Making The Case For Preventative Water Pump Replacement
If a water pump isn’t showing signs of a leak, corrosion, cracks, making noise, or exhibiting any other “red flags,” should it be replaced? Most people would say no – it only makes sense to replace a part after it breaks. But, in the case of water pumps, premature replacement can be pretty smart. Because
How to Ensure Tax Exemption Certificate Compliance
According to a 2014 Wakefield Research Report, 48% of U.S. accounting professionals believe an auditor would likely find mistakes, such as missing or incorrect compliance documents, during an audit. Are you part of this 48%? Wholesalers, distributors, resellers and retailers tend to experience the most audit pain with managing exemption certificates often due to the
Government Regulations Affect Car Parts
Vehicles are continuing to evolve with technological advances through changes and additions of parts. Government regulations have a direct impact on many of these changes.
Don’t entrust your brand’s influence to just anyone.
There’s a big difference between someone smiling about free product swag and a qualified, authentic automotive expert who lives and breathes the industry every day. When your customers are looking for credible advice on what to buy, they trust tried-and-true influencers who know their stuff. Who are these trusted influencers? They’re experts in their categories.
Replacing Oxygen Sensors Can Prevent Costly Repairs
Did you know replacing worn or failed oxygen sensors is the best way to protect expensive three-way catalysts or catalytic converters? Failure to replace failed oxygen sensors at the earliest sign of a problem, usually indicated by an illuminated check engine light, can cause premature failure of expensive three-way catalysts or catalytic converters. What does
Five Things You Need to Know About Spark Plugs
1. Anti-seize Anti-seize helps prevent corrosion of spark plug threads. However, not all spark plugs require the use of anti-seize. Some spark plug manufacturers add specialized coatings to their threads, eliminating the need for anti-seize. In fact, using anti-seize on a spark plug that has thread coating can result in over-torqueing, leading to engine and/or
Lighter Auto Parts Are Impacting Your Supply Chain
Probably the best example of a recent development with wide-ranging ramifications for both original equipment and aftermarket automotive manufacturers has been Ford’s introduction of an all-aluminum body F-150. The change from steel to aluminum was one way Ford could save weight on the way to meeting the federally mandated mile-per-gallon target. With the vehicle’s release came
To Go Big Online, Supercharge Your Inventory And Supply Chain Management
Online aftermarket parts shoppers are demanding. And whether your customers are professionals, consumers or more experienced enthusiasts, they’re most likely buying from more than one online marketplace, often for a single repair or upgrade. Knowing this, it’s essential that your business offer parts in as many places online as is feasible, while maintaining a high
Convert Clicks To Your Competitive Advantage
Your conveyor belts are humming along, carrying automotive aftermarket parts for a host of customers from high atop the distribution center, snaking their way through the facility, down to the loading area. In fact, your ecommerce site has another order almost ready to be accepted and processed, except for one thing — and it has
Be Ready To Pivot With Changing Global Market Conditions
Your global inventory plan is fully optimized for current market conditions. Your brake rotors arrive perfectly synchronized with the vehicle parc in your area. Suspension parts fit any import or domestic plate that comes your way, just in time. You run a well-oiled automotive aftermarket distribution machine, seemingly impervious to any curve ball thrown its
Taming The Parts Proliferation Beast
Redesigned original equipment (OE) components by aftermarket suppliers help mitigate the heavy strain that parts proliferation places on the aftermarket supply chain. Use of technology increases warehouse efficiency, further battling the overabundance of parts. There’s no denying it: The myriad of automobile platforms being produced today put a severe strain on the ability of aftermarket
Investing In IT For Automotive Aftermarket eTailing Success
Etailing is the automotive aftermarket’s fastest-growing retail sales channel and the industry is witnessing explosive growth in this sector. Investing in the IT necessary to support a robust online product line offering is essential for etailing in the automotive aftermarket, which currently accounts for $6 billion yearly in parts sales. The volume of those transactions