mikaleda Posted December 2, 2015 Share Posted December 2, 2015 I live in a fairly small town and we only have two parts suppliers. So far the locally owned parts store I've been going to for years has been going downhill bad lately. The only other option I have is a Napa auto parts store down the street that is just as bad if not worse. Most of the parts are inline with what they should be. But ocaisionaly they get just really stupid. For an example I wanted a gates timing belt kit for a 90 Mazda MPV. They quote me $165 I check online and I can get the same exact kit for $90. Most of the time they are within $20 wich is fair, I don't expect them to meet online prices. I am getting tired of being f-ed over and not being able to trust my parts supplier. Does anyone know if there is an online supplier that could be used for business? I am going to be doing some research and it will need to be good and fast shipping for a reasonable price. Then I will only use Napa for parts I need imediatly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carfreak85 Posted December 2, 2015 Share Posted December 2, 2015 Rock Auto. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikaleda Posted December 2, 2015 Author Share Posted December 2, 2015 Rock Auto. Rock auto sucks for a bussines, the way they figure shipping is annoying and time consuming and their prices aren't great either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carfreak85 Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 Beggars can't be choosers. I find that even with shipping from multiple locations, unless I'm buying parts for a common, modern (2000+) car, Rock Auto will beat everyone, including Amazon Prime, 8 out of 10 times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikaleda Posted December 3, 2015 Author Share Posted December 3, 2015 I'm just saying that they aren't a good solution for a business. I might as well buy my parts from Napa if rockautos my only choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
somick Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 God forbid! Roach Auto database is very inaccurate! They will send you a wrong stuff and you will be paying for return shipment. Sam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikaleda Posted December 3, 2015 Author Share Posted December 3, 2015 God forbid! Roach Auto database is very inaccurate! They will send you a wrong stuff and you will be paying for return shipment. Sam I do have enough experience to not go by their database, wich is another reason I have no interest in using them for business. Rock auto is good for the do it yourselfer that has time to deal with their shnanagins, but as a business I need to be able to trust my supplier is going to get me the right parts and I don't want to have to double check prices or part #s Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carfreak85 Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 You never said this was for a business! I think your best bet is going to be choosing the right supplier for the right situation. NAPA might work most of the time, but Autozone might be able to get the same part next-day. That said, again, if you just order blindly off RA you will have issues with fitment, etc. I was looking for parts for my EA81 and there was a timing belt that would "fit" my engine. I emailed them and told them about it, that is how improvements get made. Also, I have often had them send defective parts, or ones that were just plain wrong. I have never once had to return a part to them. They normally tell me to keep it and refund the entire cost, shipping and the cost of that part. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikaleda Posted December 3, 2015 Author Share Posted December 3, 2015 Does anyone know if there is an online supplier that could be used for business? I did say business, and this is the shop talk forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 I have issues with ALL of the parts suppliers in my area. Its just something you have to put up with in this type of industry. Wrong parts, parts missing from an order, returns/cores not getting credited back to the right account. Its a real PITA, but you gotta go with who's around you if you need parts that day. Week before last I put an alternator, serpentine belt, and tensioner in a minivan. Van didn't make it out of the parking lot and it stopped charging. Had to wait another day for another alternator, put it in, alt worked great, charging fine. Couple days later the damn thing starts squeaking. Not a constant squeak, comes and goes like a cricket chirping. Probably gonna end up putting a third alternator in it. Experiences like that make you have to question the quality of the parts you're getting, and how much do you trust that the parts you put in a customers car? Are they going to last for more than a week, if they're not DOA? People want/need their cars fixed, though. You tell them it'll take you a week to order in an alternator they're gonna take the car somewhere else. Then they get the alternator you didn't want to order from the local parts place! Had to replace motor mounts for a Nissan a few weeks ago. Needed three of them. Front, left, and right. Ordered three, only one was correct. Sent the two wrong ones back. Two more come in, again only one of them was right. Tried a third time, told them send me every mount they listed for it, one of them had to be right! Nope! Had to get it from Nissan. They had it in stock. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikaleda Posted December 4, 2015 Author Share Posted December 4, 2015 That makes me feel a little better, I have a good idea of what to buy from where from years of experience, but that is a problem now that I need to get as much volume as I need to actually get a discount. I have a feeling its going to take a couple years to build up enough volume to actually get a steady discount. At the moment its frustrating because I'll get a discount for a while and then I won't. I get so confused about the prices that I haven't caught two overcharges on parts, seems to be about what my mark-up is both times. First time they gave me back the overcharge and the second time just happened today so I've got to drive 18 miles to town (one way) to get my $20 mark up back wich will pay for the trip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Numbchux Posted December 7, 2015 Share Posted December 7, 2015 I haven't found anywhere online that is as good when it comes time to warranty parts as any local place (not that NAPA is that great, I think AutoZone beats the pants off the rest for warranty). The fact of life with aftermarket parts, is a higher failure rate than OE, so you will be replacing them under warranty. You can buy the same part online for a lot less, but there's no, or very little, warranty support (you can probably get refunded for the part, but you have to pay up front for the replacement, and you'll probably be out shipping...). Look into US Auto Force. I don't know how nationwide they are, but we deal with them all the time for tires (we have almost the full gambit of local parts stores), and occasionally more, and they've been pretty good. I've looked a little at some of their parts availability, too, and it's pretty good, competitive prices, and good warranty coverage (again, we mostly deal with them for tires...). I've never called to order a part, but they have a good website using Nexpart for lookup (which is as reliable as anything...like RockAuto, sometimes entering year, make, model, engine gives you options that aren't available with that combination, but they do list dimensions and such so you can narrow it down yourself). With that said, we have an Amazon Prime account for the shop, and frequently order parts and supplies through them. The database is definitely not designed for auto parts, but you can look stuff up elsewhere, and then search for a part number. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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