Team PRP Backs eProcurement—Not State Farm’s Program

Sept. 17, 2014—Team PRP (Premium Recycled Parts) announced on Tuesday that it fully endorses the use of electronic parts procurement mechanisms “to automate and add efficiency to the procurement of OEM recycled auto parts.”

However, Team PRP cannot endorse the PartsTrader program in its present configuration.

The organization conducted a survey of its members in August that revealed while most members joined the PartsTrader program with high hopes for increased sales to their current repair facilities and the opportunity to sell to State Farm direct repair facilities they were not selling to, tabulated results demonstrated that there have been very limited incremental sales, while costs resulting for participation have increased.

Specifically, the labor associated with responding to requests and completing transactions has increased for most Team PRP members. Compounding the increase in costs are statistics by Team PRP members showing that the amount of time required to sell a part is considerably higher with PartsTrader than with other methods, and the percentage of quotes that result in sales is substantially lower.

However, more than 70 percent of Team PRP members recognized that eProcurement in the parts ordering process is not only inevitable but, under the right conditions, would be welcomed. Most feel that they already have the technology to help drive electronic procurement through their computerized inventory systems and that, in many situations, they are already using such systems to source parts from each other. Extending the mechanism to external entities in a secure environment is seen by most as the next logical step.