The Cold Hard Truth about Autozone price gouging (Donut Media won't tell you this) 

Most accurate comparison I've heard yet

This post just set off my PTSD from working at GameStop...

100%

well said.

yeah gamestop sucks, bought 6 games from them recently and 4 didn't work even after getting an exchange

The one near me told me to leave when i asked for help finding a bolt. 10/10 experience

I'll tell stories, idgaf. I hated wittdtjr, I sold just enough of it to not get yelled at and ignored it the rest of the time. I have literally walked people out of the store and told them to go to a mechanic to better spend their money. I'm a terrible bullshit salesman and I had no interest in doing that. I knew far too much for them to realistically complain about me and my bosses liked me because they didn't need to babysit me.

I'd had some of their employees scoping out and geeking out about my 88' Supra when I pulled in and having that kind of interaction is something I always remember. One time I went into the same store for "luxury metallic" Plasti-dip for the Supra plastic grill and asked a quick question about it to the cashier and they said "I don't know, I don't use that crap." They are always kids. The O'Reily's here in town always has old guys who are big into cars though and have been there a while. Auto Zone tends to carry a lot more product than they do though

@@rushnerd I probably wouldn't have really geeked out. I prefer weird cars or large displacement American cars. I remember I blew my coworker's mime because I sold a dude an air filter without asking him what car he drove. I was taught to look stuff up in physical catalogs while learning how to use the computer catalog. Oreillys training (at least when I was hired) is way better than autozone. Autozone is so corpo they have a fucking company cheer. You are supposed to do this twice a day at open and close (we never did) and are forced to do it at meetings. Their training as I was leaving autozone was slowly becoming "just sell the customer as much as possible" hoping it will solve their problem. Aftermarket on these newer cars also just isn't as cheap as it used to be. Trying to explain to people that a code scan just tells you what is going wrong not what is broken is almost pointless. The customers are still in some ways stuck in 2005 where there aren't 100 sensors controlling injector pulse width to the nth microsecond. It's all so frustrating because I'll try to do my job properly and explain "no, I don't know if this will fix your issue for sure" only to have people either go to the O'Reilly's down the street (which kinda sucked) and just get told "yeah replace it" or just buy the part and then get upset when nothing changes. My advice, if you don't want to work on cars or can't, do a year or two at O'Reilly's or autozone and then get hired at a dealer of your choice brand. Don't stay in those hell holes as long as I did.

I didn't sell the grease unless we got bitched at about it. I loved the people I worked with, I was lucky most of the people I worked with knew quite a bit about cars, but fuck upper management. I waited for a manager's position for a year just to get passed up by a kid who sits in the back and smokes weed on the job.

Your right but it’s exactly not our fault we try our best to help everyone at once 😂

I haven't stepped foot inside autozone, except one to buy an energy drink, and I almost walked out, because of this same scenario

This!!!!!!

I work at autozone, they hired me as a driver and never trained me to cashier they deadass just have us sitting and waiting. It's cringe

@@user-ty6we2sp2m Must be nice we have to be up front constantly and get the idiot customers who don’t know what kind of vehicle they got

Exactly!! 😅👍🏾

Costco sale usually works out to $3.35 per quart after tax. I buy 60hrs at a time.

Been there done that

literally lol its awful the prices are unbearable and the workers at my store only got 20% off while i had friends at oreillys getting 50%. I was getting paid $11 but was doing way more work than everyone and guess what i got? a 0.30 cent raise. I had to work 3 hours to afford an oil change for my car lol.

Meanwhile the CEO of AutoZone Bill Rhodes made $18.8 million last year

How long ago was this? 50 hrs a week for 25k???? There’s no way. I thought I made dog shit money

I call bullshit. $25k annual is only $12/hr. Someone lying

Good times I do not miss 💀

I forgot to mention, i sold someone 2 batteries the other day for $500 lmao.

Lmao I work at autozone mfs i get speak NO english 😂

And they don’t even give u bonuses for making those sales they make so much money and none of it goes to employesd

I hate people that come in assuming that we’re like mechanical wizards or some shit. At least at the store I was out most of us were knowledgeable about cars but we can’t fucking diagnose your car. I hated when we’d get phone calls by some dumbass asking us what could be wrong with their car like bro take that shit to a mechanic. You don’t ask the college student working at a pharmacy if your prescription is good at treating your STD’s or possible complications. That’s what a doctor is for.

Facts, just avoid the new hire

sweet. people with no relevant current knowledge.

@@DieselRamchargerhow do you know he’s not talking about recently retired mechanics? Some will work as a mechanic up into their 40’s then switch to an auto parts store for some money with less labor intensive task so yes they would have current knowledge you’re acting like he’s talking about people who are 90 something but in reality he’s probably meaning a person who can’t do hard labor anymore so they retire to a store job, and he’s right a lot of older farmers and mechanics know their way around a vehicle even the newer stuff sad part is most newer vehicles are not owner serviceable so you’ll end up having to take it to a dealer certified auto shop or the dealer itself all the shit they have in cars now are so sensitive you look at it wrong and it’ll break!

⁠@@DieselRamchargerhell My grandfather is 66 and knows a lot about newer vehicles hell after having a ford-150 sport for several years since the construction company he works for always used ford vehicles so him and my grandmother got the F-150 sport then the company changed from ford to ram and after he got rear ended in the new company truck he had just got almost a year or 2 ago that was his realization to get a ram because of how sturdy the body was yeah the front end was smashed and it was totaled but he made it out with minor injuries he himself said if he would have been in the ford with the all aluminum body he wouldn’t have made it out cause the person that hit him was doing upwards of 60mph probably close to 80-100+ and wasn’t paying attention, simply put just because some older people can barely wipe their ass much less navigate their way around a vehicle doesn’t speak for all older people especially in small towns!

@@CajunReaper95 you are just talking out your ass

Yeah it's unfortunate. It goes both ways, I can only help customers as much as they help themselves. It's a DIY place not a "step by step explanation to replace x" place. It doesn't help that cars are increasingly not DIY friendly. The myth that the "check engine light tells you what's wrong" is the worst. Yes it does do that but it doesn't tell you why. It's why you go to a doctor when you have joint pain, you just know the resulting symptoms.

Also working in a place that has the word FREE on the side of the building attracts the worst type of people.

@@lolbuster01 Preach my man. The big “FREE OBD CHECK” sign making it seem like it’s as simple as pie. At the end of the day, I got tired of diagnosing things. Maybe if they were lucky and they allowed me to smoke a cigarette in front of them and the customer seemed nice, I could take 5-7 minutes doing a quick run down of the vehicle based off of the OBD reading. But the absolute worst is when I would read off the OBD2 code, it’s for a motherfu**ing O2 sensor, and they tell me they already took it to a “local mechanic” and had the replaced. Let’s go inside and look up the price of a new catalytic convertor. Some customers literally fought me like I was the one making the replacement cats and selling them for that price myself. So if you’re still doing that job, save as much money as you can, enjoy the discount when they actually apply to the product you want, and I give you my respect.

​@@lolbuster01it really does

Bruh what? They don't have shift manager.

Do a discussion here. I know a few people who work there

Hey can you do a stock check?

What a tease

Don’t tell me they reuse and repackage used oils 🤣

@@2tooful No, actually their oil is quite good; depending on which region you’re in it’s either made by Phillips 66 at the Bayway Refinery in Linden Nj or Warren in Omaha Nebraska.

I used to love Dynamat Extreme, but Killmat's pricing (and Prime shipping) really makes it hard to back Dynamat anymore

@@CollectorCarFeed Yeah, it's like no doubt Dynamat is by far the best, but it almost feels like a scam when I know I'll need $440 of the stuff to do the vehicle when I only spent $170 on two boxes of killmat and 63sq ft of the siless liner. Not doing pro audio, just want to make the Celica as nice as it can possibly be since they cheaped out on sound insulation.

​@@CollectorCarFeedNetgear is like Scotty Killer, but he gives advice that you can actually rely on

I have a celica too, how much killmat did it take to completly cover the interior, and was it worth it?

@@Mark-mm2px I'd say about 67 Sq feet, but I haven't done the doors yet. Considering this car has ZERO soundproofing and it does vibrate a lot, yes it made a difference. When I bought it, it was pretty hollow/echoy sounding in the cabin which I can't stand. So two boxes of Killmat should be more than enough.

You get what you pay for in oil right?

@@dustinryan9671 You do, but Walmart carries the same stuff everyone else does besides in-house brands.

Walmart also has service centers and that’s why they have so much different bulk oils

@@laronthelion8561 the don't carry Amsoil or Royal Purple and their service sucks at least from my experience.

I wouldn’t say they hire people who knows nothing about cars more like hire people who don’t care.

I once had an autozone employee tell me he took the hood off of his miata as it was overheating, meanwhile his entire grille opening was covered up by an LED light bar 😂

They hired me at Lowe’s to sell appliances. I was 22 years old and knew nothing about the products. I had to RU-vid everything myself and ask the old timers who took pity who had emotionally checked out years ago. I wanted to learn, and nobody cared. Made the company just shy of a quarter million dollars after cost of goods etc and they didn’t give a shit. Take advantage of any deal you can get and don’t blame the jaded employees, it’s the shitty company that is screwing you.

Also inb4 didn’t ask

The company gives no training outside of 5 minute click through computer courses.

one of if not the only good video i ever watched by donut media talked about that, they were talking about how most people upgrade their engine first and then work through drivetrain and then do suspension and wheels, but they (correctly) said instead you should start with tires, and end up at engine. that's oversimplified but basically, wheels/tires & suspension components are the MOST important part about a project car's performance on a track, & that is a truth too few realize.

Even some name brand tires can be real turds. My 2021 Spark factory Firestone tires lasted one year. Whereas my 2015 Focus IS STILL on the tread it rolled out of the factory with 8 years and 61K miles ago. They're dry rotted to hell and ready to blow out at any second, but they still have enough tread for one more season. Continental tires for the win.

I'll never understand why mfs use reps when entry level decent wheels (like Enkeis) aren't too expensive. Anyone far enough into the scene to recognise wheels will be able to tell that your Rota Grids aren't TEs

Most aftermarket suspension is actually ass compared to OEM and can perform worse despite feeling sportier. You need to put real thought into it. Not talking about modding old shitboxes but actual sports cars

Nah, some reps are okay as long as you look into how they are made. If it's a cast wheel its usually good to assume it's garbage, but if it's forged or flow formed it's usually fine. It'll be better than all the dudes who buy "real" 3 piece wheels off marketplace that have been poorly rebuilt 87 times. The issue isn't the wheel being a "knock off," the problem is it being a cast wheel. You're right about tires tho you usually save money in the long run because more expensive tires last for longer anyway. HOWEVER JUST KEEP YOR STOCK WHEELS THEY USUALLY LOOK BETTER ANYWAY

What's the name of that fuel and oil supply I be looking for one near me 😁

@@MiguelMartinez-hm1hg the one in my area is called A&I distributors. Any bulk fuel places, farm suppliers and co-ops will have them too.

I feel the same way. Also helps that an Oreilly is just a few min from my house. But damn have their prices for the little things skyrocketed. I think I paid $20 for a tiny tube of red loctite a few months back.

That sounds wrong. Its like 8 dollars.

@@FearOfDeath1332you’re right. I was mistaken. The red loctite (Permatex 2203451)is 9.99. I was thinking about high temp thread sealant (Permatex 59235). That’s 19.99 at Oreilly, just checked.

Yes I like O'Reilly better, I go there all the time. They are typically a little cheaper but they are very expensive now. I bought a lower radiator house about a for long for a2005 baja and it was 30 bucks.

Stay away from Rock Auto!!!! When you receive a defective part, you're screwed. You have to go through manufacturer warranty process. Rock sells just as many junk parts as Amazon. At least Amazon it's hassle free returns. Orielly is severely overpriced!!! Our shop quit buying from them. Same brand part is always more. One example was an abs speed sensor. Standard brand they were $112. Automotive supply was $52 for exact same brand and part number.

Mann and Mahle are as good as Denso.

@@TK-ec5bvMann more German no ?

Not really that's just the brand at the top. Under you can see what place it's shipped from and it's not from the manufacturer. So if you want a warranty you need to buy one. I have a very common vehicle and zero are from Denso the oem of my 2012 RAV4 . All are from another store and Prime doesn't mean it's supplied by Denso . It means someone is just having your goods at a Amazon warehouse. You would think if Denso had things like spark plugs a Toyota oem part would come from them.

@@Random-ed2xf My brother in Christ Toyota owns denso That's why Toyotas label is on it

@@1marcelfilms they are not as common in America but you can buy bearings from malle all day long here

My O’Reilly auto parts is so split. Half the time I work with the other car guys, which are amazing to work with, and then the other half it’s just the ones that hide from helping people and run off to do other stuff, poorly and unproductively too…

It’s all about internals. How the computer communicates with the ECU. You might think it’s identical but in reality it is not

I work at AZ and I was shocked when I sold a thermostat housing for like $30 to a shop and I opened the box to inspect the part and it had the Mopar logo and part number stamped on it. Although I work there I agree with most the things in this video. They really should try and appeal more to educated consumers but honestly, they're getting so big I don't think they even care because there's a lot of cases where I can the part quicker than anyone else, or am just flat out the only one who can get it. They're banking on that situation happening more than it actually does though. Especially in my town.

@@paulregener7016if it was the same manufacturer and oem why wouldn’t it be identical lol

@@Kavie93 He probably meant OE and not OEM so then it would be the same but OE and OEM are not the same thing

I but most of my stuff on Rock Auto and try to pick the Motorcraft or Ford for my van but I sometimes will pick a part that I know is made for Ford by another company. For example, I am fine with buying injectors from Bosch since they damn near invented fuel injection and I know that they are the closet thing, if not the same as the ones installed from Ford when the truck was built. Denso is another company that I bought my ignitions coils from and I believe they were the exact coil that was in my truck to begin with, they just had a the Ford PN on the top. I try to avoid Auto Zone and other chain parts stores unless and emergency like you had. You can do some research on this stuff, and Rock Auto has alot to choose from, and many parts will tell you in their description that they ARE the OE MFG for the car companies. Delphi is another one for many parts, fuel pumps and electrical stuff like that sensor you got.

Walmart “Supertech” full synthetic oil and oil filters are actually REALLY good. Especially for the price.

My thing about Costco gas is I don't want to play 70's Gas Crisis line sim for 2 cents off. Especially when the Budget gas station around is the same price and sure maybe is busy but not insane.

​@@danielplumley2649can confirm. Sometimes you got a burner 🥵

@@NEEDbacon Thats why you go in the morning right when they open, when there's a shorter line, because everyone is rushing to get to work and cant wake up 15 minutes early to get gas before their workday. Thanks, CCF and Netgear for this tip!

anyone who shits on harbor freight tools just doesn't get it maaaannn

I felt the tf off after buying $30 wiper blades from oriellys didn't think much of sometimes later im walking in costco and see some general ones for like $11

@@clydedoris5002 Family dollar has some fits all type wipers for $8 that fit my porsche just fine. lol

1000% markup would be charging $110 for something that cost them $10, is that what you meant?

Oil is jacked the hell up too at AutoZone. Prices for oil at AutoZone vs Walmart is a $10-15 difference.

I bought wipers for my 01 5 series on FCP Euro one time and they come with lifetime replacement warranty. Have gone through 3 sets and only paid 26 bucks

For real. O'Reilly's is 3 minutes away. Wal Mart is 15-20 minutes depending on traffic. I'll spend a little more to save the gas, time, and breathe non-Walmart air.

Idk man not much difference between autozone and walmart

Walmart and Autozone are the same customers

My Walmart has an automotive center with a register right by the door. It’s literally faster than going to a parts store, assuming the cashier isn’t having a wank.

I get lost in Walmart. Can't find the exit.

As a construction manager I can confirm😅

My local (small town) Lowes has a retired electrician and retired plumber working on the floor. We are lucky.

Yo fr, I only worked at an autozone for 2 days, but I’ve seen enough to agree with that 😂

Yes autozone employee here I’ll sell batteries or a lot of brake pads but I get told shit by the manager for not selling $2 grease bulb packets and I’ll get my hours cut I can sell $250 car batteries and $50 brake Pads but god forbid I don’t sell $2 grease packets no one wants I even told my manager I can’t force anyone to buy it

@@mikeoxsmall6061talk your shit man don’t take that bs

I just reduce the price of the battery by 3.99 for the lil pack thing. I sold a battery to a dude the other day and did that then he told me he was military so I did that too and it removed the original discount and I couldn’t change it so I just sent him on his way with it. I felt at the time it was worse to hold him up and re do everything than to just finish it

i remember few months ago i was there trying to buy brake shoes for my moms car. came there and got some brake shoes, the store manager was ringing me up. he toss in a can of brake cleaners. i though it came with the brake shoes so i didn't say a word. once he ring me and told me the bill, i told the manager WTF im buying? then he explain he added the brake cleaner, i told him that i though it came with the brakes, if it's not free i don't want it. so he finally took the brake cleaner off my bill and only ring me on the brake shoes which is what im only after. i was piss what they did.

I had worked in Autozone and shit, the manager get on your ass on that sales crap. Wage’s don’t pay good for understaffed people but that’s another problem.

Too bad we are required and expected to be at or above a certain percentage.

@@uglyandattractive Unfortunately. I really don't want to make it seem like I'm forcing things down customer's throats.

@RBXbump Me too, I am with you 100%. We are threatened with write ups and reduced hours. And I don't speak Spanish and can't even properly communicate with half the customers. Not everyone has the ability to be a heartless salesman, if we were then we'd probably be working somewhere else like a car dealership and making expert salesman money.

@@uglyandattractive I'm way too honest of a person myself to be a sales person like that, so I fully understand you, lol. If anything, being more honest with customers is actually better for business than lying and telling them to get things they don't need.

Store manager here and love this conversation, also agree with y’all.

You're welcome boss!

Explain?

and they tell us to sell the customers the most expensive Wiper

Left AAP at the end of 08. I do remember selling the higher end wiper blades. At that time we received a spiff or commission. Fast forward 17 years later I’m working at AZ part time. Anyone who came into AZ for wipers I sent them to Walmart. Screw trying to sell higher end wipers that don’t last.

@@briteidea08autozone wipers are ridiculously priced!

@@2A5X4A I buy my wiper blades from rockauto, premium blades on there are only $8 bucks and they last!

I worked at advance as a RPP. Would consistently make my weekly upsales on washer fluid alone. Even worse is the guy selling people stuff they don't need or will NEVER use, just to hit their goals

Fuckin same. I just bought a god damn $209 battery at autozone for my mr2 Spyder, and learning that Costco literally sells them for about $90 cheaper made me so fuckin depressed. I’m tight on cash so that $200 hurts much more now.

Fucken SAME I’m getting a Costco membership now

I ordered mobil one synthetic for 30$ on Amazon, AutoZone wants 42, got the filter for 10 AutoZone wants 16

"They literally buy parts from Rockauto" Where is your evidence for that?

Rockauto sells part at wholesale price pretty much, that’s my go to for my bmw parts, most of the time I can get oe manufacture parts instead of some knock off Chinese parts

@@2A5X4A The wide selection allows us to choose based on how long we plan to keep the car, and compare to retail store prices. Having the picture of the parts, and what all cars it is used for is a huge source of data.

@@Spiritof_76you right! And at least I know what brand I’m buying, and most parts are cheaper than retail store and are brands that manufacture for car companies.

Brah even if the don’t Carry the brakes anymore the will refund the money for it and get you something similar

@4lcmomulamula359 true but some places won't do anything. Some places will help you and some people could give a shit. Depends on the luck of the draw.

They have to in order to get anything in their system, and they have to put what car you have in their system

@@alextheonewarrior i get that but tire caps are a off the shelf item they don’t have to search up for that

@@alextheonewarrior tire caps are universal

@@xavierramirez1911 and apparently your reading skills aren't I said nothing about the tire caps being vehicle specific. When I go to buy oil, or even brake cleaner at my autozone, they ask me what car I have.

@@alextheonewarrior but the guy was talking about tire caps, therefore i said they’re universal, meaning they didn’t have to ask what car it’s from. don’t get your panties in a bunch about it. and btw brake cleaner is universal too

Im a diesel mechanic with 25 years experience, but before. i started working on equipment I was a store manager at an autozone, I can tell you. Autozone employs anyone with a pulse, I left for that reason. The employees take no pride in what they do.

I recently got in an argument with an Autozone employee. I had a failsafe thermostat die on me, it stuck open. I noticed my Temps were way under. I took it out and returned it and it was under warranty. The guy goes yea these don't fail your car overheated. I was like I would've noticed that it didn't overheat sometimes they do fail. He debated with me that they don't go bad and that it was my car. I looked online and saw yea the failsafe MotoRads fail all the time.

@@firingallcylinders2949 Yeah failsafe is definitely one we try to avoid selling because the quality is garbage. Same thing can be said about TotalPro/Valucraft, terrible quality for pretty much anything but electrical components typically.

That's such an awesome joke. Some people actually took the bait. Awesome. Wait. I misread that. Is that 'automotive' university one of those scammer, non-transferable credit, non-regional colleges? Also, is 'University' a brand or college-type? .?.

If you have someplace to work buy some tire irons and a manual tire changer from HF. There are plenty of videos here on RU-vid that show how to mount your own tires. It's not that difficult for anyone who is in reasonable physical shape. In a pinch you can drive on a tire that's not balanced.

Personally every part Ive purchased through rock auto has failed. Even parts that are under a supposed good brand. Sure rock auto warranties but I’d prefer to not repeat a week latter.

Just dab oil on rubber seal add alittle inside. Hand tight should come off easy

Yes, they carry Toyota OEM for my Tacoma V6.

​@@jpmag69it's cheaper at the Toyota dealership

Current Advance employee and I’ve never seen this happen seasonally before. Just depends on how inventory and planograms get updated.

I scored a BUNCH of $10, 5 quart jugs of oil at Autozone. They were not old, the manufactures had simply redesigned the container! I now have a 10 year supply of different oils!

I would just managed over ride to the lowest price with the stop sign Needed a starter which was alittle under 200 and it ended up being like 27 bucks before the core charge 💀

@@afroman5531 you could probably get arrested for that shit

I buy my batteries at autozone. I k ow Walmart may be cheaper but duralast batteries are the best on the market and if it fails in 3 years or less, you get a brand new battery.

bro im a keyholder for 11$

@@spicysnowman8886Advance is not going to prosecute someone over $200 bro. You’ll get fired at worst. Pay in cash and don’t attach the shit to your phone number and you’ll never get caught. It is not criminal to use your manager numbers to apply discounts.

it's not their choice nobody with car knowledge wants minimum wage for it

Autozone replacement parts are hit or miss. Back in the day I replaced a metric crap ton of water pumps on Cadillac 4.9 engines. I don't know who made those pumps for Autozone but they were better than the OE pumps from the Cadillac dealer.

I agree. Napa is my go to big box autopart store

I wish I still had a NAPA near me.

They have shit pay and no training, what do you expect?

Napa recently saved my ass with a banjo bolt for my z32 300zx. I broke mine when manual swapping it lol

I luckily have an Autozone, Advanced and Napa all within a mile from my house. Napa is my first choice every time.

Wealthy people just take it to the dealership and let them handle it.

@@AToolWithTools im refering to the pavement princesses. That get the giant behemoth trucks and know NOTHING about cars. Like the GDI mavericks and F-150 with 10,000 miles and not a speck of rust in sight. Or the 50k miles Rubicons without a trace of dust or sand in sight😂 or Type-R’s with ALL STOCK PARTS and nothing aftermarket😭😭😭. Their wiper blades or LED’s will go out, or a sensor will go bad and they think they will save a buck by buying the part before a trip to the mechanic

People who lease cars don't even do any maintenance.

Napa is frequently more, while oreillys is the same pricing as AZ. You are getting shafted at all 3

But how much time did you waste returning it?

@@iuyozx I didn't "waste" any time because the store was 5 minutes away from my house and I got 2X the parts wile getting $35 back. I would be even more inclined to do it right now considering I'd get $70 for the same exact parts that are still $15 for two from 3 years ago