QX wrote:
>> Yeah - file that under "When is a warranty not worth a darn?". I went
>> thru that with an alternator one time at Advance - after the third
>> failure, I finally asked for my money back and got one that did cost
>> more at NAPA, but it never gave any trouble.
>
> I went through that with Pep Boys and an A/C compressor for my '84
> Caravan. They went through three of their stock units, each failing
> within 2 weeks of install. I was fed up and complained to corporate.
> They went down to the dealer and got a MOPAR original part. Worked
> fine as long as I owned the car. No cost to me except the original job
> order and the aggravation.

This is where I think NAPA does an infinitly better job in controlling
the quality (parts and assembly) that comes out of their suppliers.

I have developed a philosophy over the years on dealing with this: On
critical items, I compare NAPA and the others (which all seem to use the
same rebuilders, except NAPA may or may not use the same rebuilder).
Where NAPA is clearly using a different supplier (which I now
automatically assume is for quality reasons), in general it is worth the
extra price they may charge. On an item for which NAPA is using the
same rebuilder as the others, that is a sign to me to go with lower
price - for example, *all* the chains use the same rebuilt brake booster
part for 2nd gen LH cars. NAPA wants $105, Advance wants $85 for the
same part, so that part I get at Advance (also, the booster being a
critical safety/liability item, a rebuilder and re-seller would have to
be insane to skimp on quality on that type of item).

--
Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')