Advance Auto parts Lifetime Warranty? Maybe not so

[Tray Burge]

Autozone is the way to go, I haven't paid for brake pads in over 15 years.
Just save the box, bring the old ones in, easy peasy.

 

[62Blazer]

I pick and choose whether I buy a part at a local store versus getting it on the internet....just depends on exactly what I'm looking for.
The local brick-and-mortar stores are hurting because of how easy and cheap it can be to order online, and how fast they can ship the parts. I recently bought a set of front brakes (rotors and pads) for my daily driver car and it was 30% cheaper to buy online versus the exact same parts from the local autoparts stores. However is price is close I will choose the local store.

Yes, I remember the days of needing the original receipt. I had an old Chevy K5 Blazer setup for off-roading, so a lot of replacement parts. Had 1 gallon ziplock back in the center console full of receipts for parts. The bad thing was that the printing faded out on some of the receipts you couldn't tell what they were. I got in the habit of writing down the numbers on the back of the receipt. Still think that was intentional from some places so they could say "well, you don't have a receipt that we can read, so no warranty".

 

[turkeybird56]

I’m guessing the store manager is now in charge of Chrysler corp warranty department. Lol

Maybe that’s why it took me 2 years to get my replacement E Fan under my Maxcare warranty lol.

 

[Jeepwalker]

....I haven't paid for brake pads in over 15 years.

Me neither!


LOL....just kidding (couldn't help that one!)

 

[Jeepwalker]

OReilly's is great on brake pads too. If you're standing at the counter and put your fingers to your temples, close your eyes and THINK to yourself, "I got hosed on brake pads" ...they seem to pick up on it telepathically ...and practically thrust a new box at you out of nowhere.

 

[TJP440]

How many guys here remember how things were in the 80's when it came to warranty items?? "Do you have your original receipt, sir?"

I do, several of them, but many are lost.

While on the subject I had a craftsman double flaring tool kit that one of my ex employees broke.
So I contacted craftsman and while they no longer offered the tool, They offered one of two tool kits as a replacement. Both kits far exceeded the price paid for the Flaring tool. I selected the wrong one and they sent it. I contacted them again, 1st time no go, 2nd time the guy found the 90.00 kit that was out of stock most places and sent it to me. Told me to keep both.

 

[Jeepwalker]

Great success story.

Was that before Craftsman became part of Stanley? OR after?

 

[Jeepwalker]

Some companies are exceptional at replacements. Craftsman ...as you say, used to be. How are they anymore?? Do they even do a replacement if you walked in with a cracked 14mm socket?

I sent an email to Wright Tools about two years ago. I wanted to buy a 2nd 13mm wrench of a certain part number as a spare which matched my set. It's handy to have two 13mm wrenches around for jobs. I wasn't asking for a free tool, just where I could buy a 2nd one as I wasn't seeing the specific wrench (sold alone) on their website. Not even a week later the wrench i needed shows up in the mail with a nice letter. I was more than willing to purchase the wrench. But Wright tools sure went above and beyond, for me!

They're made in USA and they're great. Craftsman and S-K (really good) too. We need more companies like Wright tools. They're wrench sets aren't even that expensive when you consider you practically have a tool for life. I bought a Wright wrench set in the early 80's and still have them! Never bent a single one (and I wasn't babying them). Their new ones are very Craftsman-like in size/length w/o the raised pael. With better finish than the new Craftsman wrenches have. And plenty of tool tests show Wright's are some of the strongest wrenches out there. It would be nice if they had a greater amount of local distibution ...like they once had. But they're avail online.

Sorry to take this thread on a tangent. ...probably covered all there is to say about Advance Auto anyway..

 

[GTyankee]

I have several Craftsman Tools & almost as many Husky Tools.
Husky Tools have turned out to be a good brand.

I don't know how true it is, but on the News, they were taking about buying Online & the overseas companies, may be collecting info, Name, address, email, credit card info.

I had an unknown charge on my credit card just last month,
It was a very small amount, for some Families request for donations.
I always check my statements from my Cards, like being charged twice for the exact amount from a out of State gas station.
I was taking a cross country trip

 

[TJP440]

Great success story.

Was that before Craftsman became part of Stanley? OR after?

After, Just two weeks ago. the flaring kit was about 7 years old but in it's original case so that may have helped. I was shocked at what they sent me as the tool IIRC was like 35-40.00

 

[TJP440]

Some companies are exceptional at replacements. Craftsman ...as you say, used to be. How are they anymore?? Do they even do a replacement if you walked in with a cracked 14mm socket?

I sent an email to Wright Tools about two years ago. I wanted to buy a 2nd 13mm wrench of a certain part number as a spare which matched my set. It's handy to have two 13mm wrenches around for jobs. I wasn't asking for a free tool, just where I could buy a 2nd one as I wasn't seeing the specific wrench (sold alone) on their website. Not even a week later the wrench i needed shows up in the mail with a nice letter. I was more than willing to purchase the wrench. But Wright tools sure went above and beyond, for me!

They're made in USA and they're great. Craftsman and S-K (really good) too. We need more companies like Wright tools. They're wrench sets aren't even that expensive when you consider you practically have a tool for life. I bought a Wright wrench set in the early 80's and still have them! Never bent a single one (and I wasn't babying them). Their new ones are very Craftsman-like in size/length w/o the raised pael. With better finish than the new Craftsman wrenches have. And plenty of tool tests show Wright's are some of the strongest wrenches out there. It would be nice if they had a greater amount of local distibution ...like they once had. But they're avail online.

Sorry to take this thread on a tangent. ...probably covered all there is to say about Advance Auto anyway..

No problem, I was the one that veered off topic Glad you mentioned Wright tools, didn't think they were still around

 

[Chukbacca]

30+ years ago, I can vividly remember ordering, and then installing a starter in an Isuzu sedan that was defective… after waiting at least a week for the first one… It’s replacement arrived about a week later. I asked the guy to bench check it before I walked out… It too was defective. the third one was fine… I seem to recall it being chief auto parts.

Here in Southern California, I just drove by an advanced auto parts that still proudly hangs it’s now open banner… right next to the window cling that says everything must go. (All their CA stores are closing) Bummer as the few interactions I had with their crew was positive.

The one time that I ordered a part from rock auto, it arrived damaged and while the return was not painless… It wasn’t awful… The cost savings that I have seen from rock auto are not significant enough to outweigh the convenience of being able to warrantee a part at a local brick and mortar store.

 

[TJP440]

I'll agree with the local returns and RA is a bit of a PITA but as you say, one has to weigh the savings. Here, Adavance, O'Reilly's and napa have a tendency to build next door or across the street from each other. yesterday she came home and said they're building a new Autozone right across from and existing Advance and O'reilly's. You can park in one location and hit all 3 stores.

 

[stormcom]

How many of you remember the Firestone Forever battery? My grandfather thought I was nuts spending money for a forever battery. 6 batteries later, I received a certified letter and a check for the list price of the battery. BTW, it also had the Firestone Radial 500 tires on it. They were on a 1973 Ford Galaxie (2 door). They did not make any money on that car.

 

[nlambert182]

Autozone is the way to go, I haven't paid for brake pads in over 15 years.
Just save the box, bring the old ones in, easy peasy.

This is how Advance used to be back in the 90s when I worked there. The lifetime warranty on all of their parts "used to be" really good, and we would warranty a starter (for example) 20 times if necessary. All we needed was the original box and proof of purchase (which we could look up in our system).

As of the past decade or so they've gone downhill. I almost exclusively buy from OReilly, because I've never had an issue with a warranty, having parts in stock, etc... I've had Advance tell me that a part was on PDQ only to not have it deliver for over a week while it shows in stock at another store across town. OReilly has gotten in their truck and went to get the part from another store and met me with it. Historically they were a few bucks more, but factoring in my time they were the better value.

As for RockAuto.... I don't buy a single thing from them anymore. Nothing ever delivers when it says it will and on a couple of occasions the part was either wrong in the box or just didn't work. That may be different for others. If it's a part I can't get from OReilly's, I find it from somewhere like Geno's.

 

[KEVIN J MIGNOSA]

The first part you buy has the warranty. The replacement part has no warranty. Been like that for a long time with advance auto.

Thanks for bringing it up though since a lot of people do not know about it.

The replacement parts will have a 90 day warranty. I use to work at Advance as the RPP for 5 years and we get this alot but it is up to manager approval as well.

 

[Tominator223]

Advance used to be carquest . I’ve caught a couple of these parts stores changing part #’s. To avoid warranties. AZ was the 1st. My 04 Qcab they changed the front b-pad part #. The manager says nope those aren’t are pads. So I tell him to look at my history , he finds a brake pad part # & looks a lil further , lo and behold it’s the front pads for my 04 ram. He says I guess they changed the part #. I bought part from AZ all the back when they were auto shack. Had a relative that was an executive at Napa , he ask why I didn’t buy there. I told him to hard to deal with & not enough locations, higher price. I tend to keep my vehicles longer than most , probably why I catch these part # changes. But they all do it. I’m mean you change a part # that say 100,000 people warranty each year & it’s a $30.00 part that’s a lot a cheddar.

 

[TJP440]

How many of you remember the Firestone Forever battery? My grandfather thought I was nuts spending money for a forever battery. 6 batteries later, I received a certified letter and a check for the list price of the battery. BTW, it also had the Firestone Radial 500 tires on it. They were on a 1973 Ford Galaxie (2 door). They did not make any money on that car.

My mother hada lifetime sears battery. They kept leaking acid around the terminals. After may trips to wherever she was to clean them I took the battery back to Sears on a Sat morning, raised a little hell and got her money back. Went to JC Penneys and bought one of theirs, no more problems. The warranty was later transferred to Firestone by JC Penney's when at some point in the late 70's IIRC. it was still in the car wen I sold it in 98?

 

[Hootbro]

How many guys here remember how things were in the 80's when it came to warranty items?? "Do you have your original receipt, sir?"

Yeah, receipts printed on thermal paper that faded out within six month. Can remember my Grandfather popping a gasket over this at "Auto Shack" that was before the Auto Zone name.

 

[Gary Fields]

Autozone has (or had) a true lifetime warranty. I got 4 sets of brake pads for a 2007 Taurus that me and my offspring were driving. Last set of pads were a month old when car was totaled (not my son's fault for a change). Sure was nice when they grew up and stopped having more points on license than the Chiefs did in Super Bowl.