number and you would have no option to buy it. Simple part seems to be who the other VW dealers in my area are using. I'm not looking to join the e-commerce race to the bottom, there's already a dealer here that really has that market already. I'm not wanting to compete with that. I'm just looking to start with the ability of people who know they want to shop with us, have the ability to. Any one here on simple part, which tier, and what's your experience?

Hello fellow parts guys. Interested to hear how your department handles the issue of technicians ordering parts they don’t need or returning parts they have “used” to help diagnose an issue.

Today we had a technician bring back a special order $300 LED light bulb because they installed it on a vehicle and it didn’t solve the issue.

A few weeks ago we had a technician return a throttle body that they had actually installed on a vehicle and run, only to find out that it didn’t remedy the issue.

A few months ago we had the service department return 50 or so parts that were ordered to rebuild an engine, because they decided after the fact that it would a better idea to just order a long block.

The service department’s defence is always that we have to take the parts back because they can’t charge a customer for parts that won’t fix their car. Very frustrating sometimes….

I work for a large company that has multiple dealerships. We email out accounting dept our invoices each day, they enter them and pay the statements. But if the PO isn’t finished, and they have the statement, they are told to just put it to inventory and pay it. So our variances are out of control. I can do a true inventory count, but the accounting side isn’t matching. I’m just curious how other dealerships work with accounting. Corp tells accounting one thing, and we are told another. It’s become a pretty big nightmare and we have guys leaving cause they’re just fed up.

Was approached on Indeed by a national truck parts/service company (no it isn’t Fleetpride) for an outside parts sales rep role. Just was curious if there was any outside salesmen in the group and what their experience has been like.

Does anyone on here access to the install discs for Reflections v10 or better? I'm trying to play with some macros and v8.01 is not cooperating.

Good evening,

I have been in the automotive industry for coming on two years, I am preparing to take my ASE P2 test.

I know the ASE online shop is currently closed, but I wanted to take some practice tests now to gauge where I am at. I have read through and studied the entire Delmar P2 book, and have been a Store Manager at an auto parts store for the past 2 years, so I believe I am fairly competent in my parts knowledge.

My company pays for the ASE tests and I don't want to fuck up on the test and have to submit a request to my company to have to take it again.

Any good resources to take a practice test for free or should I wait until ASE comes back on the 10th and get a practice test voucher from ASE?

Anyone use Parts Edge? If so, has it been worth it?

I'm in the process of cleaning up / organizing my department to make things tidier and more efficient and I'd love some insight about how y'all have your things organized.

I'm a Hyundai dealer and have thought about following the same general categories that parts are under in my catalog, i.e. engine, transmission, chassis, body, trim, electric, accessories, but with a couple kind of sub-sections i.e. an area for emblems, an area for hardware, an area for sensors etc.

How do you guys do it?

edit:

Hyundai, for the record.

I have 43 "normal" bin locations, 3 "large" bin locations, 36 high density bins, as well as two annex buildings for body parts/tires/etc.

I'm mostly looking at my main/high density bins right now, not my large bins, annex, tires or anything like that.

Part of what spurred this was poking around discovering I have clips in multiple different places, i.e. several high density bins, a normal bin here, another normal bin there, etc.

My thought process was "here's the hardware area", "here's the gasket area", "here's the engine parts area", "here's the electrical area" etc.

Crew

GM parts fella. When spooling our order on CDK and using the ExCel CVS file type, and changing the order template header to "quantity"....we still don't have bin locations and customer names popping up on the PWB+ site...and manually typing it in. Not the worst thing...but kind of annoying.

Anyone figure out the resolution to this issue yet?

I'm writing this to maybe get a perspective from other parts guys.

I've done real well for someone in parts, im making north of 85k in wholesale parts(thats an okay salary for living in mid-atlantic).

I work with a great team of guys. The entire department gets along and every counterman has been here a minimum of 5years (some 15-20).

Something recently hit me like a ton of bricks..idk if its the fact i plan on proposing to my gf at the end of year and im thinking of my future but realistically speaking I dont think its wise to think this line of work is long term for me unless youre in management.

This career doesn't adjust for inflation, most parts jobs in my area pay no more than 55k at dealers and our discounts for wholesale clients seem to climb every year to stay competitive which means i need to sell more to live the same lifestyle.

I have 9 years in parts and its changed, i talk to the guys who started in the late 90's and most hate what automotive parts have become but even they have 20 years minimum till retirement.

​

Any of you guys take a step back and analyze this? Happy to have this career for a guy with no degree but if I'm a lifer it might not be by choice.

Background: I work behind the retail counter at a brand specific dealership but have been in parts as a whole for 20 (!!) years now. I am also female.

So this morning, I get a phone call - or rather it was spaced over 3 calls. The following is a summary of the calls. M is me, C is customer.

M: Retail parts, this is [name], what can I do for you? C: Hi [name]. Does B work in service anymore? Me: No, he has been gone over a year C asks about someone else in service, tell me he has had nothing but problems here and managers know his name. I roll my eyes as I know how this goes. We get back to what he needs. Me: Ok, has that vehicle been here before? Yes? Ok, what’s the phone number it is under ? C: Well that was way back before covid, you cant expect me to remember. Cant you see if anyone remembers? Me: No, I need that or the VIN of the vehicle to get the correct part number. C is audibly frustrated but says he will call back.

Many hours later, C calls back

C: Yeah, this is C. I have that VIN. Me: Ok what is it? C: I cant really read it. Me: waits C: it is _______ Me: And you said you have no keys for the vehicle? silence M: Hello? Hello? I hang up

Tenish minutes later, I answer the phone again and reestablish that it is C. M: Ok, and you have no working keys, right? C: Right but last time I needed a spare you guys just had one. Cant you do that again? Me: explains reseed procedure, and that this is a chipped key C: no no no that’s not how it works. Can I talk to someone else? Me: Sure but I can tell you with your VIN this is how it works. C decides he needs a manager as “you dont me any more mad than I already am. That doesnt end well” I send him to our service manager’s VM.

Then I go talk to service manager, get to hear the Vm in which C says I dont know how to do my job, he got people fired before, we did a bunch of free work for him in the past but he states he wont leave his phone number for anyone to call him back. Nah man. If youre gonna threaten my job I will be sure a manager can reach you. I give manager his phone number.

Fam.

This dude had replaced his ignition cylinder with a toggle switch and a button, didnt tell me that any of the 3 times we spoke and acted like I was just supposed to know.

Retail. It is just grand.

ETA: He came to get them and was angry he had to pay.

Hello fellow parts people. I have a vendor who recently sent me a book about parts, which I think is genius. I genuinely wish that I had thought of it. If you have people in your life that don't understand why you're a grumpy as a parts person, have them read this book!

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https://preview.redd.it/q8un60cal3sc1.jpg?width=1000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4c881adb1497359d78cbfd9bcee89e2cff485219

SOLVED. Thanks for your help!

A coworker added a new Toyota PN in PM/Add, but used the wrong source so it's not populating the information at all. When I change to the correct source it still will not populate the proper information for the part. For example, we have 100 setup as Toyota Stocking parts and 110 setup as Toyota Special Order parts. When added, the part was accidentally put in under 209 (Tires Non-Program) so the information wasn't pulled. Usually when I change the source everything works as it should and the information populates and we save the PN. That's not happening this time. The pricing & description fields are remaining blank.

Interesting side note... we have 2 separate inventories. One for our main building and a second for our reconditioning department (where I am). If I add the PN properly in the main building's inventory the information populates perfectly under 100 and 110.

Any ideas are greatly appreciated!

I've been in the parts business for almost 8 years. I started as a delivery driver with some OSS responsibility and moved my way to ASM and then eventually SM. I've been SM now between 2 stores for a collective 3 years or so. I've only ever known NAPA. I have learned tons over the last 8 years and I truly enjoy learning more every day. I've been responsible for it all from the paperwork to the monitoring of credits and warranties to building relationships with customers through hard work and dedication. I'm just not sure if I'm burnt out from it all and working 48 to 50 hours a week or if I just need to make the move from working for a multitude of customers and their needs to just 1 specific make or 1 specific occupation.

There's a Semi truck dealer who operates their own parts department looking for parts countermen currently. I know someone there now and from what I've been told pay is obviously based on experience and commission is 1% of sales. They also mentioned it averaged to about 150k monthly. That's 40 minutes closer to home for me which would help with travel time and put me closer to that 40 hours a week giving me about 16 hours a week more with my GF and kids. We have a few Heavy-duty Diesel shops where I'm currently employed and I do outsource at times for them and I've added multiple parts to my inventory to keep up with the demand since we have no real competition in that area for this market. I've been able to get more familiar with Semi truck and trailers and it truly is something that interests me.

There are plenty of dealerships in the area. I'd love the opportunity to work for one and with my resume I honestly don't believe I'd have any issue getting in. I'd be comfortable going from knowing a little bit of everything to knowing everything about 1 particular brand/make. I'm not sure of the pay scale when it comes to dealerships but I noticed most in my area quote Monday through Friday. I'm sure that won't always be the case but it does sound appealing. Insurance is a major factor too as I currently don't have any and it's almost impossible to afford where I'm currently at. I think I was quoted about $850 a month for myself and my 2 kids.

I'm sure both avenues offer pto, paid holidays, vacation, 401k and 401k matching. Of course I'd look into that further given I decide on one or the other.

This may not even be a permanent move but I just know I have to leave my current situation for something closer to home with a more manageable work schedule.

Have you moved on from aftermarket parts to either of the above mentioned alternatives? If so, do you regret it? Did you go one way and decide to go the other at a later time? Obviously there's more options than just dealership or a Heavy-duty truck centers but given my 8 years of experience I'd assume these would be up my alley. I could do something totally outside parts or purchasing/selling completely but I'd like to take my knowledge and my ability to grow sales to a bigger and better platform where I could gain a sense of accomplishment as I work towards goals that better myself and the company I work for.

Sorry this is so long. Tried not to leave anything out. Let me know if you've made this move and how it has played out for you. Thank you.

Hello Hello! I am needing some help understanding the GM rim program. I am a Parts Director that oversees multiple points and brands. GM is not a brand I have deep experience with. One of my GM stores is not eligible to process RIM returns. Dealer rep = zero help. What qualifications does the store need to meet to process a RIM return?

I was under the impression that being RIM compliant (over 85%) & Purchase loyalty (over 90%) would qualify the store for a RIM return. Has of March the store meets both of these criteria. No automated RIM return populated. Since these are based on a 3 month rolling average, do we need to wait till May?