They’re saying you shouldn’t just buy car parts the same way every time. You want a plan for which suppliers to use, how to check prices, and how fast you need the parts to arrive.
When ordering parts, you’re juggling cost, delivery method, and how quickly you can get the part. Sometimes the cheapest option takes longer, so you have to choose what matters most for getting cars fixed.
If a part breaks, a warranty can cover a replacement. The host is warning that if you keep buying low-cost parts that fail often, you’ll end up doing the same repair again and again.
They’re saying your parts-buying rules can’t stay the same forever. Suppliers, prices, and stock change, so you have to keep checking that you’re still getting good deals and fast delivery.
Auditing means checking your parts orders to confirm you’re paying reasonable prices. It helps catch when costs creep up, especially when you start buying from different places like online sellers.
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Hey, welcome to the Monday Minute, 52 weeks to build a better dealership.
A quick reset to help you lead better, think clearer, and build your dealership with intuition.
But before we get started, make sure you go back to the newsletter because it's going
to help you build that dealership.
It lays out the full theme for the week, the why behind it, simple exercises to make you
and your team better.
The Monday Minute is the mindset.
The newsletter is the roadmap.
Jeffrey, what we got, buddy?
This is one of the hardest expenses to control in your dealership, in my opinion.
And that is parts, parts, just parts everywhere, man, shelves full of parts, rooms full of parts.
I got, I got just parts.
I don't even know I have parts for nobody knows what they go to.
I got, I got a parts room and who knows where they go to.
Yeah, you probably got thousands or tens of thousands of dollars in parts.
So so many parts, dozens of vendors, different price points, different quality
levels, different needs, and we're not really paying attention.
So money quietly leaks out of your operation every single day.
And I'll tell you, mine just goes on the shelf and dies.
And then eventually I get so frustrated, I go out there and I throw it all away.
But with a brand new part of stuff.
Yeah, I can't even like, I don't want to dissect it.
I don't want to put it on eBay.
I don't know who to return it to.
So it just goes in the trash.
So here's the reality.
Most dealers think they have a parts process.
But what they really have is a habit, right?
Oh, we always order from this vendor or we've used this guy for years, or it's
just easier, right?
That convenience is costing you because your parts sourcing should be intentional.
You should have clear policies around where you source from, how you compare pricing
and acceptable shipping times, right?
Because there's the trade off between pricing, shipping and speed, right?
And then of course we all have a quality standard, right?
We don't want to do it twice just because it's a cheaper part.
Doesn't matter if it has a high failure rate and we're going back to this every
single time and trying to warranty things out or get it replaced, right?
Not guesses, not preferences, policies.
So we write it down and it's a continual process.
That's the hardest part about this whole thing is the second you've got it
documented and you spent some time in your shop and you've got everything figured
out, it's all going to change, right?
Because prices change, availability shifts, all the sudden stuff you used to
get from your local guys and there, you're going online to find it.
Or it's such a unique weird part that you have to go on to eBay or Amazon or
something like that.
So you are continually auditing the process to make sure you're not overpaying for parts.
For sure.
So many times I go into a dealership and nobody knows where parts come from.
And I found out that the parts are coming from the same vendor every time no
matter cost and that gets a big problem.
So let's guess what?
The guy ordering the parts probably gets a new toolkit every six months.
It's very possible.
That $10 flashlight that they gave you is costing you $100,000 a year.
But anyway, so let's make this simple.
Here's your assignment this week.
Go back to the last month, pull three random parts in voice, okay?
Just don't show your pictures random.
And I want you to shop those parts across several different vendors.
Most cities have anywhere from five to eight new vendors sitting there.
Shop every single one of them, same part and same specs.
What do you find?
You know, chances are you're going to find the part cheaper or you're going to be
able to negotiate down your strongest vendor, you know, and that's your
opportunity.
Now take this to your, you know, as the owner, take it to your shop manager or
your parts person and don't criticize here and say, hey, this is what I found out.
I just wanted to do this exercise.
I want you to do this exercise every month.
We're going to do it together every month.
We're going to make sure we're getting the best deals.
Your team needs to follow a standard and more than likely you haven't clearly
laid out that standard.
So make sure we're doing it.
Small savings add up fast, Jeff.
$10 here, $20 there.
You do that across 50 cards a month or 50 ROs a month.
This is real money.
So great operate, great operators don't manage just the big numbers.
They and they look at analyzing small numbers, push those down as low as they
can get and then they start seeing profit just a snowball.
So do this, you're going to get better.
Let's build this together.
About this episode
Uncontrolled parts inventory and sloppy sourcing habits can quietly drain dealership money—until you’re so frustrated you “throw it all away.” The hosts argue that “your parts sourcing should be intentional,” weighing “pricing, shipping and speed,” and avoiding parts with “a high failure rate” that trigger repeated warranty work. They share a practical exercise: pull “three random parts” and “shop every single one of them, same part and same specs.” Small perks like “$10” can cost “$100,000 a year,” compounding across repair orders.
Welcome to the Monday Minute — your weekly reset to lead better, think clearer, and build your independent dealership with intention. Parts. Shelves of parts. Rooms full of parts. Parts nobody can identify, that nobody knows what they go to, that quietly become trash because returning them or selling them is more work than tossing them. Sound familiar? In this episode, Luke and Jeff tackle one of the hardest expenses to control in any independent dealership: parts sourcing. Most used car dealers think they have a parts process. What they really have is a habit — "we always order from this vendor" or "it's just easier" — and that convenience is costing real money every single day. Luke and Jeff break down what intentional parts sourcing actually looks like: clear policies on where you source from, how you compare pricing, acceptable shipping times, and quality standards so you're not warrantying cheap parts twice. They get honest about why the guy ordering the parts might also be the guy getting a brand-new toolkit every six months — and what that $10 flashlight is actually costing your dealership each year. Your assignment this week is simple. Pull three random parts invoices from the last month — don't cherry-pick — and shop those exact parts across every vendor in your area. Most cities have five to eight options. You'll either find a cheaper source or get the leverage to negotiate down your strongest vendor. Then take the exercise to your shop manager or parts person, not to criticize but to set the new standard you'll run together every month. Small savings add up fast. $10 here, $20 there, across 50 ROs a month — that's real money. Great operators don't just manage the big numbers. They drive the small ones down as low as they'll go, and watch the profit snowball. Review this week's Sunday newsletter at TheIndependentDealer.com for the full theme and exercises. Not subscribed yet? Sign up now. https://theindependentdealer.us19.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=603446580871d8522a454418d&id=50aae74348Let's build this together.
