Jim, I'm glad you brought the topic back to dealer support. I can't argue very much of what you said. I'm not involved in parts at our dealership, so am speaking out of "ignorance" maybe.

There are really only two reasons for a dealer to stock a part. One is to capture the profit from selling the part. Not having it means exactly what you said. The customer will shop around to find it. Second reason for stocking a part is to satisfy our customers which should result in future business.

So why not stock a part? Dollars and space. Every dollar tied up in a part that doesn't sell is a dollar that can't be used to stock something the customers are actually buying, or to upgrade a service truck or whatever. A dealer can have huge dollars in their inventory, but that doesn't mean a thing to you if they don't have the single part you need.

There are a lot of judgement calls on this. Eg, is the part a critical failure item? Belts and alternators come to mind here. Is the part something that would need hours or days to get at and replace, meaning you could have it on hand by the time it was needed? Internal transmission parts come to mind. What's the machine population in the trade area that would need that part? What's the sales history on that part? Does the manufacturer require us to stock that part as part of our dealer standards? Would stocking that slow moving part result in poor inventory turns, which means we don't meet our dealer standards?

The discussion on belts had me wondering if the belt was something the dealer normally stocked but ran out of. That will happen to the best of dealers, and is different than a situation where the dealer made a conscious decision not to stock the part.

Finally, this discussion on carrying parts is something only dealers have to think about. The aftermarket suppliers only think of the first reason for stocking. That is, they are hoping to capture the profit from selling the part. If they don't have it on hand, they don't make the money, but they also don't have to worry about upsetting their customers. I'm not suggesting they have it easier or whatever. I'm just saying they are dealing with different criteria than a dealer does.

In reference to your final statement. I personally don't expect loyalty from our customers. I believe we have to earn it.