The AUSubaru.com.au Forums

how to get stuffed around,go to autobarn ipswich....i went up there to get a part...asked the guy(young guy with more holes in his head then i thought you could have without it falling off)for the part.i got the i,ll chech the book,good start.well he checked the parts book and handed me the part,i looked at it and asked are you right?,he said yup(the only thing missing was the ..yup dude,knarly man...freaking wierdo...anyway i took the part and started walking out while looking at what i was diven and thought,,,nah that looks to fit ea81 n i need ea82 so back i went to asked again....from the helpfull stud head and fonzy was the reply..thats what the book says mate...at this stage i,m no ones mate,most of all some kids with more crome then my freaking car...anywho i strolled off the pay and said to the guy at the counter that i,m sure it,s wrong but maybe they no more then me,,heck they checked the book n all..to cut a long story short i get home,pull car appart and then covered in muck make a call to autobarn and rip a few new butts......refund will be mine and studhead and fonzy had better not work sundays....

Autobarn : Source of tasteless "bling" for you car

I was in one on the Gold Coast today - heard a salesman say to a customer "that looks sic" - and that was enough for me - i was outta there.

I usually use Repco or Subaru for parts nowadays.

I think there's two subaru weber adaptors, 1 for early ea81 and 1 for later ea81 and ea82's ... The latter has a wider mouth from the manifold i think.

This is working from memory so I could be completely wrong

Don't blame the kids behind the counter in these types of stores,
they are there because they are as cheap to pay as is possible and don't know anything, not for their knowledge or experience, and abusing them is probably not fair, they probably earn a whole lot less than you do.

It cracks me up that DickSmith is advertising atm along the lines of
"you know where the smart kids that fixed things etc work now? why at Dick Smith of course!! ".....yeah right, when Dick Smith actually ran Dick Smith, being an enthusiast/hobby streak was practically a requirement,
now its whatever kid centreLink sends to them.......the smart kids really work somewhere else.....same reason Woolworths are cheap scapes for paying wages, and the 5% discount is paltry enticement - used to be cost price + some %, for staff - huge saving, I mean Huge!!

I work in the automotive parts industry. I've found the saying "you pay peanuts, you get donkeys" rings very true.

Seriously, best way to see if they're going to be any good, hit them with a bit of jargon first. Something like "I was wondering if you have a price on a VRS for an EA82?". If they say "what's a VRS?" (Valve regrind set btw, aka a top overhaul set) then don't bother. Don't give them the make either, any good automotive parts interpreter should know what an EF is without needing to know its a Ford Falcon, likewise they should know that a G13B is a Suzuki motor, fitted to Swifts and the like. Basically I mean ask for parts for an EA82 outright, it's ok if they ask if its a Subaru - on the first attempt only!

There's good news out there for parts interpreters like me though, there's jobs absolutely everywhere in the field! Unfortunately most pay less than what I've got!

BTW, for measure I've spoken to a Supercheap manager before, with my paltry 4 years experience I could step straight into an Assistant Manager job, or higher even! LOL!

Not trying to piss anybody off but Autobarn is seriously not the best place for Subaru parts. I have had Manny bad experiences with Autobarn & i will not go back to them. I even closed my trade account with them. The manager didn't even know what he was talking about & it just wasn't one store but 2!

Go to Coventry / Repco - 99% of the time they will have the right part first time.

Thats just my 2c worth...

Now to throw the cat among the pigeons. I have visited my local Autobarn and they have always had what I have been after. And even what I have not been after - a dashmat for an "L' Series subby in the right colour and at a good price.

I think the point of the thread was not what they do or don't have, chances are they'll have everything any self respecting car parts shop should, the point was the unfortunate, under-payed, mis-informed employees aren't lucky enough to have much industry knowledge and rely on not always accurate part listing books.

Thats just my spin on it anyway.

Jordan.

I must say one thing on the side of the autobarn employees, Subaru's are the hardest cars to look up parts for in aftermarket catalogues.

I hear colleagues of mine quite often saying things on the phone like "is it a DL, GL, Leone or L series? Hang on - I'll get the Subaru bloke".

I always have to cut throught the crap with those kind of books, basically the year is the best way and I relate it back to suby knowledge I learned on these forums. "Oh, its a 1982 1.8L?" then I think to myself, OK it's an MY.

Heaps of people ring up with their 1983 L series hatchbacks (aka MY wagons) looking for parts, and then the books will list something like Leone, Brumby and GL, of course none of these sound right when compared to what the owner says his vehicle is, but they will be right.

All this said, it doesn't validate how you were treated there Bill. I'll always sell the part the customer thinks is right, unless it is definitely going to be wrong. Also, double checking listings is a good idea too.

I was at AutoOne a few months ago getting a distributir cap for my EA82T. They guy that served me tried to tell me there was no such thing as an RX Turbo. When I told him the year model he seem surprised, but looked in the book and sure enough it was there. But he had good knowledge of the RS turbos though!

Yeah definitely very difficult to match up the model with the ones listed in the books. I always try to bring in the broken/worn out part in with me for an actual comparison if possible.

I've got a running argument with just about every staffmember of RAC insurance at the moment.
1990 L series Touring wagon. Theres only about 10,000 of them in my Suburb alone but RAC refuse to beleive it exists. Even tho its listed on their own damn website !!

Tim, wanna go get a job there? I really want to have insurance