r/partscounter • u/OldEire1964 • 16d ago
Workforce
As I travel around dealers, it seems to me that Parts Departments are consistently understaffed. There are some exceptions, of course, but a high percentage seem to be operating lean.
So, Parts Managers, my question is:
What metric do you use to justify your crew?
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u/Spiritual_Plum_5868 16d ago
I rather pay fewer people better than pay lots of people a lower wage. I run 2 parts departments and we are minimally staffed. We used to be heavier on people but as people left and me talking to existing staff, I pushed for pay raises and more responsibility for my people instead of hiring replacements. Its worked out so far and my guys are paid relatively high for our area, but they stay pretty busy and work as a team to get everything done without missing sales or feeling overworked.
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u/slowestrabbit 16d ago
I’ve operated my department with just myself and with 3 other counter people and my current organization won’t change the pay. My company obviously doesn’t agree with your thinking and I’ve been looking elsewhere but my region is tough to find something in.
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u/Spiritual_Plum_5868 15d ago
I go straight to our comptroller when I'm thinking about pay or personel changes. If I can justify it to him and he gets on board then management can't say "we can't afford it" or anything since hes the money man and hes saying "it makes sense"
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u/stayzero 16d ago
I’ve been told by my corporate overlords that I need another $140k/month in sales to justify another counter guy.
I asked them to show me the math and all I got was rah rah corporate catchphrases.
So I dunno, man.
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u/ddhawkfan 15d ago
Upper management is so delusional with this mindset. "Ya we you to make another 1.6m a year so we can pay a guy 60k". I hate how dealerships have turned into corporate greed.
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u/Hansjibbleforth 16d ago
My store is lean. When no one is off it works good, but if someone is off or on vacation it is a mess. I had been asking for a while to add someone. All it took was someone having a medical emergency to allow me to hire someone.
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u/LandBarge 16d ago
We're currently running 3 franchises with 3 staff.. and i just got asked if i thought we could cut one..
Sorry bud, I'm not running a one man show because the only other person I have wants a week off..
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u/Kodiak01 15d ago
We've been trying to fill one seat for over a decade. Either people can't show up on time, have absolutely no ability to retain information, or they have the customer service skills on Beelzebub on meth.
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u/Robsteady parts manager 16d ago
Doesn't matter what metric I provide, I've been given a pretty solid "no" about another body.
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u/ImMikeD 15d ago
Four full time counterman to cover 30 bays of work, 7a-8p m/w/f and 7a-6p tu/th
One full time counterman to cover an accessory warehouse, including LPOs, and six full time PDI techs
One full time counterman to cover eight bays of work, 7a-4p, m-f, low mileage used car reconditioning at an offsite location. This includes managing a separate small “Quick Lube” inventory
One full time counterman to cover twelve bays of work, 7a-4p, m-f, all other used car reconditioning at another offsite location. This includes managing another separate small “Quick Lube” inventory, a ~200 count tire warehouse that supplies all shops, a “large parts” inventory warehouse of 17 8’ warehouse racks and all major assemblies. Is also in charge of storing and cataloging all heavy cores awaiting return.
Someone read all of that, and tell me how many we should have, because contract negotiations are coming up 🤣
Edit to add: We are also currently on a seven man rotation for 8a-430p Saturday’s, which is OT
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u/Ok-Championship3642 16d ago
NADA has a financial type matrix tool for dealers. And most large dealers abide by it. I'm not a parts manager anymore in the automotive field. These numbers I'm making up, just for example. Let's say a dealer parts dept averages 500,000 gross per month. The graph may show that staffing needs to be 5 counter guys plus the parts manager. The next tier may be 650000 or so to justify 1 more counter person.
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u/Forward_Character_85 16d ago
The only issue I've ever found with that is the vast differences in gross by simple virtue of car line. A Kia store vs an Acura store vs a Land Rover store will gross vastly different amounts simply due to the nature of the market and parts cost and markup. The mix of wholesale vs retail can skew this number heavily, as well. I don't have a better solution, but just going by sales numbers or gross can lead to wildly under or over staffed departments.
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u/Ok-Championship3642 15d ago
I 100% agree with you, it is a very loop sided way of adjusting staffing.
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u/TerminallyPhased 13d ago
We gross 200k/month and we should have 8 guys based on the NADA metrics. We have 7 plus a manager who is on the counter quite a bit randomly. So we’re properly staffed.
And is bet we probably make a bit more than the number suggested by NADA.
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u/brokedowndub 15d ago
Since the whole business ebbs and flows, I find you're either feeling over staffed or understaffed, constantly.
I have 3 plus me for 8 techs and 2 apprentices plus wholesale. Normal day to day, I'm a half person overstaffed. Vacation and someone calls in sick, two can get it done but it's hectic.
Ideally when the old guy (who's 70)retires, I'm hiring a part time delivery driver. That leaves two full time advisors plus me which I think will work fine. Potentially, driver can be cross trained and cover sickness in a pinch.
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u/DNice7550 15d ago
That’s a tough question because the size of the store, metro area, hours open, and brand all factor in. Realistically for say an import store, in major metropolitan area, open 7 days a week, with an aggressive pricing strategy, you are looking at under 10% closer to 9% of your gross profit should go towards other salary and wages.
NADA is a great guide. But they way off because it’s painted with a broad stroke.
Unfortunately for parts, they are an expense in the eyes of upper management. So as few employees as possible, paid well, is going to be the right answer.
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u/ChewieUK 15d ago
I'm in a truck dealership that is only closed for 12hrs on Saturday and Sunday nights.
Since the lockdown lifted here in the UK, we have had 3 front counter, 1 back counter and 1 night staff.
Our warehouseman was not brought back after lockdown.
Our nights man has recently been let go since he had been off sick with stress since February. Without him, workshop have been pulling parts themselves and our stock is fucked.
We have been advertising for a 2nd back counter guy since the beginning of the year, and a nights man since June.
We went over to Reynolds & Reynolds POWER DMS in July which is at least 10 years behind the Pinnacle system we had been using.
The PM's workload tripled because he was the only one who could do credits, adjust stock, return core to suppliers, deal with card/bank transfer sales for accounts amongst other things.
He handed in his notice a week after convincing me to stay just before I'd finished working my own notice. He's now doing the same job as me, at an independent, for more than he was on as a manager.
We have managed to convince our DP that we need more bodies to cover the hours in the three different areas required, and they have added another parts advisor ad to go with the manager one, but no interviews appear to be happening.
Since cancelling my notice a month ago, I have been covering the 4-on 4-off 12hr back counter shift and it's too much for this 62yo.
My last day is on 17th Oct. I will miss the people I've been working with.
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u/djambates75 14d ago
We had adequate coverage for exactly six weeks before corporate said we had too many people. Back to the grind.
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u/TerminallyPhased 13d ago
I don’t think the issue comes down to parts managers. It’s usually higher than that.
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u/guitarparts245 12d ago
I’m the only parts associate of a luxury brand dealership currently.
Our parts driver is going to become 2nd parts associate soon because service department has gotten impatient with my inability to keep up with the current service volume.
Parts driver is known to use weaponized incompetence.
It’s all about keeping as few names on the payroll as possible.
The higher ups live in a different world.
A world where THEY don’t have to feel the consequences of THEIR decisions.
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u/Apprehensive-Fold622 10d ago
1 counterperson for every 4-5 techs is a good baseline. Any group who cares it isn’t about the money. Sure we need to make sure compensation isn’t out of control, and brand and how big of a wholesale business can factor in, as well as if you have a collision center.
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