Survival of aftermarket suppliers

[Charger440RDN]

With the economy down and less people doing restorations or taking on project cars, will aftermarket suppliers like AMD be able to thrive, make money and survive? It seems like lately you see more and more people passing up on rusty project cars, but these rust buckets are really what keep the suppliers in buisness.

[bull]

With the economy down and less people doing restorations or taking on project cars, will aftermarket suppliers like AMD be able to thrive, make money and survive? It seems like lately you see more and more people passing up on rusty project cars, but these rust buckets are really what keep the suppliers in buisness.

Most of the suppliers I've talked to about it (and I've asked several) have said things are going pretty well. In fact I just asked Kelly at Specialty Wheels about it two weeks ago and he said they've had a very good year. I bet there were a lot of guys with money who were just waiting for things to tank (or at least level off) before buying. While people might be passing on the rust buckets I don't see much suffering in the parts end of things. Maybe the people who are buying are being very picky about what projects they take on. If you can get one that's half decent today for the same price of one that was stuck to the ground 9 months ago, why buy the junker?

[wayfast1500]

I work in retail and have noticed a increase in sales in the last few months.  If you ignore the news and look at store sales, at liest in the places I've worked it is slowly picking up.  Its not huge changes, but for example the company I work for was 1 million dollars over sales plan this quarter vs. the $25,000 we were over last quarter.

[69DodgeCharger]

I work in retail and have noticed a increase in sales in the last few months.  If you ignore the news and look at store sales, at liest in the places I've worked it is slowly picking up.  Its not huge changes, but for example the company I work for was 1 million dollars over sales plan this quarter vs. the $25,000 we were over last quarter.

But the 800 lb. Gorilla in the room is the fact that there just aren't many jobs opening up. And the ones that do are at a lower wage and benefit level. Pretty hard to sustain any kind of long term growth that way, no matter what your business is. Other than food, medicine and dying.....oh yeah lets not forget the "corporate" banks and insurance companies they are doing just fine I bet.

[The70RT]

I think that the people that it didn't affect are buying up deals and moving along with them. I think at least half of the people on this forum are still building. Some even got cash to build there car and buy a new Challenger. Things are looking better in the market.....I lost a lot in my annuity the year before last and now have gained half of it back now. If you are or was employed with a small company it could be a different story. Our school district budget was cut by millions again this year but they managed to give us a raise still. My wife just got a 5% raise at her place of employment which only has 7 employees. So I think the reproduction market is doing fine....I do still seem to still get a lot of advertisements in the mail as of late.

[Silver R/T]

we went back to 100% business now. It has been slow past year and a half but now they're rehiring some workers back and we're staying busy.

[Charger440RDN]

It's good to hear that the suppliers are still going strong. it would suck to have a company like AMD go under after they finally reproduce everything you need for a Charger now. It took a long time for that to happen.

But the 800 lb. Gorilla in the room is the fact that there just aren't many jobs opening up. And the ones that do are at a lower wage and benefit level. Pretty hard to sustain any kind of long term growth that way, no matter what your business is. Other than food, medicine and dying.....oh yeah lets not forget the "corporate" banks and insurance companies they are doing just fine I bet.

You are correct here. I work for an insurance company in claims and no one has been laid off where I work during this whole economic crash. A lot of people are still recieving pay raises in most departments too and bonuses (not me unfortunately) . I guess I picked the right industry to work for in times like these.