Answer extracted from the Car Dealership Guy Podcast — listen to the full episode below.
Why Parts Suppliers Can't Meet Demand Without OEM Sales Data
OEMs possess extensive sales data but don't aggregate or share it with parts suppliers, forcing suppliers to anticipate demand without visibility into actual market needs. This blind spot leaves dealership shelves vulnerable to parts shortages, even when the data exists to prevent them.
The supply chain problem emerged during a panel discussion at the Chempress Supplier Summit in Detroit, Michigan. Panel members discovered that companies across the automotive industry have access to granular sales information—vehicle models sold, service intervals followed, replacement patterns—yet this data remains siloed internally rather than shared downstream with the parts suppliers who must stock inventory.
Parts suppliers are explicitly asking OEMs to simply provide access to this sales data. As discussed during the panel, the barrier is not technical—OEMs can extract and share this information—but organizational. Suppliers lack the demand signals needed to make informed purchasing decisions, so they resort to guessing which parts will be needed and in what volumes.
The consequence ripples through dealership service departments. When suppliers can't predict demand accurately, they either stock too conservatively and parts become unavailable, or they overstock and capital ties up in slow-moving inventory. The conversation at Chempress revealed this was not a problem anyone on the panel had anticipated before the summit, suggesting it's widespread across the industry but largely unexamined.
What makes this pattern especially notable is that the data already exists within OEM systems. The solution doesn't require new technology or costly infrastructure—it requires a shift in how OEMs think about data sharing as a competitive advantage for the entire supply chain, not a proprietary asset to be guarded.
Data Visibility as the Missing Link
The core issue traces back to information asymmetry. OEMs know which vehicles are in the field, when maintenance is due, and what replacement parts will be needed based on historical patterns. Parts suppliers, sitting downstream, have none of this context. The panel emphasized that even modest transparency—sharing regional sales volumes or projected service schedules—would allow suppliers to right-size inventory and improve parts availability at dealerships.
Without this visibility, suppliers default to reactive strategies: they build safety stock to hedge against uncertainty, or they minimize inventory to reduce risk. Neither approach serves the dealership or the customer. A technician waiting for a part that could have been stocked is a lost service opportunity. Data sharing turns supplier forecasting from guesswork into informed planning, which directly translates to better parts availability and faster repairs.
Key takeaways
- OEMs hold sales and maintenance data but do not share it with parts suppliers, leaving suppliers unable to forecast demand accurately.
- Parts suppliers are explicitly requesting OEM sales data to improve their ability to anticipate which parts will be needed and in what quantities.
- The lack of demand visibility forces suppliers to guess, leading to either stock shortages or excess inventory at dealerships.
- This supply chain problem exists across the industry but has gone largely unexamined until high-level conversations like the Chempress Supplier Summit.
See also
Should dealerships prioritize gaining more customer demand or eliminating customer friction in service operations?
Dave Rogers and Tully Williams both chose 20 percent more demand, with Tully noting he would turn increased demand into no friction anyway. Richard Lupo emphasized the importance of eliminating friction to retain customers in a competitive market.
What percentage of routine vehicle service will migrate to mobile service outside dealership locations?
Ed Roberts predicted that within five years, 60 percent of service visits will be mobile. Richard Lupo estimates 50 percent of routine maintenance like oil changes and basic repairs will move to mobile units.
How should dealership service departments answer incoming phone calls to improve customer retention?
Richard Lupo advocates for proactive solutions, noting that Apple Tree Automotive uses an AI agent that catches every single call, logs it, and schedules approximately 30 percent of appointments automatically.