Halfords

[Bren]

I went into the Rhyl branch today.

 

Is it just me or are they selling less car stuff - even cleaning stuff - they did'nt even have the armour all I was looking for.

 

Opinions? Looks like bikes are the future.

[mercrocker]

I think this is going to happen, not just in Halfords but other chains that had automotive stuff.   Nobody is doing this to cars any more, increasingly leased - people are losing touch with them.   That and the plethora of car washes which have removed the last hands-on interaction with the automobile.    

 

As a spin-off, my local motor factor, once threatened with closure is doing really well with people who still detail their cars and they have a huge valeting range instead of the couple of 5 litre bottles of cheap soapy bucket stuff they previously stocked. 

[sierraman]

I think it's moreover a case that they can't compete with EBay or ECP. Plenty still mend cars, you've only got to see the queue in ECP on a Saturday morning, it's just it's not a high street shop that you'll find the arena for this type of thing.

 

The problem is we've started to bring up a generation of useless people. People who don't have a screwdriver in the house. People that hang about, mouth agape driving a Quashquai round these bloody retail parks you find Halfords on. They're brilliant on an IPad and at microwaving convenience food but give them anything practical to do and they'd be completely incapable.

[Felly Magic]

Also Hellfrauds have one big markup on cheap Chinese bikes

[Stevebrookman]

Funnily enough I was speaking to a neighbour of minw who runs a MGB Roadster. He said that the future of classic cars looks poor. I asked why and he said that the younger generation no longer "fiddle" with cars-because either they are too complicated or cars are now too cheap. A lot of youngsters are simply not interested in how cars work.

 

I always remember me and my mates fixing our cars on a weekend ready to try and make them last another week. We learned how to fix cars because we had to.

 

Steve

[Mally]

True, its a throw away society now.

[Philyc]

I still class myself as one of the youth group (am 26). I hate modern cars because I like tinkering and doing things myself.

 

My mate at work is now enjoying making fun of the newly acquired Suzuki wagon for being shite (I openly accept it is) and can't understand why I don't spend more then my mortgage on a lease/finance car like he does.

 

He doesn't understand why I would do work myself and also why I wouldn't want a 250bhp modern instead of the wagon or my 1988 mini... Despite is all living in a country with speed limits.

 

I have a hard time explaining to him that for 250 quid I can actually own a car and that i enjoy fiddling with things.

 

I suppose nowadays it's seen as a hobby and not a necessity/life skill. As such hobbies go in and out of fashion like everything else.

[flat4alfa]

Doesn't sound much of a 'mate'.

[Philyc]

I didn't paint him in a good lighting did I.

 

Our conversations are pretty jovial and I actually think I'm gradually winning him over. Today he announced to me that he's thinking of getting rid of his BMW thing and buying a motorbike as he doesn't need a car.

 

Slowly getting there!

[SiC]

I went into the Rhyl branch today.

 

Is it just me or are they selling less car stuff - even cleaning stuff - they did'nt even have the armour all I was looking for.

 

Opinions? Looks like bikes are the future.

Wait till electric cars are the main form of vehicles. These require even less tinkering and fixing, as they are so much simpler.

 

Motor failure? Send it to a specialist for rewind.

Motor controller failure? Send it to a specialist for it to be refurbished - i.e. replace the power transistors and maybe a firmware update.

Battery failure? Send it to a specialist to be rebuilt - i.e. remove and replace the dead cells, then balance the pack.

 

The rest is standard suspension, steering parts and brake parts.

 

Classic cars won't die. There are too many people retiring that get bored! Yes the "younger generation" (i.e. <25yrs) are into tech and latest things, but then so were the kids back 30-40 years ago - except the tech then was mechanical stuff, not electrical. Once the younger generation gets a bit older (i.e. >30yrs), have kids and more sedate lifestyle, they'll want things to fiddle and play with. Cars will be one of those things.

[sierraman]

On the other hand the prospect of an engine rebore every 40,000 doesn't sound very enticing.

[overrun]

Halfords are 100% focusing on bikes and cutting down the car stuff further. Source: My good mate who is bike manager and has worked in loads of their stores.

[Pillock]

They still seem to stock a decent tool selection, and surprisingly they have more paints than I can ever remember before. Nice to see less neon furry tat too, at once point it seemed the Ripspeed tat brand was going to overwhelm the rest of the stock.

 

They can't compete with ECP etc on parts though. Remember in the "good old days" when a Ford Fiesta, Escort and Orion all shared about four engines, had the same brake components, filters etc and you just lobbed the same oil in every car you had? You could easily hold most consumables and service parts for most common cars in each store.

 

Now, you'll find a choice of six different brake pads on a 2009 Ford Focus depending on what engine it had, the wheels that were fitted, whether it had a computer with wear sensors, and what was available at time of build. Times that by the twenty models every manufacturer seems to have (Ford again: Ka, Ka+, Fiesta, B-Max, Focus, C-Max, Grand C-Max, Kuga, Edge, Mondeo, S-Max, Grand S-Max, Tourneo, Galaxy) and it's just not possible to have a retail store where you can walk in and browse for stuff. You need a warehouse where a computer tells you where things are.

[LostnotFound]

Also Hellfrauds have one big markup on cheap Chinese bikes

 

I also guess that where cars may not be as fettled by the average joe, bikes are still very mechanical so have plenty of parts / maintenance needs, so pads and chains to be sold to the DIYers and plenty of money to be made getting a minimum wage bored kid to attempt to build wheels.

[PiperCub]

Funnily enough I was speaking to a neighbour of minw who runs a MGB Roadster. He said that the future of classic cars looks poor. I asked why and he said that the younger generation no longer "fiddle" with cars-because either they are too complicated or cars are now too cheap. A lot of youngsters are simply not interested in how cars work.

 

I always remember me and my mates fixing our cars on a weekend ready to try and make them last another week. We learned how to fix cars because we had to.

 

Steve

 

The above - sad but very true for the most part. I don't personally know anyone under 30 (or maybe 35) who does any work on their own vehicles. As you say, it used to be part of growing up - fixing cars with your mates. Also, doing the same in lunch hour at work so people could get home!

 

Becoming a lost art. 

[Honey Badger]

You all seem to be forgetting that modern cars (ie from 95 ish onwards) don't need constant fiddling with unless you buy a pup, my last 5 cheap cars it was only the shitty Sierra that needed constant attention and that was due to it being a generation older than the R8 216 that followed it.

 

Modern ignition and injection systems means no fucking about with Carbs and points and they last far longer.

 

My last 4 cars needed nothing but the fluids checking on a bi monthly basis, the 17 year old £800 Accord V6 used to get it's oil checked once every 6 months, in comparison to the 80s shite by Ford, Austin Rover and Vauxhall that all leaked like a sieve and struggled to start on a slightly damp morning.

 

There are plenty of practical young people who generally have far better things to do than lie under a car trying to get a few more miles from an old crock, sorry if this upsets people who have a very jaundiced vew of the younger generations.

[Mally]

I would imagine that Halfords have a whizz kid re-organising the set up.

All companies do it from time to time.

At the moment I think Halfords are on the up, judging from the number of people in the branch I use.

They sell tat, and fit things to your car that you are too stupid to fit yourself.

Perfect for the modern day, but not for the likes of us.

[skoda_fan]

I agree they are going from bad to worse. The staff never know anything, and they never have what you want. Just wanted a length of bog standard petrol hose from my branch recently, only to be told they don't stock it and I'd need to go to a main dealer (after trying to look up my C reg Estelle on their system, unsurprisingly without success). Another nearby largish branch has closed its parts counter altogether. What they do stock is pretty expensive anyway, and they insist on making it impossible to think what you're looking for by blasting out some crap local radio station. Euro Car Parts not much better. Just a couple of kids behind the counter who look everything up by reg no. If it doesn't pop up, they haven't a clue. Depressing. No doubt they'll eventually disappear like a lot of once big retailers.

[Bren]

Nobody needs aluminium mesh and plastic padding anymore.

 

Except us.....

[Partridge]

I think this is going to happen, not just in Halfords but other chains that had automotive stuff.   Nobody is doing this to cars any more, increasingly leased - people are losing touch with them.   That and the plethora of car washes which have removed the last hands-on interaction with the automobile.    

 

As a spin-off, my local motor factor, once threatened with closure is doing really well with people who still detail their cars and they have a huge valeting range instead of the couple of 5 litre bottles of cheap soapy bucket stuff they previously stocked. 

Halfords seem to stock less and less cleaning stuff, you're right. People seem to think you're a bit weird if you wash your own car these days. Hand car washes seem to have sprung up like mushrooms allover the country - in direct correlation to the boom in financed cars...

Oddly, I used to always be washing my cars but now I'm quite adverse to it. I begrudge cleaning the outside. 

 

They didn't sell the wiper blade I wanted last time I went in. The time before that they didn't sell the fuse I wanted. And the time before that didn't sell the bulb I needed.

[skoda_fan]

Don't agree with your first para. Car washing is a kind of mindless activity that's deeply satisfying.

 

Definitely agree with your second para though. That's been my experience for quite a while now. Not worth even going in there really, but they're handy, and each time I think it'll prove different. It never is.

[SiC]

Halfords I've noticed around here have a parts counter where they order it from ECP for you.

[egg]

I remember when my motor factor dad used to carry loads of parts numbers in his head in the days when you had to look out a catalogue every time a grumpy sod was on the phone wanting something yesterday.

 

Electronic parts catalogues de-skilled the job somewhat.

 

Having said that, parts trade has always been a low paid job.

 

Also stock moves at lightening speed these days. Old stock is generally left for eBayers trying to make a few quid.

[fordperv]

The guys at the factors I use are fantastic, because ive got older stuff they can usually remember the part numbers for stuff I want

[dougiefourspeed]

A lot of the older and independent factors have been taken over by or amalgamated into bigger firms and the old guard of factors have simply been absorbed into ECP, GSF and suchlike. I worked for ECP for a number of years (don't shoot!) and the people with the knowledge are still there - there was (still is) an older gent in my branch who was ex-BL/ARG and could reel off pretty much any Unipart number you care to mention from memory. Egg is right, once you've seen the numbers enough you tend to retain the information. The people are still there - it's just a shame they've been crushed under the weight of corporate bullshit (man).

 

 

Sic is also preaching the truth, ECP supply anything Halfords don't have on the shelf. If you have work done by a Halfords autocentre there's a 99% chance ECP parts will have been used.

[SiC]

If you have work done by a Halfords autocentre there's a 99% chance ECP parts will have been used.

I didn't know that! I wonder if they have shares in each other? Will explain why there is a autocentre next to my nearest ECP.

 

Tbh I think most garages use ECP heavily nowadays. That and SES seem popular around here. Never heard of them until recently. Do they allow Joe public to buy from them?

[egg]

This is true, my dad's factors had four branches in Whitstable, Dover, Sittingbourne and Thanet, too small to compete has has been taken over by a larger group since he retired.

[Dave_Q]

Halfords are doing fine out of overpriced pushbikes and paying a fiver for a minimum wage goon to fit a wiper blade, why bother stocking brake drums for a 1992 Mondeo when the markup and likelihood of selling is better on bike racks and whatnot.

 

£50 I think they charge for a "gold" pushbike service which consists of adjusting the gears and brakes and not much else.

[Hendry]

I think its a good thing that its not a necessity to have to tinker with cars anymore and only do it as a hobby/interest, because that way you get more enjoyment out of it, you dont get sick of it, and you only do it because you want to do it, not because its needed to get you to work the next day.

 

I cant say ive noticed the local Halfords having less choice, infact if anything they have more choice now, but I hardly ever go in, and i doubt most other people do, unless I need a particular cleaning product there and then if ive run out and cant wait for it to be ordered and delivered online, because any time I go in its always empty so despite their choice i can still see them ending up going out of business due to how quiet they are, because as much choice as they have, theres always more choice across the internet as a whole and even in individual car cleaning product websites etc. and usually cheaper than Halfords, not just a bit cheaper, a lot cheaper to the point Halfords prices are crazy rip-offs. 

 

Then theres actual car parts, genuine parts are becoming more and more readily accessible and cheaper than they used to be when main dealers had a captive audience for them and charged accordingly, they represent good value and can sometimes be cheaper than factor parts, are sometimes better quality and last longer or a car runs better with the OE stuff. 

 

Aside from their cleaning stuff, bikes and tools, a lot of the stuff they sell there just isnt really a market for anymore, aftermarket alloy wheels, hardly anyone changes alloy wheels now because most cars come with them as standard now, and if they do change them its for bigger, nicer OEM wheels that suit the car better, big subwoofers and amps, again nobody really fits these to cars anymore because OEM incar enterrtainment and sound quality has improved so much in recent years and most cars can also be had with factory fit upgraded sound systems, subwoofers and amplifiers without splicing and running wiring, taking up boot space with big bass boxes, same with head units, OEM ones are much better, decent, integrated and quite difficult to change as they are usually built in, or control other functions like hazard switches on Fords, indicator beeps and chimes on newer Vauxhalls etc. so thats a declining market. 

 

They also sell rip off "Prism" LED interior light bulbs at a tenner a pop, rip off, or vast choices of different xenon look headlight bulbs at vastly inflated prices. They are going to be one of those high street retailers the internet has killed off. Only Halfords Autocentres will survive I think. 

[Sir Snipes]

Halfords are doing fine out of overpriced pushbikes and paying a fiver for a minimum wage goon to fit a wiper blade, why bother stocking brake drums for a 1992 Mondeo when the markup and likelihood of selling is better on bike racks and whatnot.

 

£50 I think they charge for a "gold" pushbike service which consists of adjusting the gears and brakes and not much else.

Are they over priced though? Carreras and Boardman seem to be good value, if over looked due to snobbish riders (such as me!). I don't know about the cheap stuff as I've never looked at that.

 

All this makes me wonder how Haynes are still going. Surely YouTube has killed most of their market?