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Automotive maintenance and repair can get expensive, which is why many car owners prefer to do maintenance at home, at least the easy DIY auto projects. If you’re one of these DIYers, you may have dealt with a difficult customer service experience at your local auto parts store. Such experiences can cause delays, and make even the simplest job more challenging than it needs to be. If you regularly shop at AutoZone, chances are you might have nothing but good stories to share.

According to a January 2026 report from the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), AutoZone leads the way as the best auto parts retailer, based on customer satisfaction. In fact, the company improved over the prior year by 3%, which comes to a total score of 79%. This shift put the company ahead of O’Reilly Auto Parts, even though O’Reilly has a rewards program to help you save money. O’Reilly slid down to the No. 2 spot, from an 81 to a 76. Rounding out the top three is Advance Auto Parts, down from a score of 77 to 75.

The ACSI doesn’t reveal its exact formulas used for generating these scores. However, the organization does explain on its website that customer satisfaction is based on thousands of interviews with said customers. Those interviews are then fed into an internal model that records the key points of satisfaction, including customer expectations, perceived quality, and value. Those figures are then used to formulate a single score for each company reviewed, on a scale of 0-100.

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Beyond its 2026 ranking in the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), AutoZone also performs well in reports from other publications. As an example, in Newsweek’s America’s Best Customer Service 2025 rankings, AutoZone placed third in the Online Retailers: Transportation category. The company has a total score of 85.65, behind RockAuto with an 87.05 and first-place Auto Parts Warehouse with an 88.25. Newsweek’s numbers are based on a large consumer survey conducted with Statista.

However, not all customer satisfaction reports have been positive for AutoZone, and that’s despite the fact that you can get some things for free at the stores. According to the 2024 Market Force research, via PR Newswire, NAPA Auto Parts ranked highest in overall customer experience, earning a score of 77.5%. This was based on several customer experience metrics. But NAPA is actually in the second spot for total customer visits, coming in at 18.3%, which is well behind AutoZone’s No. 1 ranking of 32.3%. So even though AutoZone had more customers overall, the study found that other automotive retailers performed better in customer experience.

ConsumerAffairs shows a similar trend for AutoZone, as the retailer doesn’t display positive customer experiences consistently. According to reviews on the organization’s website, some of AutoZone’s  mployees go the extra mile to help, but that same level of service isn’t the norm overall. In fact, AutoZone has 2.4 stars out of 5, and out of 770 total reviews, 471 are one star only. So while some customers are pleased, many leave disappointed.