It’s Never Too Late For Quality: Develop a Warranty By Bob Thomas Editor’s Note: ; Following is the first installment ofa series on quality in rebuild- ing. Writer Bob | Thomas told me: “’. quality is some- thing I have very strong feelings for and it is a subject too many rebuilders take lightly, sometimes because they know of no other way.” Thomas has been in the auto electric business since 1978 and has agreed to share his experience and passion for quality through a num- ber of articles which will appear in the Exchange through the end of the year. Quality is a word everyone seems to like. We see it every day on televi- sion and in magazine ads. It seems that everything we look at claims quality. Are all of these claims substantiated? I don’t think so. We see “OEM quality,” “ISO 9000,” “OE specifications,” and the like every time we pick up a sales flyer. What does it all mean in relation to the units we build? I believe that most of us really do want to build quality into the units we sell and all of our custom- ers want and expect that quality. How then has the rebuilt electrical part got- ten such a bad reputation and what can we do about it. We got that reputation back when units sold for an average price of $25 and could be changed on most vehicles in 15 or 20 minutes. Back then, no- body got too upset when one failed under warranty. After all, the industry standard warranty was 90 days and units very rarely lasted over 50,000 miles. Low prices puta lot of cost pres- sure on a growing industry and, quite honestly, you and I salvaged parts and cut corners we really should not have (if our end goal was in fact to make the unit “as good as a brand new one’’). Many of us did this because we felt we had to just to stay in business. We were keeping the prices down, and after all, it only had to last 90 days. Well, times have changed. On some cars it now takes 15 minutes to get to the battery. Most vehicles re- quire an hour or more to properly check the system and change the al- ternator or starter. On top of that, the industry standard warranty is now a full year with pressure to go even higher (whether or not it should go any higher is another subject). Most technicians want to install a quality part because they do not like to do a job twice. Most car owners want quality parts because they did not like giving up their trans- portation the first time, let alone again for the same problem. I know the first question from every consumer is al- ways “How much?” but what they re- ally mean is “How much to have it done right?” Over the last decade the service department of nearly every dealership in our town has had nice gains. They are growing and hiring the best techni- cians. More and more consumers are taking their vehicles back to the dealerships because they believe they will be getting a higher quality service. And with very few exceptions, the al- ternators and starters that are being installed there do not come from your shop or mine. If we want to survive we had bet- ter rid ourselves of that bad reputation and the only way to do it is to improve the quality of what we sell. If we all did this overnight it would take years SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER, 2000 to earn that better reputation, so we had better get busy and start now. I recently changed a worn-out starter on a 1988 Honda Accord, Mitsuba SM3802-02. It was the origi- nal starter and the car had nearly 240,000 miles on it! Also, the original Denso alternator was still on the car and still functioning properly! Is the car’s owner wrong in expecting my unit to last 200,000-plus miles? I don’t think so. In fact, if everything stays equal, I would expect it to. I took the time to explain to the customer that it was his care and use of the Honda that contributed to the high mileage he was getting from all of the parts on the car. So what is a quality unit? I believe the starter I installed on the Honda was a quality unit, not because it was re- built in my shop, but because of how it was rebuilt and what parts were used. A quality rebuilt part should last as long as a new one would in the same appli- cation. It may not last as long as the original because other factors affect it, but when it does finally fail, it should be because of forces beyond our con- trol. It is that simple. Many times I have heard rebuilders say, “We don’t want them to last forever.” That worked fine 20 years ago, but not today. Vehicle manufacturers are building cars to last much longer. They have to! Just look at the price. For the car to last longer, the parts must last longer, and we are already there for the most part. Many of the vehicles being sold today will only see one change of the alternator and starter. If we want that business we had better be prepared to supply a part as good as the original. How do we know if we are build- ing quality units? If we are not keeping a record of them, we don’t. Most rebuilders avoid paperwork like an ex- Page 1 of 3