More Cold Hard Truths about AutoZone's garbage business practices (Donut Media won't tell you this) 

I had a similar situation happen with an alternator from Rock Auto. It had a one year warranty and the first one died within a few months so they replaced it. The second one died about a month before the warranty ended but instead of replacing it they actually refunded the original purchase price so I went and bought an OEM alternator. Despite the faulty part, that experience definitely made me want to come back and buy from them again.

I worked at a auto parts store about 40 years ago, and the majority of what we called counter person we were gear heads. There were no computers, you had a double tier catalog rack and you had to know who made the part before you could look it up.

9:00 lol the only “expert advice” I ever got at AutoZone was then telling me to go to the NAPA down the street if I had any questions about the part I needed. I went down there and the dude at NAPA was a mobile mechanic as a side hustle, knew his shit and even offers to install the part with his side mechanic business.

I do my own maintenance on our five family vehicles. Usually get my filters on Amazon and get oil at Walmart. Always keep an extra set of everything on hand. I also have my HS/college age sons do the work with me. All kinds of suspension/brake/sensors work too. I do have to go to my local autozone for exactly the same reason as you. Recycling oil, used parts and brake cleaner… etc. once in a while an emergency part or bulb. I got to know the manager over lockdown when I helped several family friends fix and maintain their cars. My wife and her friend made them a batch of cookies. 😊 You give great advice. Thanks!

I just ordered a part from Advance Auto. They left the shipping invoice attached to the box. They charged me $417 for the part. The shipping invoice showed that they paid $205 for the part. I almost took it back. I will never shop at parts stores again.

13:13 "...that first load you dump in it..." 😅

I once went from part time to management at Advance simply by upselling all the small crap they pushed and getting top sales in the country with it. Ignored my daily duties and hit the sales hard. Was fired after becoming wheelchair bound and they are not ADA compliant.

At my High School age i remember that brake shoes would last and made in the U.S., same as Craftsman tools, now its all made in China, and now everything wears down quick and or breaks.

As a former O’Reilly employee I can say that they get commission so there’s more of a financial obligation for good service

I've worked for 3 of the big name autoparts chains and I can confirm the mark up is insane. I've seen 70% markup on the retail side meanwhile I'm making peanuts every paycheck.

I work at autozone and almost EVERYTHING you said today was true, we sell garbage parts that are overpriced, batteries suck, wipers are way to much and i try and say something but it shutdown. i love cars and i always tell someone if they need something soon support the mom and pop shop 15 mins away called st paul park auto. i don’t believe in anything my work does and give customers real advice on where to go and what to do and not oversell them.

I like ordering online. You just enter the part number, find the part, order it. No idiot to deal with

I commute about 85 miles a day to and from work so i have to do oil changes like every 2 months. I use the supertech oil and filter. Been using it for 60k miles so far and no engine problems. I think whats more important than the brand of oil is that you change the oil at the right intervals.

I used to be an ASE certified parts pro at Grand Auto in Sparks, NV ( known in the area as "the hearse guy"). Spent all my lunch hours pouring over the lookup books memorizing P/Ns, their applications & which ones could interchange & substitute or serve as an upgrade. Had quite a following. Got out of the game shortly after "Oh, Why Me" auto parts bought us out. Saw the writing on the wall. They didn't want experienced, book proficient pros, they wanted/want the cracking-voiced teen idiot pimple factory from "The Simpsons." Straight from the local burger pit & here to help... 😒😒😒😒😒😒😒😒😒😒😒😒

If a water pump needs a gasket to do it, they include it in the product and price. Case and point. I worked there for eight months, they are the scum of the earth. O'Reilly's is my favorite goto right now for many reasons. Reboxed OEM parts, better service, better prices. They'll price match Walmart on oil man, you can't beat that.

I worked there for two months, I tried to give good customer service and find people a good deal, but I literally got in trouble for it. A girl and her mom came in for a battery and were looking at going to Walmart for a battery instead but I tried to price match it and the store manager told me I couldn’t because they weren’t the same, but they had the same warranty.

One reason I never, ever buy oil at Autozone. Look at how the parking lot and car parking spaces are designed. They are on an incline. That means your engine oil will drain to the back of the oil pan. If you or a Autozone employee check your engine oil. Whoops, your a quart low, when you may not be. They will tell you that you need to buy oil for your car. At their over priced oil.

Ive never had a problem with any local auto part store brands. I go in in with low expectations in the first place. Main reason i dont use them is they almost never have anything i need.

I completely forgot about rock auto. The only time before this video I’ve ever heard of rock auto was when I was a kid watching the commercials. Now I rediscover from you and I ended up scrolling through it for an hour and a half without even realizing it. It wasn’t even cool racer boy parts either just the regular maintenance items completely grabbed my attention.

Who else remembers standing in line at Crazy Joe's and thought it was amazing back in the day.... Yes I was very young back then. It was the 1 on 1 and getting parts in your hand quicker.

There are "this place sucks" RU-vid videos on every parts store mentioned in this video and in these comments, whether it's about service, price, or quality. Loads of people have had "this place sucks" experiences in all of them.

Unfortunately they are like Dollar General and Dollar Tree. They are everywhere and when your car or truck breaks down and you need a quick fix they are the man!

Flood mode fills the oil filter properly. All you are doing by pouring it in the exit of the filter is adding unfiltered oil where it doesn't belong.

The problem i have with any of the chain auto parts stores and even walmart is they all sell the same brands of parts just in a different box... for wildly varying ranges of prices. Batteries for example. Only 2 suppliers for all the flooded-cell batteries available on the shelf, EastPenn and JohnsonControls. But they all have different prices for no reason other than their branding. Same battery (for the most part) but $45 more for the one that has "x" branded on it.

I tried to get a battery delivered from autozone, i watched the guy go down the wrong road and then said no one was there to sign. Then they tried to still make me pay for the delivery fee

A certain mechanic mentioned that autozone purposely sells wiper blades that will only last months. The key material that makes the difference is silicone.

Look, shittalk autozone all you want, but the black and orange color scheme on their semi trucks fucks every time I see it.

Those Silicone RainX wiper blades are the best on the market. They're expensive but worth every penny

I appreciate someone that curses non stop. It reminds me of mom

The man says to support your local mom and pop shop and then references buying stuff from Rock Auto.....

I used to work at autozone and i approve this message. Now i do car work so i had customers who used to wait for me to clock in. Like if i wasnt there, they would walk out. Lotta folks used to come in all the time for me cuz they knew that as long as u had a picture or could tell me where its at or what it does, i could probably find u the part or tell u where u can get it. I had no loyalties to autozone so i was pullin up amazon, rockauto, competitors 😂. I was on the customers side 😂. Why? Well I’m an honest person anyways, but also if u can gain the customer’s trust, then u can probably have them pay u to work on their vehicles. Ive done brake changes, MAF sensor, EGR valves, spark plugs and wires, oil changes all in the parking lot 😂

Got two back to back auto zone ads before the video played

I'm gonna start buying oil from Walmart. For actual parts for my car I usually go to the junk yard, or if it's something that absolutely needs to be new I just order it online

I have been buying some hard parts from amazon for a lot cheaper than the Auto parts stores lately but I have 2 vehicles and can afford to wait for the parts.

I'm with you. I shop at Auto Zone once and done. I haven't been their for years. Amazon and Rock Auto. Afford your ride.

It's been bugging me but I figured out who you remind me of....The moment you held the oil filter up like a cup a spoke about whiskey, it came to me... Julian from Trailer Park Boys 😂.

Every time I needed a part immediately they never have it

my problem with rock auto, shipping has become super expensive. i rarely use them now.

I have worked in the industry for years and have experience great service from auto zone but to be fair it is the sales person I've had the same one for 20 plus years

In testing Walmart oil preformed as well and sometimes better than leading brands

I find it ironic I had an Autozone commercial during this video :P

Had a customer today get pissed because he wanted the conventional 0w-20. Can't get Full synthetic protection for the conventional price bud.

Not much to comment here brother I’m just shaking my head in agreement! 💯

There is a young women that works at Auto Zone I can not stop thinking about her .

I was in a local Autozone and saw a young lady checking out their batteries. I mentioned a local salvage yard that sold used batteries, tested, and warrantied for $35 bucks. The look on her face was priceless and she thanked me for saving her a lot of money.

There used to be local auto parts store a few miles down the road. The small Asian guy that owned it sat behind a mile long counter with catalogs and binders piled up across the whole thing. My brother and I would go there looking for a part for whatever we were working on and he’d flip through a couple of binders, and find the part number. If he didn’t have that exact part, he’d flip back and forth between several catalogs and binders, disappear to the back and come back with a part for a completely different car brand and say something along the lines of “Part for Nissan work for Chevrolet” or “Ford engine, Toyota part.” At first we’d doubt the guy but still try the part out. It would always fit and would always work. By the third, fourth, and fifth time it happened we thought he was a car parts wizard. *And he did this before computers.* When he died the kids sold the property and, sure as shit, they put up an Autozone there.

To be fair, RockAuto has their downsides as well. For example, several times I've received the wrong part in the correct box. I'm not sure how that happens, but it's annoying. Then I have to prove to RA that I'm not trying to scam them. I've also received parts that were returned by other customers, then resold. I know, because the return slip from the previous customer was still in the box! I get the impression RA is playing it fast & loose with their inventory system. But all the returns must be costing them money. And then there's the "warehouse shuffle" game you get to play at checkout. It's kind of annoying when the website shows the parts at the same warehouse, but when you put them in the cart, they get split into 2 or 3 different warehouses. Then you get to play a game of whack-a-mole, to find which parts will ship from the same warehouse, so you don't get hosed on shipping.

I work at an Advance Auto in a small town, and I feel bad selling half of our products. Auto Zone might be the worst, but selling a battery for minimum 190 makes me feel like a swindler. Price gouging is insane rn, even for 1 year warranty products

I learned years ago if I had to settle for junk Chinese parts I might as well order them online rather than pay 2/3s more on average at a parts store.

A second story, happened a couple of years ago. I had an alternator that suddenly went bad on me. As I was driving home at night, my lights started to dim. I realized that I was losing power and I was still about ten miles from home at about 11 PM. I managed to limp home by shutting everything down, including the headlights. The next day I went to AZ to get a replacement. The reman was about $200 with an additional core charge. A new was about $350. The clerk told me to take to a guy a half mile away that rebuilds alternators and starters. Said it might only cost $30. It ended up costing me $45. So I got an original factory part remanned for 1/4 the price thanks to that clerk.

I worked there for a few months between military training orders. I never upsold anyone and would frequently give customers the part number for items that we were price gouging. I saved one lady 200+ dollars on her O2 sensor and I remember the look on her face when I told her to buy it elsewhere. She was so thankful.

It's crazy that people actually feel bad for corporations in this country!!!

I love you netgear57

I’m almost 30. Found your guy’s account recently. And I love it. I’ve been heavy on having multiple cars to drive and ordering parts from rockauto. Currently have 4 running and driving Hondas. No of which are a “project car” or even a “soon” car. I have em all to drive in case of emergencies. One of which is a MINT 2011 element with 45k miles on it.

I work at autozone, and I hate what I have to do on so many occasions. I'm surrounded by superiors that genuinely believe that the company is the best thing since sliced bread and tell me about how I performed so well I got a 40 cent raise instead of a 12 cent raise. If it wasn't for the fact that there isn't a single mom and pop shop left, let alone one that would hire I'd have been long gone from any form of extortion auto.

One big note about Napa from a long tenured Napa employee. Napa stores outside of major city/county limits are privately owned and the owners usually care about the community.

In the 70’s I was getting screwed over by the local auto parts supplier with junk parts and no warranty. When auto zone came to town it was a breath of fresh air. The parts were good and on the rare occasion that I got a bad one it was replaced with no questions asked except to help with advice. Now AutoZone is my last resort. Rock auto is my first choice when possible. When AutoZone won’t take a part back, bring it back a different day or to a different store. Keep going back until somebody exchanges it. Don’t make a big fuss and cuss the Idiot out or he will remember you and tell everyone else. Chances are he won’t remember and be in another mood 2 days later. Always remember you are dealing with Idiots and auto zone is screwing them over too.

I would love a series of parts store stories. Some of the shit that happens on a daily basis at any parts store can boggle the mind.

I called AutoZone 3 times in Camden, NJ to inquire about an order, and each time they put me on hold and never came back to the phone. So I called their "Regional Office," and nobody answered there either. I left a message, and someone from their regional office called back the next day and said the regional office couldn't answer the phone because they were in meetings for 2 days. Then they said a district manager would call me to address the situation, which nobody ever did. AutoZone has the WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE EVER.

We definitely need more of these videos. As a guy that’s just getting into cars, I’ve learned a lot from these little talks.

Lol I paid 300 bucks for rear shock mounts at AutoZone on an 88 Chevy 1500 then found the same parts for like 150 online. Screw AutoZone

Keep these talk vids coming! Normal CCF stuff is great, but this is another level 😊

Man I remember applying to autozone a few years ago. Got an interview all that stuff. Answered all their questions flawlessly. (Pretty simple questions) Showed I know more than most of the workers there. Didn't hear back from them for 5 months. By that time I was already working another job and didn't want to leave cause the pay was better. My buddy went in and applied, he knows jack shit about cars. He got a call later that day telling him he was hired. Don't get it.

“Full Synthetic Japanese Folded 1000 Times Oil” 💀 Keep it up boys I think Netgear is the ticket out the hood 👍

My older boss would always buy parts from the local Oriellys where he was getting screwed on part prices. I showed him that the exact same shocks he bought for his truck were only $120 on rockauto for both vs $250 he paid at the parts store. Had him order the rockauto shocks and returned them to the parts store to save him the $130 difference

I always have at least one batch of consumables at the ready per vehicle. Planning versus impulse pays its own dividends.

I was about 80 miles from home and got caught in a downpour. One of my wiper blades decided to shred right then and there. I got to an O'Reilly's. New blades cost me almost $75 and they didn't have any cheaper ones. I don't think AutoZone is alone in the ripoff department.

Usually my experience is okay at Autozone. However, about two months ago, my daughter took her car into Hyundai for a recall. While there, they gave her a list of $2000 worth of “recommended” services (oil flush, transmission flush, radiator flush, air filter, spark plugs, etc). I told her the flushes were BS and the other “recommendations” could be done for a fraction of the price. For example, changing the spark plugs was $200. I ordered four new plugs from RockAuto, but she had one that was bad, so I went to AZ to buy one to replace the bad one until the RA order arrived. They brought me a plug and as I was preparing to pay, I opened the box to examine it. The plug had oil and carbon on it. I asked the clerk, “are these new”? He said clearly it wasn’t, so he went back and brought another one. I opened it, IT was dirty. He went and got the entire box. The third was bad. The fourth one was pulled from the back of the box and it looked brand new so I bought it. Frankly, if I wasn’t using it for a temporary replacement, I would have walked out.

The problem is very few mom and pop stores are left. Most have either been driven out of business or absorbed by the big box stores. I'm glad I started out in a mom and pop store years ago and have always worked in a store that deals with professional installers--It's makes a difference!

I knew a guy who was ASE certified parts salesman. They wouldn't hire him because they would have to pay him more.

That happened to me with Autozone years ago I bought a starter and I asked them to test it first. The guy said no it should work the machine is down. I installed the starter and it was no good and when I went to go return it, he said I have to charge you $45 for the core, I said well this is the core I’m exchanging one for one. He’s like no I’m giving you a new starter. I said first of all, you’re not giving me shit I paid for a working starter and you gave me a broken one and then some more choice words and I literally almost jumped over the counter and hit him with the starter

An important thing to remember is *MOST* NAPA Auto Parts are franchised. They do have some corporate stores, but the vast majority are locally owned. They will always get my money because of that. Also Carlyle tools are FANTASTIC, especially if you’re a DIYer. I bought a Camshaft Position Sensor that went out, I walked in with my receipt and sensor and left with a new one in under five minutes.

Auto zone has some of the worst customer service of all stores period. I went in for some manifold studs for my truck and the ones their computer was saying to get were the wrong ones. I tell the old guy at the register and he answers "so what do you want to do?" I only use them to drop off my dirty oil. A nice online experience beats same day shitty costumer service. Great vid Netgear. More please.

So glad I found this channel a while back; it's such a breath of fresh air from other car/automotive RU-vid channels. I love the videos.

i worked at autozone for 3 years. honestly should have quit sooner but hindsight is 20/20. needless to say i watched the store turn over staff 5 times and quit after the newest store manager became a power freak. the only people who ever moved up were old people and ass kissers to corporate and the ones who gave 10-20+ years to the company sadly almost always got fucked over. hate the company to death now and will go out of my way never to touch foot on their grounds. i also stole well over 5000$ worth of shit for my project cars and vehicle flips and made a good bit of money off them. fuck em p.s. love the discord

Pro move for avoiding the “full tank” at AutoZone: walk in, clap the 5 massive jugs of oil on one of the many empty register counters, THEN and ONLY then do you say “hey do you guys take oil?” and if someone goes “tank’s full” without looking, you say “oh ok, no problem” and just leave without picking back up your oil jugs. Nothing will happen I guarantee it

Sounds like Camping World. Never go there unless last resort for part or service.

I bought some spray paint I didn't need at Autozone and since they asked me for my phone number while I was checking out, I figured, great, I'm in the system, there is no need to save my receipt. 2 days later I went back to the same store with the unused paint to return it. We'll, they wouldn't except my return without receipr!! What kind of bs is that! This was the Manteca, CA Autozone, BTW. I will now avoid them.

man you are so right! 2 rotors at autozone is the price of 4 rotors and pads from detroit axel. im so tired of these awful autoparts stores that sell terrible products as well.

Another thing with lifetime warranties that most customers fail to factor in is how it only covers THAT specific part and part number. Several years back, I bought a pair of Gabriels for my truck with a lifetime warranty from AutoZone. When those eventually wore out, I tried to ask about exchanging them only to learn that that part had been discontinued. So I got stuck having to buy another pair of replacements.

I love all these hard truth videos, it's a nice break from all the tik tok and social media car people and it feels just more real

BROTHER ! WHERE WE SEPARATED AT BIRTH ! just stumbled onto to this post and as it played my Wife overheard and started laughing, said we sound identical. I couldn't agree more about autozone. Thank you Sir for sharing the truth 👍

Old timer trick that was taught to me: With taller filters, like the ones that are 1qt+, put the filter back in the box, the corners of the box help keep you from knocking the filter over while you fill it. It also helps keep the filter from falling over while you are trying to keep it upright while sliding it under the car.

Netgear looks pretty young for a guy born in 1957

This is just retail in general right now, i enjoy the irl content recently. Netgear some eye candy. Love the feed!

*I've been a state/ASE licensed mechanic for 20 years and I can confirm that AutoZone is a dumpster-fire!* *Between their "free engine scans" and their employees thinking that if they pull codes for an EGR related issue, a MAP sensor related issue, and an O2 sensor related issue, that means the car needs a new EGR valve, MAP sensor, and O2 sensor and then sending them to me with all these parts to install, only to tell the customer it didn't fix their problem and then be told "well AutoZone checked it and said that's what it needed", and their garbage commercial department bringing defective parts hours after they were ordered, I personally can't wait until AutoZone goes the way of Circuit City!*

I stopped shopping at AutoZone years ago when I applied there. Some of the things he asked me if i could do were understandable. Then he started to explain how upper management is about upselling. He said that if they sell spark plugs and dont sell dielectric grease or anti-seize management wants to know why. Thats probably why some of the CS guys scan it and sell it to you without saying anything.

100% agree have you seen what they charge for batteries!? Knowing most people cant just go somewhere else or wait. only things those rip off stores are good for is liberating stuff. Although I will go to Napa for some things, they've always seemed a little higher quality and sell better tools than the rest. Although they still pedal most of the same shit parts and I have gotten new defective part from them. It's honestly best to go oem for most parts if you want them to last or rockauto cuz if your gonna buy shit parts might as well pay less or pay more for the reputable brands that rock auto has. As for windshield blades I go with rainx. I live in phx, and the desert is hell on blades, most including Bosch only last a year and rainx has lasted 2 going on 3 years. As for oil, most of them are made by the same manufacturers and sell it to the different brands we buy. Companies just put their label on it. They will put their additives in but they all are the same just in slightly different levels of it. Anyways fuck autozone, O'Reilly, advanced, Napa and all the big box autoparts stores they're theives and probably the reason most aftermarket parts are shit these days. They have to keep increasing profit somehow and best believe quality is not sacred.

My local autozone has one guy who works there who is actually an extremely nice guy who is completely honest and helps out as much as possible. People go in there and call and ask for him by name and only him. I have overheard the other employees being rather mad about it. He seems like the type of guy who would be a great mom and pop shop owner. I have had mostly bad experiences at other autozones within my area, from managers talking down to me when I try to return parts that they sold me that don't fit, to employees seeing something broken on one of my project cars and making fun of me for it.

the problem with rock auto is that the shipping is usually expensive and if you need to return an item its harder than returning something to amazon.

I totally agree with the price gouging of the stores. I’m not sure if you’ve worked at a Oreilly’s but it’s definitely the place to work at. You get commission on top of hourly pay and the discount there is the best amount all corporate parts stores. I pay wholesale plus shipping and that’s it. I’ve had a 90% discount compared to retail before. It goes to show how much the companies rob the customers but I think the worst part is that Autozone double dips. They rob the customers and employees, because a 20% discount is still a 60% mark up.

You saved me some money on oil with that last video. Thank you! I also found that around here Tractor Supply had the second best price on Pennzoil full synthetic, just behind Walmart.

i love these. i used your costco tip for a new battery, saved an ass ton on an H8 and got a good brand battery. keep it up net!

I worked at Advance Auto for a few years and their limited lifetime is truly one replacement. I sold an axle to a gentleman and I had already rang it up when he mentioned comparing the new with the old, but when I pulled the new one out of the box it was floppy and the bearings were rattling around in the boot, so I returned/traded it out for the guy obviosly. Fast forward a couple months and the axle went bad and I returned it, I got wrote up and almost fired over it. That's when the manager informed me of that one replacement bull shit. I won't give them a dime.

Never seen you before. Within the first two minutes hearing your foul language, the cardboard undercar slide, and honestly the mustache, you got my sub.

Dad's manager gives me Dad's employee discount everytime I see him. That does mean a lot..... Since he passed away in 2015.

wow can't wait to see netgear comment on AutoZone's garbage business practices on my favorite youtube channel Collector Car Feed!

take a screenshot and dont let this man loan out tools 🤣

I got my oil for my del sol at the honda dealer, 8 bucks cheaper!

I was up at my folks' place and noticed my mom's wipers were tearing off. Normally I'd just order the right wipers from the hardware store, but I didn't have time. So I drove my truck down to the Advance Auto Parts. Walk up to the door, on is taped a sign that says "Out to Lunch. Will be back." No time. I chuckle and head back to my truck and drive half a mile down the road to the AutoZone. Walk in and ask where their wipers are. Guy behind the counter looks at me like I'm stupid. Then the other guy behind the counter points out they're behind me. Thank him and turn around, grab the right wipers, and head to the counter. I should scene set here. Empty store. I am the only customer. I am probably the only customer they've had all day. The wipers are about $5 more than you'd pay going through a decent store. As I step up to pay the third guy standing behind the counter(!) engages me about the truck (a snow white Taco with black accent pieces including brush guard, headache rack, and JDM rain guards). I'm fine to answer a couple questions about it. He's got a couple. The guy ringing me out finishes and I say thank you, and then he decides it's time to hop into the conversation and asks me why I would own such a "gay truck." In their defense, the other two employees give him a double-take. I just look at him and say "My man, I make 200k a year working with computers. That truck gets used for light forestry and yard work. I do most of the wrenching myself because it's a Toyota and they make it easy as long as you don't lose your 10mm. Do yourself a favor before you get too far along: go talk to the Air Force recruiter (next town over). You should be able to get a mechanic score high enough to work as a maintainer at worst. Definitely will be presented options that don't involve taking pride in your 1987 Dodge Ram work truck despite it being a piece of shit. Good luck." I need to be clear: these were all men. In their 20s or 30s. None of them had any business acting like a kid.