Here in Southern California all the Pep Boys stores are closing their parts sales, remaining open for service and tires, there are big banners saying "soon to be Advance Auto Parts " .

Did they go bankrupt or reorganize ? .

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

I guess they weren't peppy enough. Car repair and tires, and car parts are two different businesses.

A friend of mine was an assistant manager of a tire store back in the 1980's. He interviewed for a job at Pep Boys, and he was unfamiliar and turned off by the whole auto parts side of the operation.

Advance Auto tried to stiff me on a battery warranty years ago. They have a battery tester that has a print out. Corporate management requires that print out to honor a warranty claim. The tester almost never fails a battery. Instead, it prints out that the battery needs charging. Luckily, I found another Advance Auto Parts store in town that kept a bad battery on hand that would test as defective on the tester. They'd repeatedly test that battery to get a "failed" print out to honor warranties.

The Bubbaville Pep Boys got flattened in the 2018 hurricane, and the never bothered rebuilding it.

I always liked Pep Boys, at least they have provided another source for car repair and parts. That said, markets change and business change.....

Auto parts corporations have been increasing their sizes and elimination competition fairly often in the last while. They do not change the names of the companies they buy always I suspect.

Becoming more monopolies than ever in their segment. Increases volume and gives them even better margins perhaps.

Pep Boys announced last year that it was closing about one-hundred locations.....

The Pep Boys here is service only

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Satan creates nothing: he only ruins everything. He does not invent: he tampers. And his followers are no different ~ Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò

They are split here in Tucson. Some are service only and some have their full line.

I go to them for a lot of my paint/detailing supplies. They have a wider selection than the other "auto parts" stores.

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“Whatever story you're telling, it will be more interesting if, at the end you add, "and then everything burst into flames.”
― Brian P. Cleary, You Oughta Know By Now

seems not long ago, good motor oils 69 cents a quart

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1999 w140, quit voting to old, and to old to fight, a god damned veteran, deutschland deutschland uber alles uber alles in der welt

No ideal if they still exist. Mail order place in Louisville Kentucky. Amazing lines of paint stuff and used to be cheap. Had a store there as well. Owner passed away but noticed they where still going a few years ago.

The Pep Boys stores had a 70% off sale of everything in the stores and then split in Atlanta a few months ago. A manager told me that the parts business had been sold off several years ago and it took them until now to make the change. So look for a great discount when they begin to separate.

If you shop online with Pep Boys, you can no longer order parts.

I would hope they would go bankrupt. That was one of the worst places I've ever worked. I vowed never to darken the doors of a Pep Boys after I left and after 12 years I've only been there once (emergency).

Granted, I don't like Advance Auto either.

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Onus probandi incumbit ei qui dicit, non ei qui negat

I recondition w123/w126/w124/w140/r107/r129/ steering boxes!


1984 300D "Elsa" odo reset 6/2011 147k
1983 300TD "Mitzi" ~268k OM603 powered
1995 E300 "Adelheid" 262k [Sold]

I used pep Boys for oil and so on, once in the late 1980's I slipped up and bought a starter for my old 1968 Chevelle four door, installed it and it didn't work .

Took it back an they refunded my money but not my old core ~ tough luck buddy, they claimed it was gone, I said 'okay, just grab me any old Chevy three bolt starter out of the core bin and hand it over ' ~ nope, you're S.O.L., either take the starter we sold you or get lost .

At that time L.A.P.D. had a "Central Repair Facility" and the ancient Geezer who did the rebuild was a friend, I took him the clean and shiny pep boys starter and he opened it up and asked me was I pranking him ? it seems some fool had assembled a starter out of all worn out worthless pats, spray painted it and put it in the box ~ it was -so- bad he couldn't do a thing with it .

Lesson learned : never, EVER let go of the old part until the job is finished to your complete satisfaction .

I appreciate the feedbacks, I'm getting too old and stiff to do a lot of the works involved in keeping a 40 year old car on the road .

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

VWnate, you are 100% correct about hanging onto the old part, especially so on these classic mercedes. I have a rather large parts bin holding parts that have been removed....just in case.

Most my spare parts will outlast me. So why do I have them? Just in case I suppose.

You have to be parts selective quality wise these days. Too many places try to primarily sell items with the highest possible margins. My feeling has been built to sell rather than function well for a reasonable time. People dealing with their own car issues are probably in decline as well. So actual retail counter sales to people off the street have probably declined. Some cars but not many. Cheaper to buy parts at a dealer usually. Original parts are probably still decent in most cases.

A few years ago I purchased some accessory belts from Hyundai . They were a lot cheaper than aftermarket at the time. I would have never known this other than the parts place did not have them in stock that day. I needed them fast so went to the dealer.