So I just bought a part for one of my cars – a fairly esoteric suspension piece – and the place that had the best mix of price and delivery time amazingly proved to be… Amazon.
Now, I get car parts all over the freaking place. I troll Pick-A-Parts for used parts, I have RockAuto and PartsGeek favorited on my Mac and my iPhone, and I know all the Autozones, O’Reillys, and Pep Boys in my area. I even venture into Walmart on occasion because – to be honest with you – that’s the best place to buy car batteries.
What’s your modus operandi for sourcing your parts, do you have a favorite local parts store that is your reliable resource? Or, are you like me and cast a wide net, seeking the best deals you can find? What is your go-to car parts source?
Image: Technorati
Hooniverse Asks- What's Your Go-to Parts Place?
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My Volvo? IPD USA, eEuroParts or Rock Auto, in that order. My SAAB? eEuroParts, Rock Auto and TheSAABSite, in that order.
NAPA for local stuff (AAA discount!) -
My local speed shop sources everything for me. He is the only one who has ever touched my car for anything. True story last week I went in to order a set of Wiper Blades and a new GTX3076r.
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For car stuff, it's the local AutoZone or Advance Auto Parts.
Actually, no. To be perfectly honest, the vast majority of the time, it's wherever these guys decide to get their parts, which magically appear on my vehicle…
<img src="http://www.certifiedtransmission.com/shops/87/images/shop87.jpg">
For OE motorcycle (and previously, PWC) parts:
<img src="http://www.partzilla.com/content/skins/flat/images/header/logo.gif">
For hard-to-find, obsolete and used parts, as well as aftermarket accessories:
<img src="http://www.typodeals.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/aiusgdoaisugf.png" width="240"> -
Aaaaah…the famous AutoBild longterm test parts images…Click here for a whole bunch of them.
I buy my parts directly through my Honda-dealer and shop. That's what I've become. Then I pull a bad joke and ask for a discount. Please don't throw me off the wagon. Please. -
I'm in the same boat as Sjalabais – I end up often buying parts through the dealer, at least for model-specific things. I've been burned a couple times by other parts places, getting home to find the supposed proper white box part doesn't fit. There's not enough of a savings to justify the hassle, especially since I spend all day visiting dealers for work anyhow.
For more generic stuff, I'm never more than ten minutes from a Canadian Tire, and they're open late enough to be convenient. -
For my truck and van, I just go with Autozone, O'Reilly's, Napa. . . If it's not critical I check Amazon and generally get 25-60% off what I'd pay locally.
For the Geo, though, my go-to spot is:
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/dC18inP.jpg" width=450> -
<img src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/1243820_230828433733957_1842437994_o.jpg" width=640>
The local "Pick-n-Pull" or the internet.-
Looks like they have a wide variety of…trim levels.
Btw, this pristine 205 GTI should keep you awake tonight.-
Thanks, but no thanks! That's no good! Ridiculous non-factory decals, wrong size tyres and…
The Japanese market never got the real 1.9 GTI with 130hp, this 1.9 is detuned to 105hp.
On a side note, you know I live in France… Yes? In any case thanks for sharing Sjalabais!
<img src="http://bringatrailer.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/1988-Peugeot-205-GTI-Front.jpg" width="640/">-
Hehe, ok then – the decals seemed very off, hopelessly so, but the rest…out of my knowledge.
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Rock Auto if I can plan ahead.
Advance Auto Parts if I can't.
Local stealership if neither if them have it.
Model specific forums for odds and ends that people are parting out. -
Like others, it's car specific and part specific. For fluid/filter/plug stuff, I shop close to home. For the oddball stuff on the older cars, sourcing is typically via Google. Even NTB couldn't find a source of Eldorado tire valves, and a GM parts department couldn't help me on a window guide that was last on their shelves a decade ago.
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<img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-pRuUowhIRPs/VMpbzMYDv0I/AAAAAAAASGY/BB3fIs52v4g/w1203-h677-no/My%2Bhouse.png" width="600/">
KEY:
Yellow star – My house
Red Stars – Everything I need to work on my car. The place that shares a property line with me is an Autozone, the other to the southwest is a Liquor Store. I can get the parts or tools that I need and reward myself and any helpers at the other.
I also have a NAPA and Advanced Auto Parts within walking distance, but not shown on the map.-
That's cheating. And it's pretty unfair to send us into the wrong direction for beer, too.
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Did I say SW, I meant SE. Shut up and catch the oil.
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I hope that you have a back gate installed to get to Autozone.
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I did until Hurricane Sandy. Autozone's fence was severely damaged and they replaced it with a privacy fence for their whole property instead of just 5-6 feet past the building. The borough had asked them to extend it to the road years before, but had termed it in a way of "when you replace your current fencing…" So it was going to happen eventually anyway.
I always like it when a newer employee, who doesn't know me, asks if I want help putting whatever small part (wipers, light bulb, filter) in my car. I tell them to come on over. The manager has a good chuckle too.-
This looks and sounds really cool, with the tennis and basketball courts across the street, too. If I remember correctly, you bike to work, too? You have played the property game well, Mr. PotbellyJoe. Limit driving to when it's fun.
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My wife and I really enjoy our town that way. I was cooking dinner the other night, realized we didn't have a wine to go with what I was cooking, flipped the meat on the grill and walked over to buy wine, getting back in time to put on the broccoli.
We're also 1/4 mile from a train station to NYC and 1 mile from a downtown area that has at least 25 restaurants, covering Cuban, (Real) Chinese, Mexican, Italian, Pub fare, Korean, Hibachi, Lebanese, Greek and a smattering of others. It makes for great summers because many of the restaurants are BYOB, so we walk down to them, eat and drink at sidewalk tables and then walk home. We're also in some of the best schools in the state, so bonus there too.
I ride three days a week and drive on Monday (to drop off food and clothes for the week) and Friday (to pick up clothes from the week.)
We found a gem of a town and were lucky to find a house we liked in it as well. -
Ok, enough now. =8^) Seriously jealous. What I can do within walking distance? Go fishing.
<img src="http://s26.postimg.org/tua44zgq1/Sjalabais.png" width="600"> -
Can you swim there? That's one thing I am always jealous of.
My parents have a place on a lake that is wonderful for swimming, water skiing and the like. I love to visit them. However their pizza selection is terrible, so I could never live there, haha. -
I live next to a lake for swimming, skating, and fishing. Over-valued: I'm tired of pike, the water is cold, and I can't skate. But I make an acceptable pizza (no pike on it, sorry).
With my DD shitbox, I go to an independent workshop where I like the service (they all cost the same here, they all deliver mediocre wrenching, so why should I bear bad coffee and bad customer communication), and which occasionally pulled parts from a scrapyard in order to save us a couple of days without car.
For parts for the project car, I realize that I go more and more to my local Porsche dealer (they opened last year!) for spares: they get their parts quicker (customs), returns are not a problem, and they treat me well despite of owning a relatively lousy P-car and a shitbox (which I use when getting there, as you know, the p-car needs parts…).
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FCP Euro. IPD if FCP doesn't have it, though IPD is stupidly expensive. i currently live a block from a Pep Boys, so i can get tools, consumables, etc with a short walk, which is an incredibly nice resource to have at my disposal, but no way are those parts going on my car. though, to be fair, i used autozone parts almost exclusively on my old nissan and they done me good.
so far i've only bought one part from the dealer, and it was, as expected, ludicrously overpriced. $25 for a bolt with a rubber cushion.
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Yep yep yep. FCP Euro has the Volvo parts goodness.
I'll get online and compare Autozone Advance and o Riley. Usually one of the three has a buy online, pick up in store deal. If I have time and really need a used part, then I will go to ebay and car-part.com. Car-part.com searchs the inventory of thousands of junkyards around the country. When I needed a gas tank for the Trailblazer a new one was $975, used ones on ebay ran about $275, I found one at a yard about 70 miles away for $50. I called to see if they could ship it. "No, but we can deliver it for $30". Sold!
It depends on what I'm looking for and how badly I need it, but small stuff and consumables generally come from the local Autozone / O'Reilly's / Pep Boys – it's generally not worth mail-ordering spark plugs, for example.
For larger items, Rockauto, Amazon, and eBay are my typical go-to sources. This has inadvertently resulted in receiving parts from interesting locations at times: the headlamp and turn signal stalk sent to the US from Latvia is my current favourite, with the blower motor resistor pack from Indonesia a close second.
Junkyards aren't as kind to me as they once were; attrition of the number of Peugeots in the US over time means that there just aren't as many turning up as there used to be, so when I do find one that's useful to me I take absolutely everything off of it that I can.
Ever since, as part of a project for work, I did a teardown on a "remanufactured" starter and alternator, I will never again buy a reman of anything from Autozone, but I worked at one for a semester 16 years ago, and have maintained a loyalty to them whenever they have what I need.
For fluids and other assorted consumables, they are my go-to. If I need an actual part, it depends. It depends on a lot of things, but it is based on who has it, when I need it, and how critical the part is. That will determine if I pick it up from Napa or Autozone/O'reilly/Advance (generally in that order), or if I track down an OE part (usually online).
For my e46, Pelican Parts is always my first stop. Competitive prices and fair shipping charges. I also like how they rate the parts based the quality of the manufacturer.
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Did you know that the owner of Pelican has two 959s? A driver and a museum-piece. That's some good business, there.
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The 944 specialists I buy from occasionally all own and drive… 944s. (While PP has a good selection, knowledgable folks around and ok prices, their shipping to Europe is above average, and shipping is part of the tax basis, so…)
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![https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-pRuUowhIRPs/VMpbzMYDv0I/AAAAAAAASGY/BB3fIs52v4g/w1203-h677-no/My%2Bhouse.png"](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-pRuUowhIRPs/VMpbzMYDv0I/AAAAAAAASGY/BB3fIs52v4g/w1203-h677-no/My%2Bhouse.png"){kind=link}
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For my Imp, Malcolm Anderson Imp Parts is always my first port of call. Mind you, there aren't a huge number of alternatives!
While I will sometimes use Amazon or Rock Auto, my favorite source is Lee Auto Supply. It's a NAPA parts store, and it's highly rated by Murilee Martin Lifestyle Brands™. It's run by old hotrodders and circle track racers who actually know stuff about detroit lumps and solid axles. I've gotten some great advice from the guys there.
<img src="http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z313/ndrwhrnr/138403814030153556_zps8951ae2b.jpg" width="600">
And Rockauto, Amazon, Craigslist, Preludepower.com forum members, NAPA, local auto parts chain Fortins.
![http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z313/ndrwhrnr/138403814030153556_zps8951ae2b.jpg"](http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z313/ndrwhrnr/138403814030153556_zps8951ae2b.jpg"){kind=link}
Parks auto parts in Charleston SC has been good to me over the years for most of my mechanical bits, but for the obscure trim and year specific body parts its been ebay.
I'm into classic minis. Mini Mania in California has a HUGE presence, but I don't buy from them. They suck. They are many times DOUBLE the price of buying parts in the UK even with shipping. And for some things they even drop ship from the UK suppliers, with a mark up of course. I prefer Mini Sport USA, but Mini Spares is great too!
I don't like Wal-Mart for batteries. I haven't had good luck with the Everstart brand, they rarely have common motorcycle sizes in stock when I need them and…..it's Wal-Mart. I actually go to Kmart. They carry the same Diehard line as Sears and no one ever seems to go in there these days so they always have plenty left and I never have to wait in line.
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