Low stocks at the Motor Factors

[Nemesis]

I went on a mooch about today to buy some glass polish and a rear wiper for my Dads ageing Vauxhall Signum and some big crimp on terminals for battery wire, No glass polish to be found at my local frequently attended factors, no terminals either.... " just can't seem to get hold of any" says the main man, and no I haven't got a wiper blade either, so I had to toddle off to euro car parts, their shop looked like it had be burgled, huge gaps in the displays, and what was there was looking thin on the ground..... "Just struggling to get the stuff in" says the main man at that shop, he didn't have any glass polish or crimp on terminals either, but he did have the wiper blade and it's gone up by £3 since the last time I bought one.

 

Is anyone else seeing this in their parts of the world?

 

Nem.........      

[Richard (OldStager)]

Yep, my local factors took 3 days to get some Autoglym glass clean, when asked if they had any anti-mist products they said - another 3 days. No idea what's going on. Brexit / truckdrivers ?, Covid  - who knows.

[jeff oakley]

As many of you know I work for a company that supplies parts and consumables to motor factors, we are part of the worlds largest motor group.

 

Supply is an issue on specific brands but there are plenty of alternatives out there and many made in the UK.

 

One of the biggest issues is getting containers shipped form the far East. Many operators took ships out of commission and when the price of scrap rose sharply they scrapped those older ships, so now there is a shortage of then until new ones come on line.

 

Before Covid we were paying $3000 dollars per container landed at the highest we were being asked to pay $16000 and now pay between $5 -8000 dollars so supply chains are behind.

 

We have our own truck drivers so we collect goods from some suppliers ourselves and we top up our local RDC every night. All of the product mentioned here we have in stock of varying brands. Motor factors can get most of the items mentioned same day from us, if they chose but many use the same supplier and if they ae out of stock will not change. 

[Mole]

Jeff we are only a minnow compared with your company but I bring in many containers per year from China.. I wish we were only paying $8k for a container.. on our route we are still paying around $17k where three years ago was $2k..

It is only supply and demand and the prices being fixed!  Also previously was 4 week shipment time and is now eight weeks..

 

I am currently having issues though where we now have a massive influx of containers and having to find space for the stock..

 

I think it will take the rest of the year to settle down..

It is down to Covid.. not Brexit.. and the lean supply chains getting back up and running!  It is the same in all countries..

[jeff oakley]

You are correct That it will take the rest of the year to  back to some normality and I agree it is Covid the main reason.

 

I understand your pain with stocks, at present we have over 2000 pallets in off company storage and still some of the lines we want are stuck in China.

 

As for the costs, we ship huge amounts from the far East to the US, Australia New Zealand and the whole of Europe and we were squeezed for price as shipping companies are making more cash from fewer ships so volume dictates price especially before Christmas.

 

It is the same in the EU as well one of our supplier a large German clutch company have around a 60% order fill when they were always high 90's previous, they are stuck for raw materials.

 

But my main point is that there is product for motoring out there you just have to get them to find it by not relying on the big names they might ordinarily use.

 

[Nemesis]

Wow, not just local to me then, my local factors are called MPX (Motor Parts Express), I've known Tony the owner for years and patronised his companies as he's grown then sold them, if any wholesale suppliers out there don't currently deal with him then PM me some contact details and I'll pass them on.

 

Nem.......  

[SootySport]

Plenty of consumable parts around here,  I think you're just fussy Paul.

[Nemesis]

Of course I am Bernie, I know what I like and I like what I know…. Now it’s Friday night and I need a beer or several, exit right.

[Lyonspride]

I can't really say too much, because of my job and stock market related things, but within the automotive sector there are currently a lot of attempts to drive up retail values by starving the market of various parts and consumables.

It's along the same lines as the semi-conductor shortage, the whole thing was made 10x worse by companies buying up stock of items they had no intention of ever using and then selling that stock at 100% or more mark up.

It can't last forever, but the lasting effect with be higher retail prices.