If you have previously registered, but forgotten your password, click here.

T O P I C     R E V I E W
ken736cc	I am looking for a career change. I have been involved in the motorcycle industry as everything from C mechanic to dealership owner. I would like to get out of motorcycles and into automotive. Is anyone here a parts department manager for an OEM? I would like to hear stories and learn about this job. I am mostly curious as to how this may be different from the motorcycle industry. Thanks Ken
alrtg	I worked at a lower Management level for a "Big Box" Auto Parts Store back in 2002 through 2007. I had started as an inventory specialist. At some point some wonderful upper management folks decided to eliminate that position and add the duties to the store managers, most of which were salaried positions. I got bumped up to a "Second Assistant" Manager which was still an hourly position. The part that I didn't care for was instead of working a steady 8-4 M-F, I had the privelege of working days, nights, and weekends and couldn't plan ahead for anything from that point on. IF you go into a Management position, do your best to get an hourly position instead of a salaried one. The last year I worked for the Big Box Auto Parts store, I got about 600 hour of O.T. and may well have made more than the Store manager who worked nothing less than a 70 hour work week in the store and often took work home. When I left, they said they were getting ready to offer me a First Assistant salaried position. I said NO and went on my way. Remember, they will allow you to work as many hours over 40 as you need to "To get the job done" without additional compensation, but if you are efficient and get the work done in 39 hours or less, they will only want to pay you for the actual number of hours worked. Back in the mid seventies I worked in a couple Auto Dealership parts departments and a Warehouse Distributor for AC Delco but those hourly and were not management positions. I don't expect that there will be much difference working in another parts environment than where you are at the moment. The only thing that will change is how you fit in with your co-workers and some of the policies of the new company.
ed monahan	The parts are usually bigger on cars than on bikes. lol Seriously, if you are dealing with people, the public, there will always be some conflict. If you enjoy people it is usually worth the aggravation of a few to meet the rest who are nice and fun.
ken736cc	Thanks for the replies. I am particularly interested in what the dealer expects from a parts manager. Example: do they have a quota on dollar amount of parts sold? How tight is the inventory control? How much micro management does an owner exercise over the parts manager?
NiteProwl64	Been involved since I was a young buck in one way or another with Dodge mostly. Had a brief stint at a Ford dealership as well as a parts manager. Its all in who you work for. Some guys will give you the rope to develop the business as you see fit and some don't. Inventory control for Dodge is pretty tight, but very simple to manage. They expect less than a 2% variance when inventory is done. There is typically a parts and service director that you'll deal with. I was lucky there too because he was a laid back guy. You have a few meetings at the beginning of the year lay out your goals and shoot for the best. There is a good 6 figure possibility right out of the gate with commission being involved. You've been around the business long enough to know. Just all depends on who you work for, that's my experience anyway. Good luck with the search!
Tomcal	No disrespect intended to those parts guys and gals out there. Just thought this was so funny.