"If you're a car dealer and you have a fast lube lane, you're not going to have every weird filter out there, so you buy from the aftermarket," explains National Pronto Association member Tom Poorman, president of Poorman's Automotive Warehouse in Wichita, Kan.
About 20 percent of the TruStar program group's membership is now selling to dealers along with the traditional independent installer customer base, according to marketing manager Kevin Davidson.
"We see that as a trend," concurs Dan Freeman, president of Auto Parts Associates, Inc. (APA). "We're seeing more and more of that trend, especially with domestic manufacturers." Import OEMs, as relatively recent entrants into the American auto marketplace, tend to have fewer dealerships and thus less overlap in a given community.
"There are not nearly as many import dealerships, so they're staying busy. It's a matter of numbers," says Freeman.
The nation's traditionally stalwart domestic automakers, on the other hand, are flooded with like-branded dealerships, Freeman notes, generating increased competition for a limited pool of repair customers along with calls from Detroit for dealer consolidation."They have a lot of empty bays," he says. Dealers are aggressively marketing used cars and general repairs to surrounding residents, heightening demand for non-marque parts.
In the not-too-distant past, says Poorman, "the car dealers pretty much kept their bays filled with warranty work." Now, "the warranty work is half of what it was; the darn things don't break. It's killing us and it's killing the car dealers' service and the independent (installer)."
As for the dealerships, "They've been motivated to go out and find more non-warranty work, and because of that they're going out and buying more aftermarket" to service neighborhood nameplates they don't sell on the show room floor. Nor do they typically carry a standing stock of parts for them, Poorman says.
Dealers are now considering tinkering with cars outside of a warranty situation, Poorman observes. "Some people care about name brand parts (direct from an OEM) and some people don't. People are pretty picky about what oil they put in their car, but they're not as picky about what oil pump they'll put on their car."
Poorman goes on to say that "shoe leather and hard work" are the keys to reaching this segment. Also, he says, there can be no question about your ability to deliver the proper product. "Good service, good price and availability are still the answers."
"Car dealers are the No. 1 service outlet, capturing 25 percent of the market," reports David Portalatin, director of industry analysis for The NPD Group. Independent repair shops garner 20 percent. The rest is divided among other industry participants such as tire shops, quick lubes and mass merchants.
There are two lines of thought as to how your lines may be disbursed to the dealer customer.
Dealership sales are likely to mean "more bulk — more parts to them at one time instead of multiple deliveries. They (WDs) deliver more parts to them at a time, so it frees their drivers to make other deliveries," says Davidson at TruStar.
"It's pretty much going to be hot-shot," says Freeman. "If they have a quick lube lane, they're not going to know what's coming in there. The non-OEM stuff they're going to be doing will be cars coming in without appointments," he adds.
"If you're not selling domestic guys at this point, buy some of the products they're using — such as wheel weights — to get your foot in the door," Freeman suggests. "Find out what their needs and wants are; they use a lot of maintenance items."
Of course, a professional approach is always best. "I would definitely call for an appointment instead of just barging in there," Freeman advises. "Find out who makes the buying decisions and you can eliminate chasing around until you find the right person. The parts manager is a good resource to find out how to go about getting that business."
Also, "develop a relationship with a credit reporting company," says Freeman, so you can gauge the financial health of a potential customer.
Nurturing a beginning relationship may be more conducive than mounting a full onslaught within your marketing region. "Start doing business with one or two," Freeman urges.
"You have to view this like it's a fleet or municipality," Freeman continues. As with out-of-town corporate leadership or a cumbersome village council, it may take time, effort and patience to land the gig. But once obtained, however, it could mean a steady flow of sales you may not otherwise have. "Some of these dealerships might become a pretty good customer."
Last year two Ford dealerships approached Freeman's program group about joining "so they can buy better." The applications were rejected because "we thought it would be disruptive" to the existing membership.
As for concerns coming from your technician customer base that you're selling to their enemy — the dreaded dealership — Freeman has a ready reply based on an APA marketing mantra. "We've been preaching for 10 years to our installers, 'Don't buy from the car dealers,'" he recounts. Thus you can rebuff any complaint with a retort such as this: "If you stop buying from car dealers, we'll stop selling to them."
