I am just wondering as to who people might recommend as being the best Online Parts Sellers. Up until recently I’ve never ordered or bought any kind of car part over the Internet, but I have seen advertisements for parts companies that sell automotive parts online. JC Whitney is probably one of the best known one’s out there, but I’m not really sure if they have everything that one might need.
I’ve looked around on the Internet doing Google searches for other related parts companies that do similar stuff, but it’s really hard to say as to who is honest, reputable and good or even who has the best collection of parts.
Most of the time when I buy parts for any of the cars that I own I usually go with a local brick and mortar parts store like Autozone, O’reilly Auto, or some other place that is like that. Every once in a while I will go to the dealer to get parts if I feel that I have no other choice in the matter, but unfortunately the dealer is always the most expensive option.
It’s hard to go wrong on the quality of the parts that you get from a dealership, but it’s easy to go wrong on price as dealerships are always the most expensive place to go for parts. Parts stores like Autozone and O’reilly are usually pretty good on price, but it’s hit or miss when it comes to the quality of the parts that they sell and it’s hit or miss as well when it comes to them actually having a certain part in.
I don’t know how much better the online parts sellers are either in quality, price or availability of parts nor do I know as to which one’s might have the best customer service and shipping either.
Since this is my first time ordering any kind of part through the Internet I thought that I’d try to get an idea as to what other people might think about them and as what suggestions they might have as to who some of the good online parts sellers are and what your experiences with them might have been.
I try rockauto. I had an issue once when they sent non-matching struts. In their defense, KYB was changing their line and claimed the new GR2 is equal to the excel or something like that, but I was not going to put on silver strut on one side and a black one on the other side. Even if the ride quality was the same, I did not see spending money and lowering the value of my car.
I have also bought from Amazon. I use only amazon as the seller, their return policy is better. I usually cross shop with local AZ, O’reilly and napa, I would rather buy from the store for a bit more and know I can return it easily. Just last week bought rotors and pads from AZ (actually online with 20% discount and free shipping). I have used the lifetime warranty on the pads a lot. It pays to keep your cars forever.
I like Rockauto also because they have many harder to find parts and you can usually get OEM brands. I only had an issue twice and never did anything about it so don’t know how that would go. I ordered a Delco 6 cyl wire set but got an 8 cyl set. It worked ok with a couple of the wires a little longer than they should have been. I also had a water pump leak for a Northstar engine. I couldn’t get the old one out so took it to the dealer. They put it in but said it leaked so put a different one in. I think they were being honest about it since they didn’t charge for the second install. The Delco part was only $25 so I just threw it away but it did cause me to wonder a little.
I have bought some maintenance items and service manual from HandA for my Acuras.
Man I wouldn’t buy anything from JC. I think it was about 1966 was the last time. I ordered a couple used tires for my Morris Minor that were supposed to be fine and at bargain prices. The one tire actually had another tire casing glued onto the side of the tire. I sent them back and pretty much wrote them off.
I’ve ordered from Summit Racing and have been happy with the service. I used an online coupon to order a battery from Advance Auto and picked it up at the local Advance Auto store with no shipping charges.
Personally, I prefer the brick and mortar stores as any problem can usually be resolved without getting involved in time delays or shipping hassles.
While I am not dead certain if this is still strue, many years ago I had to attend a service school in Chicago for a week. Right across the street from the hotel was the J.C. Whitney store.
Up to that point I had always pictured them as a massive warehouse piled high with everything under the sun.
The building was maybe 1500 square feet and looked like an office than anything else. It could well be that JCW is king of the dropshippers.