bravenrace MegaDork
12/16/10 8:57 a.m.
MOD EDIT: 13 yr old thread revived by spam. Proceed with caution...
I noticed the other day that they are building one just down the road from me. This would be the first one ever in my area. How do they compare to Advance, Autozone, and NAPA?
Sonic Dork
12/16/10 9:01 a.m.
The only place I have lived with an O'rileys was in Montana. I used them semi frequently, and they were fine, parts were similar quality and price to other FLAPS, but the staff at this paticular store was above average, which was a nice change.
Dr. Hess SuperDork
12/16/10 9:01 a.m.
Parts quality is generally better than Autozone, maybe not as good as NAPA in some cases. I like O'Reilley's because you can call them up and say "I need a x for a y" and they'll say "we can have it here tomorrow" and then you just go get it the next day. You don't have to go in and buy the thing before they send it to the store, like at Autozone. There are exceptions for some really oddball special order stuff.
DILYSI Dave SuperDork
12/16/10 9:05 a.m.
They were new to me a few years ago. Now they are my preferred go to.
bravenrace SuperDork
12/16/10 9:08 a.m.
Do they have more USA - made parts than any of the others?
Dr. Hess SuperDork
12/16/10 9:12 a.m.
I don't think so, BR. I don't think there are any more US made parts.
ShadowSix New Reader
12/16/10 9:18 a.m.
We have O'Reilly, Advance, Autozone, and NAPA here. My experience is that the first three are the same in every way. The parts are the same, the prices are the same, and I think they all do price match w/ competitors. The difference is the people working at your local store, so I just go with the one with the best people.One nice thing is that they do seem to have different ideas of what parts should be kept in stock, not better or worse, but different. I needed twelve Toyota 4x4 wheel studs last summer, Advance had two, Autozone had two, O'Reilly's had like thirty seven.
stuart in mn SuperDork
12/16/10 9:21 a.m.
ShadowSix wrote: The difference is the people working at your local store, so I just go with the one with the best people.
I think this is the most important thing. The chain stores all provide more or less the same kinds of parts, what matters is if the person behind the counter at your local store knows what they're doing.
bravenrace SuperDork
12/16/10 9:22 a.m.
There are some, as I buy them sometimes. I just bought a Timken wheel bearing that was made here. I also bought a distributor cap a while back that was made here, believe it or not. They're sometimes hard to find, but they're there. The guys at my local Advance told me that they are trying to carry more USA made parts, as they get a lot of people asking for them.
bravenrace SuperDork
12/16/10 9:25 a.m.
In reply to stuart in mn:
Yeah, I can see that. I really miss the locally owned parts stores we had years ago. Everything was USA made, the counter guys were pretty much experts at what they did, and if I needed an odd ball exhaust pipe or something, they just told me to go look in the warehouse to find what I needed. In my area, the demise of these stores was the opening of Nationwise, which was the beginning of the big chain stores. Sometimes I wish I was born 20-30 years earlier....
Matt B HalfDork
12/16/10 9:29 a.m.
While we're on the subject (it's not a thread-jack if it's related, right? 
)
How do you guys feel about Carquest? Despite a few of them around me, I just started shopping there recently. Their available brands, storefront, and halfway knowledgeable employees seem a lot like NAPA.
mistanfo SuperDork
12/16/10 9:37 a.m.
Every time Iwork an event at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, I laugh, because they advertise there. Closest store is in Altavista, which is about an hour and a half away... Guess it's for the television audience.
Tyler H GRM+ Memberand Dork
12/16/10 9:42 a.m.
I think O'Reilly parts are slightly better than Autozone / Advance, usually the same parts as the higher-end options at RockAuto.com.
I found out O'Reilly has a distribution center near downtown Knoxville. Best kept secret around. Next time they tell you they can have it next day, ask where their distribution center is and if it has a front counter. They don't seem to show up on the store locator. When they say they can have it the next day, that's where it is coming from.
I don't even call, I just go to the DC. If they don't have it in stock there, nobody else will either. The people working the counter at the DC have been there forever. They also have a full range of autobody supplies and can mix the Nason spray bombs.
fastmiata Reader
12/16/10 9:48 a.m.
O'Reilly's can be quite useful. They gave our miata club a discount and I know for example that every store stocks a miata battery in it. NAPA is still the best chain but I have a local store that can get me anything I want but it will always be the next day so you just have to plan ahead. Easy to do when you are thinking about a weekend project but kinda hard when something goes out on wife's car ....
T.J. SuperDork
12/16/10 10:03 a.m.
I like O'reilly's - at least the one I frequent. There are others in town that I have not been to. Agree that the staff is the primary difference between these types of stores. The closest parts store to my house is an Advance and I go there for quick things. 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.
Raze Dork
12/16/10 10:03 a.m.
O'Reillys has parts and items on the shelves the others will internet-only in my experience. They also seem to have more hard-to-find parts and they can have it next day, advance or AZ can take days.
T.J. SuperDork
12/16/10 10:06 a.m.
I got new calipers for my '75 BMW 2002 from O'reillys', plus they have a better song than the other stores.
FlightService Reader
12/16/10 10:15 a.m.
I believe a store is only as good as it's staff.
We have an Advanced here that used to kick butt till the staff left.
The Zone blows here.
O'Reilly is an old Napa that got moved and changed names so they are the bomb
Napa is mediocre here at best.
No carquest.
Brett_Murphy GRM+ Memberand Reader
12/16/10 10:21 a.m.
In reply to Matt B:
Matt, as best I can tell, Carquest owns NAPA/Walker now.
ReverendDexter SuperDork
12/16/10 10:29 a.m.
I think it depends on your area.
I slung parts at a Kragen (and for chrissake, it was Kragen, not "Kragen's") for a couple months while I was between "real" jobs. The "inside info" is that the parts between there and Autozone are nigh identical. Same parts down to the part number, maybe different boxes. Difference 'round where I was was that the 'Zone seemed to cater pretty hard to the small-block Chevy crowd and had more clueless douchebags behind the counter then we did (though we certainly had our share).
For the most knowledgable staff, I'd always hit Napa. For cheap parts quicker than I could get 'em from Rock Auto, I'd hit Kragen.
Now, where I live currently, there's two different Napas, and they're WORLDS apart. One is staffed with knowledgable parts guys, the other is full of morons.
4 Pumpkin Escobar's of fury SuperDork
12/16/10 10:35 a.m.
+1 on the stores all carry the same stuff (more or less), and so its service they have to sell me on. I get the best service locally from Advance, YMMV. They dont play games or get mad when I only wanna spend $9 on a oil filter wrench, and not a filter and 5 qts of 5W-30 (I buy in bulk ).
The local independent stores seem to not have patience for me when they find out I am purchasing parts for an Infiniti (galldern furren cars!), Im not buying a bunch of 4x4 parts or Im not from a dealership/garage who needs $546461.23 worth of stuff.
ReverendDexter SuperDork
12/16/10 10:40 a.m.
Oh, and just as an FYI, when I was at Kragen, one of the metrics they use is your average dollars per sale. For my area it was somewhere around $20. I'm assuming O'Reilly didn't change that, so if you want to piss off the guy/gal behind the counter, go up and buy a pack of gum. Then act like you forgot something, and go back to that person and buy another sub-$1 item. Do that a couple times, and you'll tank their numbers for their whole shift. 
ditchdigger HalfDork
12/16/10 10:46 a.m.
O'Reillys recently bought out the local Shuck's stores. All I know is that they have the worst, and I mean atomically terrible, stab yourself in the ear radio jingle that I have ever heard.
I have yet to see anyone not wince when it comes on the sports talk radio station that unfortunatley is braying away all day here at work.
For that demon jingle alone I will never shop there.
DoctorBlade Reader
12/16/10 10:52 a.m.
I've worked at a few of these stores. O'Reily's wasn't bad, but the manager was an idiot. Carquest was years back, staffed by guys who answered the phone "Carquest. Bob." and knew every mechanic around, bad and good. Knew parts better than some of them as well, as in "Take these two parts over there, he wants X but he needs Y. Trust me." They'd be right as well. Not sure if that shops still around.
Oh, and DC's rock. I nearly lived at the Carquest DC we had here years back.
aircooled SuperDork
12/16/10 10:58 a.m.
Didn't Kragen and O'Reilys just merge?
