Automotive News Canada - December 2019 - v2 - F20

FIXED OPS JOURNAL

VINTAGE YIELD

Wisconsin warehouse complex is lifeline for stores that need out-of-stock parts
foj@autonews.com

EAVER DAM, Wis. - When dealership service departments need older, genuine repair parts that automakers no longer stock, their best
hope often lies inside the giant, meticulously
organized warehouses operated here by Vintage Parts Inc.
Tucked amid farm fields on the outskirts of
this bucolic southeast Wisconsin town (population 16,355), Vintage Parts is one of the
country's largest repositories of older parts.
The company's 12 warehouses in Beaver Dam
and three more in nearby Columbus comprise 25 million cubic feet of storage space
and 700,000 square feet of floor space, says
CEO Rick Hiltunen.
Vintage's auto parts inventory includes more
than 300,000 unique parts and 2.6 million parts
overall, says CFO Jim Butterbrodt. Vintage Parts' automaker partners, which sell
parts to the company, include General Motors, Ford,
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles,
Honda, Toyota, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Mazda, Isuzu
and Mitsubishi.
"It's not dead inventory,
Hiltunen: "Endof-life inventory" just end-of-life inventory,"
Hiltunen told Fixed Ops
Journal. "There are a lot of older cars still on
the road that eventually will need a part. And
when those car owners can't find replacement parts, we solve a lot of their problems.
"They're not aftermarket parts," he emphasizes. "These are brand-new, genuine OEM
parts, still in their original packaging. It's a
win-win-win situation for us, the OEMs and
their customers."

Parts desk's pal
Phil Friedel, parts manager at Bob Hook
Chevrolet, in Louisville, Ky., says Vintage Parts
is a valuable business partner because it enables the dealership to help owners keep their
beloved older cars and trucks running. He says
he recently used Vintage to track down a brake
master cylinder for a 1995 Chevrolet Cavalier
and an exhaust manifold for a 1992 Geo Metro.
"We order parts from Vintage Parts five to 10
times a day, on average," Friedel says. "We just
filled an order for a driver's-side taillamp for a
1998 Chevrolet Malibu for a customer in Florida.

PAGE 20

DECEMBER 2019

KEN WYSOCKY

Oldies but goodies

How Vintage Parts keeps old parts
circulating:
 The company buys slow-moving parts
from about a dozen automakers at a
discount.
 Vintage marks up the parts and
sells them only to franchised
dealerships.
 Individual customers can buy parts
through these dealerships.
 Vintage inventory includes more than
300,000 unique auto parts.
 All items are genuine automaker
parts in the original packaging.
 Parts are inventoried for at least 8
years, then scrapped if they don't
sell well.
 Parts are stored in 25 million cubic
square feet of space in 15 climatecontrolled warehouses.
 Most parts ordered by 4 p.m. are
shipped the same day.
Source: Vintage Parts

Sue Wuesthoff, a shipping department
employee at Vintage Parts, handles a grille
for a 1992 GMC Sonoma pickup.

"When they say they have a part, they have
the part," he adds, noting that Vintage's website updates the company's inventory daily.
"We can tell customers with confidence that
we can get the part they need."
Mike King, head of e-commerce operations
at the eight-dealership Tasca Automotive
Group, in Cranston, R.I., says Vintage Parts
"provides a huge value for us."
"We upload their inventory to our online
stores," King says. "It's a fantastic way for us to
offer end-of-life parts to retail customers."
A few years ago, King recalls, he got a request from a repair shop in Switzerland for a
transfer case for an older GM car. Vintage
Parts had it in stock. As a result, he says, the
repair shop was able to salvage the customer's
vehicle, rather than scrap it or settle for a junkyard part.
King and Friedel agree that the ability to
procure hard-to-find parts helps build customer loyalty that eventually can result in vehicle sales for their dealerships.
see VINTAGE, next page

Automotive News Canada - December 2019 - v2

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