Buying auto parts

I did once, a long time ago. I needed a tail light assembly for my 1985 Buick Skyhawk. I was getting my car inspected in Arlington, TX, where you can’t have tape on your tail light. The part would have been so expensive new that I got one from a junk yard for a reasonable price. Unfortunately, the junk yard part was also sun-beaten and fragile, so it wasn’t long before I had to put red tape on the replacement part too due to accidental breakage. It fell apart when I touched it with my hand.

Geez it used to be fun to go to a junk yard and look around. I’ve bought computer screens for my Riv, switches, gas filler door, glove box, wheel covers, wheels, seat mechanism, and on and on. I just don’t see how you control the quality of the part you get from Amazon? They can come from any vendor. So if you buy an alternator, how do you know what the quality is?

I agree. But unfortunately times have changed… tort lawyers have changed it! :rage:

You can easily determine the vendor and their rating. But vendors do not control part quality. They only sell parts. The manufacturer of the part they are selling is also known. For example i can buy a Dorman aftermarket part or the GM OEM part. No different than any online source like rockauto or even going into a brick and mortar parts store. Same parts, more convenient if you can wait a day or two to get them.

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It’s pretty simple. Amazon has a return policy that applies to everyone who sells on its site, and if quality is sub-par, you return the part, usually without having to pay for return shipping. Sometimes the seller will tell you to dispose of the part as you see fit rather than return it. Then you write a scathing review of the product and, if appropriate, you write a scathing review of the seller. If the quality issue is legitimate, others will write similar reviews, and pretty soon the product isn’t listed anymore. I can show you specific examples if you’d like. I find most sellers value positive feedback to such a degree that they want to make it right.

I’ve never had to do it with Amazon, but if you don’t find satisfaction with Amazon’s resolution to your issue, you can call your credit card bank and file a charge-back. Companies hate those, because if they get a lot of them, it hurts their credit rating, forcing them to increase the reserve required in order to accept credit card payments.

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I never bring a lawyer, just go alone.

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LOL, good one.
Many of us accept responsibility for our own actions while in boneyards, but unfortunately there are also many who look for someone to sue for every mistake they make… even trying to drive with hot coffee and spilling it on their laps. Tort lawyers become rich off of these lawsuits. :relaxed:

What was that Shakesphere said in one of his plays? “First let’s kill all the lawyers”?

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I miss Johnny Carson’s lawyer jokes. My favorite is:

Why does New Jersey have so many toxic waste dumps, and Washington, DC have so many lawyers?

New Jersey had first pick.

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Hee hee. Making friends and influencing people huh?

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Speaking of junkyards . . .

At one of the local pick a part yards, guys will routinely go there with their wives

Invariably, the wives will be dressed in high heels, dressed very well, and with full makeup

Anyways, they are apparently there for “moral support”

The guy will be lying under a car, oil dripping on his face, struggling to remove some component, and the wife will be “reminding” the husband that they have to be at such and such place in an hour . . .

Believe it or not, I’ve not yet seen one of these ladies break a nail or break a heel off of their shoes. If I do see such a thing I’ll have a good chuckle :laughing:

One of our 2 local pull-your-part places has all the cars displayed on stands in a large concreted area. Cleanest junkyard I’ve ever seen! The other is exactly the swamp of oil, coolant, mud and scrap you’d expect.

Wanna guess which of the two I’ve seen women in? Oddly enough, the swamp, but not in heels!

If a women dressed nicely and in heels showed up at either place, I’d bet all work would stop dead from the shock. :open_mouth:

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All of the junkyards in my area are required to have the cars “on stands in a large concreted area”

As far as clean goes, that depends on who’s running the show

One of them is clean, and well organized, whereas the other is filthy, and good luck finding anything