Quote:
Originally Posted by e90yyc
I’m sure your BMW guy is great, but I’d take his opinion with a grain of salt. He’s a BMW Master Tech—not a CFA or CPA—and he certainly doesn’t understand the complexities of running a business like FCP. In no way am I suggesting one career is better, I’m just saying it would be similar to a financial analyst saying it’s not possible to repair Problem A with a car, or suggesting there’s no way a tech could fix Problem A or B in less than X minutes.)
FCP did over $100M USD in sales in 2020 according to a news release a while back. At their current rate of growth, they’ll hit $500M in sales in 2025. My point is that their business is huge, and as a result they’re able to buy things for amounts that might not make sense to you, me, or your buddy. They also got there by doing things right and not by being greasy AF.
I don’t understand his bit about FCP’s low prices. I’ve always found FCP’s prices to be on the high side, definitely compared to RockAuto, and often compared to others like ECS or Pelican. Obviously I see value in their Lifetime Replacement, but I really hate paying more upfront  . FWIW, the parts guys at the dealership I used to work at are very good to me, and their prices are often lower than FCP’s. And I don’t get cost—they’re still making money.
I know the fact I’ve had nothing but great experiences with them doesn’t mean everyone has, but I do struggle a bit with the notion they sell grey market or flat-out knockoff items. The reputational harm that would come from that would be so far from worth the bit of money they’d save…
Oh, and yes: RockAuto kinda sucks ass. Their prices are super low, shipping to Canada is quick and fairly priced, and I’ve never gotten fake shit from them, but my god do they ever package things poorly… They use these cardboard boxes that make Kleenex look like titanium. |
To be fair, he’s seen a lot of parts from FCP that are fake to the point he won’t install them anymore because he’s had too many failures. He’s seen a lot of parts he knows are used too. I do think their lifetime replacement on stuff like fluids is actually a strange policy, even though it sounds good. I also think this is how used and junk parts get in their inventory. Customers send back fake stuff and they take it, maybe mistakenly putting it back in shelves for sale. I don’t know, but I got fake parts for sure. They may not knowingly have fake inventory.
And I can tell you I definitely got fake parts. I have 2 Master’s in finance and slip ups can happen the bigger the company becomes too. I’m in no way suggesting ALL their parts are trash. I am using Spark Plugs and Eldor coils from them at the moment, no issues. They made it right. But they may be getting too big to completely manage their supply chain.