Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Stealth Fedex Truck

Fedex is testing a few all electric vehicles for delivering their packages. Chevy and Nissan have new electric vehicles coming out soon. I believe it would do all of us some good to come up with a few standardized battery designs for engineers / designers to work with. Working at an auto parts company I can forsee the problems of trying to stock batteries for all of these vehicles that only fit one vehicle, for one year, etc. I am still waiting for someone to step up and release the Zero Point Module from Stargate Atlantis!

Monday, March 29, 2010

Why can't I add this part to my shopping cart?

Greg,

The issue "not able to add to your cart" usually means that we are out of stock on the part number requested. It might also be that the little box to the left of your quantity has not been selected. I have checked all of our locations this morning and we currently do not have the shocks for your 1982 Camaro anywhere. We have in the past mainly focused our inventory on newer vehicles, but this site is revealing quite a bit of interest for classics like yours. We are tracking the sales and will do what we can to cover what our customers are asking for. Thanks for your interest in our company. We will continue to strive to improve and hopefully we will have more of the things you need in the near future.

Brad

Brad Catron
Electronic Commerce Evangelist
Rightnowautoparts.com
888-921-9154
<>< Phil. 2:3-4

Friday, March 26, 2010

Write it down ...

We get tons of calls from happy customers (I LOVE that part of my job), but the e-mails aren't as numerous. I also have seen where people are saying good things about us on several forums (search> rightnowautoparts ). I wanted to share this one on the blog as reinforcement for what I wrote earlier in the entry "Retail customers are a pain". We really love our customers, especially when they take time from their busy day to reinforce what we are doing here at www.rightnowautoparts.com . Thanks Josh!!

Brad,

I just wanted to send a quick thank you along to you and all who were involved in seeing that I was taken care of. In a society where good customer service seems to take a back seat more and more it has been a pleasure doing business with an organization that obviously cares for their customers. Due to your swift action and initiative to resolve my issue, I was able to avoid a great hardship. I hope this letter of gratitude in some way can speak to the excellence in customer service your staff certainly practices.

Thank you highly and with much respect,


Josh

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Explaining Complicated Racing Terms




1. Understeer is hitting the wall with the front of the car.


2. Oversteer is hitting the wall with the rear of the car.

3. Horsepower is how fast you hit the wall.

4. Torque is how far you push the wall.


Winners don't wait for chances, they take them... http://rightnowautoparts.com

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Retail Customers Can be a Pain...

I can't tell you how many times I heard that phrase from outsiders last year when I explained we were going to add a consumer direct auto parts web site... so much so that I was pretty apprehensive about beginning to take calls. For 86 years we had always been a business to business auto parts company. I have been working face to face with “customers” for years, but I was being told that “retail customers” are a different breed. Let me just say this; “They were wrong!” I have been pleasantly surprised by the genuine character of almost everyone I have had the pleasure of dealing with. Even those who had been wronged by some part of our procedure seemed more than patient with me as I did everything I could to make sure they were taken care of. I almost used the word happy there. People are basically understanding of issues that sometimes arise. As long as they feel that their problem is important and a solution is being worked on, I find they are appreciative and thankful amidst the issue. I (we) pledge to continue to repay our faithful customers with a higher level of service than they were expecting. I think that the combination of very low price, unexpected great service and continued wide availability really puts us at a different level than our competitors. That I believe is why we have such great customers!! As long as we continue to partner with their needs when their car breaks down, I think they will continue to be the best!!


P.S. Of course since we sell wholesale we really don't have any retail customers!

Monday, March 22, 2010

Parts Expert Robert Fox


When a parts guy starts working on a project car sometimes they obsess until they are done (and then they begin thinking about the next project). Robert Fox is the call center manager in charge of the other "experts" on staff. He has been obsessing about his Jeep for about a month now and I think he is finally done with this wave of upgrades. I have to admit, it is pretty nice. Do you think we should allow him into the "Man's Club" now?

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Why wholesale auto parts instead of retail?


When we decided to begin selling auto parts on the internet there were several decisions that needed to be made. Which parts would we highlight? (AC Delco and Motorcraft) What price would we sell at? (The price that would compel people to buy them from us) Then we needed to come up with a name… We have prided ourselves for over 80 years in our ability to get the right part, at the right price to the customer who needed it right away. Rightnowautoparts.com just seemed to be, well… right! Look, we understand that a broken down car typically doesn’t fit in your budget. Since we already have the infrastructure to move auto parts quickly we felt this would be a perfect addition to help out. We could try to make a little more money but that would impact your decision on who to buy from. So far most people seem to appreciate the prices and the service we provide. Check us out, tell us what you think… we are listening!

Greg's Goat


Greg Rothe works in the Fleet division of our company but his 1968 Pontiac GTO is way too beautiful to leave out when we are highlighting the vehicles we drive. We are an auto enthusiast crowd here at rightnowautoparts.com !

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Why can't I order over the phone?

At rightnowautoparts.com we are basically adding a new way to sell our parts by creating this web page. In reality, we are a group of warehouses that supply parts to businesses who install them for their customers. As such, we do not have any retail outlets or even the ability for customers to pay with cash or credit cards. We could add those things, but that would add costs that would then need to be rolled into our prices. With the web page we have a fully integrated process that keeps all of our customers credit data secure. On our end all we can see is the last four digits from the card, and of course the customers name and shipping address. All transactions are directly between the customer and our credit card provider, RBS Lynk. We want to make sure that we never have access to the actual card number so that no one could take advantage of our customers. The vast majority of credit card fraud comes from locations where the number is physically present (restaurants, gas stations, U.S. Mail, etc.). This may seem a bare bones approach but we have found that our customers greatly appreciate the bare bones prices it results in. Thanks for doing business with us, Tell your friends!!

Friday, March 12, 2010

Parts Expert Joe Huff

Joe was a store manager at Napa Auto Parts for 26 years before upgrading and moving to the parent company of Rightnowautoparts .
That was 12 years ago! If you need parts experience Joe certainly has it. This is his beautiful 08 Mustang with an added Motorsport FR1 performance kit making 335 HP. He has also added a Rousch front end, a Stage 3 Ram hood, Cervinni window scoops and 20 inch Saleen wheels. These guys mean business when it comes to cars and the parts to fix them...

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Parts Expert Mike Jones


Mike Jones started out long ago (circa 1990) in our major fleet division. Since that time he has worked almost every job in the company. In his spare time he enjoys entertaining others with his DJ business. I say spare time, but in reality he has two full time passions. Helping parts customers here during the day, and creating beautiful wedding and party experiences as a DJ on evenings and weekends. Check out his link http://mikesmobiledj.com/ to see how well his clients enjoy themselves. Taking care of people is one of the things that makes Mike special. The other is this fine 1973 Ford Gran Torino (a.k.a. Stephanie Marie)!

Parts Expert Jamie Quintana



It used to be that people calling in needing help would worry when they got a female. Girls like Jamie have proven that being an expert is not dependant on which sex you belong to. Here she is working on her Mustang project car. Being hands on with auto parts knowledge is one of the great qualities www.rightnowautoparts.com employees show every day!

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Parts Expert Stan Sinack

Most people who know Stan outside of work would label him a cut-up. But when it comes to parts knowledge we are glad to have him on our team. Like many people here, Stan has been in the auto parts industry most of his life. If you ever have a question about which part would be the correct choice, just ask for Stan! If you look closely you can see Stan driving his Dodge Dart in the Super Pro Drag division of the Southern Nationals.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

What you will be driving in 2016

Pandora Radio Going Strong


Ok, so this is a personal post that doesn't have a lot to do with auto parts. If you have not experienced http://www.pandora.com/ I suggest you log in and spend some time creating your own personalized radio station. I haven't had anyone that went to the site complain yet...


Saturday, March 6, 2010

Is the price on the ACDelco wheel bearing hub FW338 still available?

Candy,

This is a regular price on our wholesale direct web page www.rightnowautoparts.com . We are an authorized ACDelco warehouse distributor that has until recently only sold to businesses (dealerships, parts companies, garages, etc.). Now we have opened up our entire inventory to the public without middle man mark-ups. Just visit the site, enter your number in the part# lookup at the top of the screen and walk through the steps. There is also a full line catalog to the left of the screen if you would like to confirm the number or need any additional parts.

Thanks for your interest! Tell your friends!!
Brad

Thursday, March 4, 2010


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703862704575099903272438596.html?mod=WSJ_hp_editorsPicks

International Credit Cards and Shipping





Miguel,

I am not sure what the banking regulations entail, but at this time our credit card processing provider does not allow us to accept international credit cards. We are also limited to shipping within the lower 48 states by our agreements with UPS and Fedex. Although I would love to extend our very low prices to everyone, I am limited to stay within these guidelines. I have had customers in the past who were able to get a friend to purchase their parts within these rules, and then have them process the transaction after they received the shipment.

Thanks for your question,

Brad

P.S. I am going to forward your contact information to a business associate who may be able to help out. Scott Dehotman runs our global division and he has been able to work out some of the associated issues. Hopefully he can be of assistance.

Brad Catron
Electronic Commerce Evangelist
JI Parts Express
www.teamji.com
www.rightnowautoparts.com
888-921-9154
<>< Phil. 2:3-4

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

rightnowautoparts.com freight discussion




Joe,

There are certain limitations on which parts make sense to purchase online. Certainly small value items like individual oil filters or gaskets are not beneficial to buy online, because the freight adds too much to the cost. We have all of our Delco priced at 16% off of Jobber which is typically about 30% less than our competition. The freight costs are calculated online straight from the UPS database based on zip-code information.

I do have a one year web-birthday special going that may help you out. In the shopping cart there is a field to enter a promotional code. If you will type "Birthday" in that field it will give an additional 10% off (until the end of March 2010). Hopefully that will help allay the costs of some of the freight. We will also upgrade and "UPS Second Day" to Fedex Standard overnight for the same cost.

Thanks for checking with us. Even if this part doesn't make sense because of the freight, please keep us in mind in case you have a need for a higher dollar purchase in the future. ALL of the Delco items are highly discounted and the savings add up quickly.


We appreciate your business!!

Brad
www.rightnowautoparts.com