i am no longer buying car parts at advanced auto. which has been my go to spot for auto parts forever.
they removed all the code scanners sometime ago...
corportate said good scanners cost 500 to 5000 bucks they cant afford them......
plus advanced has their finely tuned rewards program that get people to spend more money but makes redeeming credits difficult
this kills my desire to shop there
There are cheap OBD to bluetooth interfaces out now and software that's available, I think some for free, for smartphones.
For around $35 I got a software package for the PC and a USB interface for the BMW that gives me pretty much what the dealer has in terms of diagnostic capability.
They aren't free, but some are more powerful than what AA probably had and they are cheap enough that they are worth having so they are there whenever and wherever you need them. If you have that bluetooth adaptor and your smartphone, you can diagnose it any time, anywhere.
I just called 2 local Advance Autos, an AutoZone and an O'Reilly's. We now have 3 different reasons, although one of them appears to be incorrect.
1 - You were told that it was the cost of the scanners. 2 - One store told me that the reason for the change was that they would give the customer the code, the customer would buy the part that they thought would fix the problem and then blame Advance Auto when it didn't. 3 - The next store told me that he was told that their major competitors had stopped offering scanning, so they did to. He appears to be wrong. I called both AutoZone and O'Reilly's and they both said that they still do scans. When I mentioned to the AutoZone employee that another store told me that the reason was "customers buying the wrong parts and then complaining" he felt that that was not a good reason. He feels that with the proper explanation and understanding, customers should be aware that the part they buy might not fix the problem. In a perfect world that's true, but in the corporate world, all it takes is a few customers that want their money back - no matter what - to have have corporate eliminate the "problem" with a broad stroke.If that is the case, then the decision will probably cost them more money than the "problem" they think they eliminated.
As far as the SpeedPerks rewards, I have never had a problem redeeming my rewards, either on-line or in the store. In just about every case, the clerk has voluntarily looked up my rewards status and let me know if I had any current discounts to apply. That even happens when I start a chat with an on-line rep. In addition, you can usually get an additional discount from the on-line rep just by asking. I always start a chat session and ask a couple of questions to build rapport and then ask "Are there any discount codes that I can apply to this order?" The answer is almost always "Yes".
Overall my experience at AA has been good too. Good prices, two stores nearby, easy online ordering. I had one case where I couldn't believe what they did. I had an alternator that was about 2 years old, still under their warranty. They didn't have that same brand alternator anymore, so I was expecting them to offer me a similar one. Instead they proceeded to refund me the full purchase price of the original, then sell me a new one that cost $40 less. IDK of any other business that would have handled it that way, I sure would not have. I came out with a new alternator and $40.
Their free tool rental has come in very handy a few times too. I've borrowed tools sometimes when I couldn't even buy a part from them for that repair, because they don't carry it. They could offer a code scanner as part of the free rental plan.
IDK how fancy a tester they had or what it costs, but labor cost would add up too. They have to pay someone to go do it. And then I'm sure a lot of people proceed to ask all kinds of questions as to what it all means, what to replace, etc that could tie them up for 20 mins. Thinking about it, that part, responding to all the questions, is probably what gets them in trouble, with some customers blaming them. The code reader doesn't tell you what to change, what to fix, it only tells you what codes it sees. Even for mechanics, it then comes down to experience, further testing, an process of elimination. I''m sure there are plenty of people out there that don't understand that.
...snip...
According to what I was told, they are not eliminating charging system checks. (alternator, battery, etc.)
There is probably less labor time/questions/instances of incorrect diagnosis involved with a charging system check vs. an ECM code. Maybe more profit margin too.
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