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News September 28, 2020 by
Allan Janssen
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Podcast: David Tobin on reducing unnecessary returns
Thousands of times every working day technicians across North America return perfectly good parts as defective. Whether for reasons of confusion, expediency, profit, or convenience, it’s a practice that is having an impact on the aftermarket. The industry has been wrestling with it -– usually quietly for fear of offending customers — for decades . We spoke to David Tobin, a senior strategist with California-based parts manufacturer Motorcar Parts of America, about the scope of the problem.
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The suppliers know who is abusing the “defective” parts return program. If these shops have an unusually high return rate and deal with it quickly. These returns are also skewed by letting the general public purchase auto parts. They have a significantly higher return rate than legitimate repair shops. None the less this has been going on far too long. I am glad someone is looking into this problem. Ultimately it effects us all by driving prices up.
In the conversation in the audio attachment it was stated that suppliers are reluctant to decline warranty claims by service providers because of potentially damaging their business relationship. If that is correct are the shops that abuse the system worth keeping as customers? Would you, as a repair shop owner want to keep a customer that does not respect you? I guess it is the jobber’s choice to retain these customers. As far as the returns not being inspected by the jobber, that is an operational issue that needs to be addressed. Someone needs to be accountable for fraudulent claims other than the manufacturer.