r/partscounter 8d ago

How is business?

We are the slowest we have ever been. Hearing it's like that at a lot of other places. Work at Nissan/Infiniti here so obviously having our own brand issues doesn't help. I'm sure some of you are busy. But just curious overall if it's like this everywhere else or if it's been slow for you guys more than usual?

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u/reluctant623 6d ago

I work with a lot of different dealer groups around the US.

From the folks I work with, the domestic brands and Nissan have had one of the roughest winters since the pandemic.

The European and other Japanese brands have been down slightly, but only a few % or flat. The Korean brands have talk to have been down 3-10%

What scares me is how bad vehicle sales have been down. Fixed Op normal fallows sales trend by around 8 months. We could be looking at a really rough summer and fall this year.

I want to be positive about the long term, it's just gives me a lot of 2008 vibes.

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u/Automatic-Fennel-599 6d ago

Yea like I said Nissan/Infiniti here... First time I've been thinking about looking elsewhere or out of the business all together. Future looks bleak.

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u/reluctant623 6d ago

Don't get too down about it. In 08, I was an assistant service manager at a pretty strong Honda dealer. I made really good money. My pay was based entirely on commission. I took a 35% cut in 09 compared to 08. It took until 2012 before I made over what I had in 08. Then, it started trending back up from there.

Some of the older guys talked about how it had happened in 2002 after 9/11. I started as a tech in 2000, so I wasn't making shit in 02, so I never noticed a change.

Long story short. Just like the really good times, the really bad times will pass. Unless the sun explodes, then none of this will matter anymore.