Advance Auto worth visiting?

[lkmarsh]

The Pep Boys in my town is bailing out of retail but keeping the service bays open. The retail store is supposed to be handed over to Advance Auto.

Any reason to get excited about this? Is AA any better than AZ and O'Reilly's?

[goldhammer]

Same junk, different box. All depends on people behind the counter.

But they're fun to screw with when I need a laugh. That goes for all of them.

[inkedmonkey]

Around here Advance is better than Autozone but not as good as Oriellys.

[fulsizjeep]

Yeah, yeah, but what is the banana scale?

http://www.bigscaryjeep.com/Banana_Scale.html

[goldhammer]

Out here, a lot of the Advance stores were Carquest stores when Advance bought them up.

[inkedmonkey]

I just walked into the Advance Auto near me and walked out with a torque converter for my 77. Only $80. I was surprised that they had one on hand.

[FleetFox]

I have traditionally leaned towards NAPA, but the quality of some of their parts has drifted into the same range as everyone else, while many of the prices have not. I have begun using Advance more and more in recent years, but for the simple reason that their warehouse/ dist center for our region is only a few miles away. The have a small retail storefront there. They are often open until midnight at that location and the guys working the counter tend to be gear heads.

Having said that, I refuse to answer the "year make and model" question and just go in with part numbers when I can. Anywhere. I swear though, 8 times out of 10 when I'm in there there's some guy on the phone looking for some bizarre part for an Altima...

Fleet Fox

[inkedmonkey]

Oh yeah, bringing in the part number is a must everywhere around here.

[Bob Barry]

My local parts-store is an Advance. They are good if you get the name brands from them. They won't have everything, so sometimes I have to go to NAPA or O'Reilly's; only rarely will I have to go to Autozone to get something Advance doesn't have.

One thing I like is ordering parts through their online system, as there is usually a discount code for 15%-35% off that you enter in the checkout. Then, I just go in to the store and pick up the parts without having to deal with the parts-counter looking for what I need.