Fixed Ops Journal - August 2022 - F9

SUSAN McDANIEL
A
career in automotive retail was the furthest thing from Susan McDaniel's mind
when she took a job at a Chief Auto Parts store in Yuma, Ariz., in 1983.
Th e manager was a friend and needed a sales clerk. McDaniel, then 19 and
fresh out of high school, " wanted to be a writer and was toying with going
back to school " but didn't once she started working at the parts store.
McDaniel, 58, says the job was the fi rst step along a retail automotive path that has led to
her current position as parts director at Bill Luke Auto Group in Phoenix .
" Th e store manager was a great teacher, and I soon learned the ins and outs of the retail
business: customer service, looking up parts and [specifi cations], warehousing, ordering
and daily paperwork along with loss prevention and inventory. "
Th ings went so well for McDaniel at the store that after just a year on the job, she was
tapped by Chief to move to Phoenix to
help open stores in that market.
She assisted with store setup and hiring
and training of new employees and
later became a store manager. McDaniel
says the store she managed prospered,
but she left in 1988 shortly before the
company was sold.
About two weeks later, McDaniel
landed a job as a cashier in the service
department at what was then Bill Luke
Chrysler-Plymouth in Phoenix . Th at
dealership is now Bill Luke ChryslerJeep-Dodge-Ram.
Th
e auto group also has Fiat and Alfa
Romeo franchises at Bill Luke Tempe
and a stand alone used-vehicle store in
Gilbert , which houses the company's reconditioning
center.
About six months after joining the
Chrysler-Plymouth dealership, McDaniel
became a retail parts adviser. In 2000,
she was named the store's parts manager,
and in 2004, she became the group's
parts director.
McDaniel says she has never had coworkers
who made her uncomfortable
because of her gender.
But when she worked the dealership's
parts counter, every once in a while
there would be customers who didn't want to discuss their parts needs with her .
Th ose customers would go to her male colleagues, who would then tell them, " She can
help you as well as I can, " she says. " A lot of those people who didn't want to talk to me
[eventually] became some of my best customers. Th ey wouldn't talk to anyone but me. "
McDaniel loves her job and believes that retail automotive in general has a lot of
who were interested in becoming service technicians
but feared they would not be completely
accepted while training or on the job.
She understands the sentiment but urges girls
to enroll in auto technology in high school, if
there is such a program, just to try it on for size.
" Like going into any unknown situation, you'll
have those kinds of thoughts, " she says. " Luckily,
the places I've worked, it felt like a family.
" But I will say, I didn't really see myself as
diff erent, either. "
- Arlena Sawyers
AUGUST 2022 PAGE 9
great-paying and rewarding positions, for women as well as men. For many of those jobs,
the industry will provide training, she adds.
" A lot of us have little to no formal education - not saying that's good or bad either way
- but we have a lot of training affi liated with this business that we take along the way, " she
says. " We're all extensively trained in customer service, new vehicles and technology and
everything involved. "
Her advice for women interested in a career in fi xed ops is simple.
" Don't let anything hold you back, " she says. " Just be strong and confi dent in everything
you decide to do. "
- Arlena Sawyers

Fixed Ops Journal - August 2022

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