[Doublebarr]

Fricken fracken.... Starter went out in my '99 at noon while we were out gathering cattle. Thank goodness I have a manual so I roll started it and drove to the local parts store to pick up a starter. Two stores in my town, Advanced Auto Parts and a Carquest. Neither one had one on the shelf. Then called the Chrystler dealership in the next town over and the parts guy says they don't even make them any more and only aftermarket ones available and he can order it for me. No thanks at twice the cost and I want it NOW. So then I call EVERY auto parts store in the three towns within 30-40 miles of me and not a single one has it in stock. So I give in and get my local store to order it for me to have tomorrow morning and park on our hill so I can "turn her on" tomorrow to haul the kid to school before picking up the starter and changing it out. I don't mind that we don't live in a "big city", but come on, I see a lot of TJ's around here, you would think they could carry at least some of the parts that tend to go out more than once in the lifetime of the vehicle. This is not the first time I've had no luck on getting a part the same day for my TJ.

 

[Dextreme]

Certain parts like the Starter...as soon as there is any signs of it becoming sketchy, ya gotta get one ordered and on its way. Many part stores don't carry them because they just sit on the shelf and collect dust for years.

 

[Doublebarr]

What bothered me the most is that Chrysler is not carrying so many of the parts for my '99 now. I routinely hear, "we don't make that any more" when I give in on my local parts stores not having stuff on the shelf and decided to eat the cost and go to where they should have it available within a couple of days. They simply don't bother to support their product, not sure where the year cutoff is, but with also owning another wranlger and 3 Dodge pickups (oldest an '03 and newest a '12) it bothers me that they just quit on a vehicle with a LONG history of ownership past 10 years.

 

[Dextreme]

Chrysler probably can't compete with so many aftermarket offerings on the TJ market, so it's not cost effective to produce certain OEM parts anymore.

 

[Shelby427]

Well from someone who works in auto parts, parts are stocked by how fast they move off the shelf. Slow movers tend to get shipped back to the warehouse. That leaves more room for the stuff that sells constantly.

Just simple business. Why sit on a part that you may sell once in a blue moon, when the space could be occupied by something that you sell weekly or daily.

And in some cases stocking is decided by the neighborhood. They use silly metrics that decide what the area has in way of vehicles, the more prominent the vehicle the more parts that are stocked for it.

Heck come to our shop and you'll find just about anything for a Chevy/Ford/Dodge pick up. Lot of farms, ranches, and mud boggers here. But if your Ferrari breaks, heaven help you.

Not 10 miles from us, same company, different store, and the metrics are different.
They stock more stuff for the boom boom audio guys, bling wheels, LED's and lifts for all the cars the locals there drive.

 

[Lakeman1]

Chrysler not having it available sux.