Van's Auto Parts no longer exists. Van's sold the business to Car Quest in 2006. I used to work at Van's, and I briefly worked for Car Quest after the acquisition. Van's did not go out of business the hard way. They sold a very profitable business for a pretty good price. Van's put an exclamation point at the end of a very long and successful run as a unique, locally owned business.
When I first heard of the buy out, I was a little shocked, but not entirely. Van's was a local owned business, and I knew they were not going to stay in business as long as I needed a job. Also, the Car Quest people were beating the streets with the rumor almost a year in advance of the actual sale {I felt that this undermined Van's to some degree}. Although I knew very little about Car Quest, I actually looked forward to becoming part of a national chain.
When we were introduced to our future employers. we were told by the Car Quest brass several things,...
Prices would not go up {they did}
The inventory model would not change {it changed dramatically}
There would be no drug testing {there was} {I am not opposed to drug testing, I am opposed to being told things that are false}
Basically, the entire sales model was changed, and the Van's stores no longer had their unique personality anymore. Indeed, of the five locations originally acquired by Car Quest, only one remains. This one.
I found my brief experience as a Car Quest store manager to be very distasteful. Believing what I was told at first, I passed this information on to my staff. This made my part of the overall false image they were projecting on to the Van's employees.
As I have heard from some of my old coworkers over the years, the sales revenues for the former Van's stores in a very small fraction of what it was when Van's existed. As I said, only one location remains out of five.
For a company like Car Quest, built on the acquisition strategy, this must be an epic failure for them. As for the current staff, I am sure they are fine people working for a living like anyone else. Judge them on your own experience. Do not expect anything like the old Van's however. They are long gone.
I for one, will never do business with this company. read more
