What’s the difference you ask?  A Parts MANAGER is someone who is skilled or has been trained in the art of managing people and resources and knows, at minimum, the basics of accounting.  A PARTS manager is someone who was good at working the parts counter and when a manager job came open, got hired or promoted based on that fact alone.  I’m still amazed at how many times I walk into a dealership and the parts manager doesn’t know the basics of accounting.  I’m not talking ‘double entry’ stuff and ‘can you interpret the financial statement for me’, I’m talking about not knowing if tires are in 243 or what’s the difference between your physical/controlled inventory and your general ledger.

This is not a blog to bash young parts managers.  We all started somewhere and don’t necessarily have a Bachelor Degree in business management.  I’m ok with hiring someone who’s a little green behind the ears.  This is a plea to those who hire them to find out what he/she knows and make the conscious decision to make sure they get the training they need (be it formal or informal).  A little bit of education in the beginning will yield fewer problems (and more money) down the road.

In Part 2 of this article we will discuss where and how to get training.