Over the last 25 years, Dave Cox has seen a lot of changes in the auto parts business.The manager for the new O'Reilly's Auto Parts…
Over the last 25 years, Dave Cox has seen a lot of changes in the auto parts business.
The manager for the new O’Reilly’s Auto Parts store at 15644 West High Street in Middlefield Village started working at an auto parts store in Alabama 25 years ago, and time has affected everything.
“This business has changed completely,” he said last Friday from behind the counter. “We sold mostly spark plugs and tune up kits. Now its filters and modules.”
Besides the advanced computer systems that help run the business, Cox has seen huge changes in trucks and cars owned by his customers.
“The engines are so much better,” Cox said, adding parts like belts last longer now, and other parts have been affected by new technology.
“They used to change spark plugs every 20,000 miles. Now it’s more like 50,000 or 60,000 miles,” he said. “When we got rid of leaded gas, it improved the life-expectancy of the spark plugs.”
Since computers became a vital part of vehicles, they have also improved and Cox said they and some other parts have gotten cheaper over the years.
“Parts are not as expensive as they used to be,” he said, adding recycled parts have become less costly and more popular, particularly re-manufactured computers.
Cox opened the O’Reilly’s-owned store Oct. 16 and is planning a grand opening in March.
He relies on his assistant manager, Mike Delzingo, a lifelong Geauga County resident, to know the customers. They have been a promising beginning.
“Business has been better than expected,” Cox said.
Delzingo added, “We almost set a record for the first full month.”
Cox attributes the store’s popularity to O’Reilly’s reputation for service.
“We try to never say ‘no,'” he said. “If it can be found, we’ll order it.”
That includes $2,000 battery packs for Prius cars, he said.
Deliveries are made five nights a week, which benefits customers, Cox said.
“If you tell me what your want by 5 p.m., we can have it here by 7:30 a.m. the next morning,” he said.
O’Reilly’s has stores in 43 states and traces its origins back to the beginning of the automobile age in the early 20th century, according to the company website.
For more information, visit online www.oreillyauto.com or call 440-632-0251.
