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An increasing trend among car owners, according to industry surveys, is to purchase auto parts for needed repairs and bring them to the shop where the work will be done.
Bayou Region repair shop operators say those findings mesh with their own experience.
But they also caution consumers that it’s best to check with their mechanic before doing so, to make sure that a shop will do the work at all, or if it does, how it may affect warranties.
National motorist advocacy groups also caution that with more buying choices for parts than ever before, consumers should know who they are buying from and keep in mind that a bargain is not always what it appears to be.
“Sometimes they will get a part dirt cheap but don’t know if it’s the right part, or if it is good or not,” said Joe Boudwin, who owns J.J. Auto Repairs on South Van Avenue in Houma.
Boudwin will allow his mechanics to install parts that customers bring with them. But like a number of other shop owners, he will not warranty the work.
“If the part doesn’t work right, they can send it back to where they bought it, but we are not going to refund money for our work on it,” said Boudwin. “If I buy a part I know it’s the right part and I know it’s good quality. So I will warranty work where we have bought the part.”
Many repair shops outright refuse to install parts not purchased by them through their supply networks.
Mechanics acknowledge that the increased use of Internet-purchased parts has cut into a portion of their incomes, eroding the mark-up their own purchase of parts allows. But that concern is equally matched if not exceeded, they maintain, by concerns about the ultimate result, and reluctance to put their seal of approval on a part that they can’t be certain won’t fail.
A few, however, said they have no qualms at all.
“We let people do that, they bring parts all the time,” said Cyrus Pitre, whose Chauvin auto repair shop bears his name.
There have always been customers, mechanics say, who have purchased parts from NAPA, AutoZone or other retail outlets and brought them in themselves, trying to save some money.
But the ubiquitous nature of auto parts sales on the Internet, and peoples’ access to the technology, has made the practice more popular, particularly since in many cases online purchases from mega-distributors can have lower cost.
No matter their individual policies, mechanics and shop owners generally agree with caveats that consumer organizations issue for car owners when it comes to buying parts online, whether for installation by a mechanic or as part of a do-it-yourself project.
They say it is a good idea, before investing in a part, to check with the mechanic who is to do the work.
Forsaking a trusted mechanic who won’t install a consumer-purchased part, or who will not warranty the work, could lead to other problems and the hassle of a search.
The Better Business Bureau advises consumers that they can always check to see if a company has a rating at www.bbb.org.
Billy Risner, a mechanic who works for Boudwin, said that as someone who has installed consumer-purchased parts but then had to replace them because they were not precisely the right match, these purchases have created problems for him and the customer.
“People get stuff and bring it and they still want the same warranties, and then it doesn’t work, and then we have to go through it all over again,” Risner said. “The companies don’t tell them that they don’t care about the man who has to put it on.”
Whatever the policy of a given shop, indications are strong that the practice will continue to increase.
AutoMD.com, a website that counsels consumers on auto repair issues, got a 90 percent positive response to the question “If you could buy the part needed for a particular repair and bring it into the shop, would you?”
