Spurring along a a small amount of private feelings I will as well throw into the mix, I have to report that Honda kicked Toyota’s bumper in a survey taken by patrons of their parts companies. Honda surpassed Toyota as the highest company that auto parts suppliers prefer to do business with, according to an yearly study released Monday. Toyota has been the number one merchant parts supplier since 2002, but its ratings have fallen gradually over the previous two years, according to a report by Planning Perspectives Inc., that surveys manufacturing and repair industries, located in Birmingham, Michigan. Honda’s marks declined from last year as well, though not by as much. It was just enough of a hold to beat out Toyota this year.

Japanese automakers continued the best relations with their suppliers, with Nissan coming in third among the six automakers ranked. Ford finally raised enough in points to come in fourth, after that GM and then Chrysler LLC. “While Ford still has a large amount of work to do, what they’re doing with their suppliers is effective,” said John W. Henke, head and chief executive of Planning Perspectives, in a printed declaration. Toyota’s customers complained of a younger, not as skilled staff. Ford’s step up was due to its fresh choice to “tame” the business more and move its top European purchasing executive to the U.S. Ford also remains the only automaker among the Detroit “Big Three” that has not accepted government assistance so it just seems fitting.

In spite of being a Ford guy, I will comment on the Honda-Toyota findings.

I sincerely disagree with Toyota’s defeat here. When I worked in the parts business a few years ago, I did business sales. I had to do a lot of work with the dealerships and I was in fact quite impressed with the Toyota dealers in this area, minus the dealership in Westminster, Maryland. (They went on my “hit list”, for lack of a better term, after a few very bad experiences.) I in addition owned a Toyota. My chief auto was a light brown 1995 Toyota Corolla.

I found it a great deal easier to obtain dealer parts for that auto than some domestics, and I can tell you for sure that Honda parts are not as easy to find and are more costly. I am not sure why extra parts businesses favor to do business with Honda over Toyota. Not only do I differ with the results, but I call into question the accurateness of the survey, because it just makes no sense.

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