Am I stupid?

[vtecmanager]

Ladies and gentlemen of the board,
I have been away from the dealer life for almost 7 years. I have an interview tomorrow with a chance to make 20k more, no travel, and a drive time of less than half. The only thing that is keeping me from committing is I have the ability to work from home, the longer hours needed to work, and most of all I'll be the parts manager of a GM store. Pros and cons? I keep hearing all the stuff from you guys saying that GM is the worst and I get that. I value all of your opinions over the years, help?
Thanks,
Conflicted Import manager going to GM

[bsnyder723]

Ladies and gentlemen of the board,
I have been away from the dealer life for almost 7 years. I have an interview tomorrow with a chance to make 20k more, no travel, and a drive time of less than half. The only thing that is keeping me from committing is I have the ability to work from home, the longer hours needed to work, and most of all I'll be the parts manager of a GM store. Pros and cons? I keep hearing all the stuff from you guys saying that GM is the worst and I get that. I value all of your opinions over the years, help?
Thanks,
Conflicted Import manager going to GM

Right now, parts availability is lacking... And GM will nit pick you to death on Purchase loyalty and of course the lovely 35% CSO fee they charge you. It's been a challenging year with the strike and than this stupid virus. I've never seen anything like it in my 30+ years in this business. 20K is a lot of $$$ and less drive time is always a PLUS. How many hours a week are you looking at compared to where you are now?
Good luck with whatever decision you make!!

[smoyer]

If you worked in this industry very long before your 7 year vacation lol you know there is good days and bad ones GM is no worse than ford or hyundai or any of the others back orders are everywhere , you learn to work around all the bs i would be worried about the dealership what kind of owner you have, how is the fixed ops person if they have one, what the inventory looks like is it a complete shit show or are you walking into a good situation, and most important will you be happy because the money will only be a short term answer if the place makes you pull your hair out

[CADLOU]

More money is always great, but you have to figure out what is important to you. We all have our ideas on this job. Some love it, hate it or even indifferent. Dealing with GM is a major thorn in my side, but it could always be worse. Customers will be a source of hair pulling no matter who or what you do. What you really need to ask yourself is simple. Are you happy were you are and would you be happier moving back into the field. You know what the stress of what you have now, is it 20,000 worth the move?

I know that may no give you a pro or con of the taking the job. It is my thoughts though,

Good luck!

[camaroman]

I do not think it is stupid at all. My question would be how long has the rest of the staff been there. If there is a lot of change over, that would scare me away. As for GM they are slowly getting the train back on track. Hopefully it doesn't come off the rails again. Good luck however it turns out.

[PartsPlant81]

Could be worth it if you will have a good staff to work with and a clean inventory to manage.
Did they share the inventory value and maybe ask them for the last inventory report if there is one to see what the variances look like.
Also, not the biggest deal but maybe ask to look at the DOC to see what type of sales/profit you will be dealing with and what will be expected of you #'s wise.
Good luck with whatever decision you make.

[OilleakEarl]

I have been in this business for over 40 years (mostly GM) and I’ve been a parts manager since 1985. I work for a wonderful dealer at a very busy Chevrolet store. I can tell you that GM has really gone downhill. Their policies are terrible, the logistics completely unreliable and we have no real factory reps anymore. I’m pretty much on my own if any problems come up. If I didn’t have a ten minute commute, receive fair compensation and work for such a good company, I would have retired a year ago.

[Whatsyourvin]

I have been in this business for over 40 years (mostly GM) and I’ve been a parts manager since 1985. I work for a wonderful dealer at a very busy Chevrolet store. I can tell you that GM has really gone downhill. Their policies are terrible, the logistics completely unreliable and we have no real factory reps anymore. I’m pretty much on my own if any problems come up. If I didn’t have a ten minute commute, receive fair compensation and work for such a good company, I would have retired a year ago.

Quoted for truth...made me think of a scenario this morning.

Ordered x part...was billed for x part...received Y part...similar but not exactly correct. Won't work for the customer (Thule ski box)

Called contact GM...phone out of service even though it's the # in their email signature. Call my district rep...no answer. Great GM feeling I got.

Also have so many back-orders it's not even funny right now. We are in Canada and instead of quoting customers 1-2 weeks for SOP's...I am saying 2-4 and even that's optimistic. Real sad.

If it wasn't for the fact I like our owners and they do run a good ship here...I'd have been gone a long time ago. That said it's getting tougher and tougher to appease customers while still trying to be profitable! Just had someone "price match" Amazon and we were $200 more expensive even after giving them a deal (~trade give or take)

[bigmac]

You don't have to be stupid to be a GM parts manager, but it would probably help. Everything whatsyourvinsaid is true. No one at GM seems to care about you or your customer. The only exception is the local PDC. GM Rep's don't respond to requests for help, SPAC reads canned responses and very seldom do you get someone will to try to help. There are no discounts and GM doesn't seem to stock anything, but if you pick a part up to help your customer you risk getting charged surcharges and not being able to return RIM parts or anything else. Have fun.

[Denise Trimble]

Try it! Have a great plan B in case, but if you feel strongly enough to give it a shot: go for it. What is the worst that could happen? Quit? Get fired? They can't take away your birthday! It is a tough decision to make. Good luck in whichever you choose! Keep us posted.