Each week, The Pulse provides insight into the buying, sourcing and brand-loyalty habits of counter personnel and professional technicians. This week, using Babcox Research, we look at the types of parts Brake & Front End repair shops most frequently source from OEM dealers.

Independent repair shops use a variety of sources for their repair parts. A recent survey of Brake & Front End readers indicates the supplier typically accounting for the largest share is the local jobber, which supplies nearly 60 percent of the shop’s needs. More than 90 percent of shops use OEM dealers as well, accounting for about 15 percent of their total purchases on average.

When asked what types of parts they are buying from car dealers, 80 percent of shop owners tell us they buy electrical parts and 67 percent buy emissions-related parts (by far the most common types).

When asked why they source parts from car dealers, 80 percent of our respondents indicate that the dealer was the only source for that part and 53 percent cite quality as the basis for their purchase.

For more information about Babcox Research, go to: http://www.babcox.com/marketing_research.html.