Has anyone had a *good* experience with Napa?

Backlash2032

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Sep 20, 2010
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Well I certainly haven't. I don't remember a single good quality part that has come from there. Exhaust gaskets blow out, exhaust gaskets don't fit, they simply just don't have the right part in the book, they're too lazy to find the right part and worst one to date. They ordered my oil pump drive bearings from Indiana. They said it would be there in a week (seriously??) Then when I came to pick them up they said the warehouse that they ordered them from didn't have them and they didn't bother telling them. So now its taking another week to get my bearings. I was supposed to have my car finished in a week. Fuck Napa.

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hvyman

Dang Dude! No Way Man.
Staff member
Apr 17, 2007
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I havnt had any bad experiences with them.

The worst for me is autozone.

Kragen is usually good to me too.

Pep boys most the people that work there are tards.
 

Poodles

I play with fire
Jul 22, 2006
16,757
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Depends entirely on the store and the parts being bought. I've been in some autoparts stores where the staff is just plain stupid. I've also been in little places that have old guys that will pull out the huge catalogs and find exactly what you need because they know it's not in the computer.

Hit or miss really...
 

Dirgle

Conjurer of Boost
Mar 30, 2005
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Pauma Valley, CA
My experiences with Napa have only been poor when I was dealing with import car needs. If the parts and service I needed were for domestic vehicles there was never any problem. All but one that I have gone into have been staffed by older gentlemen, and if you have them look up a part for an import they immediately become as unhelpful as they can. But when I needed parts for my Ford truck the same people were quick, efficient and knowledgeable. Tools are good, only place with a breaker bar that didn't break when I needed to set the preload on a diff out of a half ton truck. But the Napa parts are at about a GM OEM level, ok, but nowhere near Toyota Quality. Machine work is at about the same level. In one place I lived, Napa was the only machine shop for 295 miles. Had work done on a 289 Mustang motor with no problems. But getting them to simply polish a crank out of a 7M was headache after headache.
 

suprarx7nut

YotaMD.com author
Nov 10, 2006
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Going into any generic parts store with the expectation of any degree of automotive expert assistance is a mistake. They are retail employees, nothing more. You should always walk in knowing exactly what you need and why you need it.

If your after parts quickly, give Aaron at driftmotion a call. I bet he could get you parts shipped faster than NAPA anyways. :)

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Backlash2032

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Sep 20, 2010
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suprarx7nut;1830878 said:
Going into any generic parts store with the expectation of any degree of automotive expert assistance is a mistake. They are retail employees, nothing more. You should always walk in knowing exactly what you need and why you need it.

If your after parts quickly, give Aaron at driftmotion a call. I bet he could get you parts shipped faster than NAPA anyways. :)

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I do walk in knowing exactly what I need, every single time. They just don't have it correct in the book, and then try to give me the wrong part, and then give me the "You're fucking retarded, I'm right, because that's what the book says" look every single time.

And Aaron doesn't have oil pump drive bearings.

anyway, I just gave NAPA a call. They don't understand that since they fucked it up, they should fix it. The bearings were originally coming out of indiana, now they're coming out of washington. I asked them to overnight them because I was supposed to have them yesterday, and they said even if they could contact ups and have them up the shipping speed, it would still be an extra 20 bucks on me. WTF! Never shopping there again. At any NAPA parts store actually.
 

Jeff Lange

Administrator
Staff member
Mar 29, 2005
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Like many stores, there are good stores and bad stores, and within the store there are good people and bad people.

Sounds like you got hosed on the bearings, that sucks.

Jeff
 

Backlash2032

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Sep 20, 2010
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Jeff Lange;1830899 said:
Like many stores, there are good stores and bad stores, and within the store there are good people and bad people.

Sounds like you got hosed on the bearings, that sucks.

Jeff

But see, its not even *just* the stores fault. The warehouse they ordered from didn't bother calling the store saying they didn't have the parts. So after the store didn't get the bearings they called the warehouse and they said they didn't have the bearings..

What really sucks is I was supposed to have the car running by the time I'm now getting the bearings. It would have been possible, but now its obviously not.
 

GrimJack

Administrator
Dec 31, 1969
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Well, it *may* have been the warehouse's fault. There's no way for you to know, and it's easy for the store to pass the blame, especially if you have no way to verify what they claim AND no way to vent on the warehouse staff.
 

benchwarmer

Straight Cougar
Aug 2, 2007
510
1
16
Lancaster, CA
Years back I had a problem with NAPA giving me the wrong clutch for my chevy 1/2 ton. I bought the first on in Washington, returned it for credit because it didn't fit, got another one in California which also didn't fit. Tried to exchange it for what I knew to be the correct one and the guy at the counter REFUSED to exchange because the part I wanted wasn't the "right one." I had to cause a scene with the manager to get the stupid clutch. It worked great and I never went back.

I find that, at least locally, CarQuest tends to hire car guys to run their shops. They're prices are a bit higher but it's worth it to have the guy at the counter know what I'm talking about.
 

Backlash2032

New Member
Sep 20, 2010
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The thing I hate the most is when they think that they're right because that's what the book says. No. I'm looking at the car. It doesn't fit. The books wrong.

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te72

Classifieds Moderator
Staff member
Mar 26, 2006
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This is one of the reasons I try to do my own homework and get part numbers of what my own homework reflects will work. Relying on someone that does not know your car or know what has been done to it (try finding 1j parts in BFE, Wyoming) isn't a very good idea...