Morris: We experienced cycle time delays at first due to the quoting period. That hasn’t been much of a problem recently.

FB: What impact has PartsTrader had on your existing supplier relationships?

McDaniel: The program has not impacted our business relationships at all. I don’t have to ever source parts outside of our existing network as long as they have the parts available.
Nobody has ever tried to underbid my preferred OEM dealers, although that wouldn’t matter because I only use my preferred dealers anyway. I don’t send parts submissions to everybody. I use my preferred people and have had no problems with that.

Hunsaker: This hasn’t affected business with our existing vendors. A majority of our vendors, which we have used for decades, have opted not to participate with PartsTrader. State Farm does allow us to continue working with those suppliers using a fax process.

Huffstutler: We are not required to work with any particular dealer. We can work with anyone, and we still mostly buy from the same suppliers.
I also see competition among suppliers in the market as a good thing. Loyalty to existing business relationships can only go so far, and cycle time always has to be considered. Existing relationships might not always be the fastest resources.

PartsTrader provides opportunities to hear from other vendors who might be able to fulfill our needs more quickly. This adds a healthy level of competition, and causes suppliers to compete through improved service.

Morris: We’re not going to change vendors or do anything crazy like that. We’re mostly working with the same people and don’t intend to change that. The only times we have switched vendors was by choice when a better discount was identified.