Buying car parts from ebay - do you or dont you?

[S8QUATTRO]

Out of interest, how many PH'ers buy new car parts from ebay?

If you do, do you fit yourself?

or take to a garage to have them fit?

Thanks

[205alive]

Yep, have bought new parts, yep, fitted them myself.

[williredale]

I've bought parts. Nothing big though and I've fitted them myself. If it's just a couple of items then the postage tends to be cheaper than using a "proper" supplier.

[motco]

I bought a mass airflow meter for a BMW 320D Compact from a bloke in somewhere in eastern Europe for a fraction of the OEM part. Can't say it worked or didn't work because it wasn't the final cause of the car running badly. It had a burst turbo pipe.

[Six Fiend]

Rently bought genuine Jag part cheaper from a Jag dealer via eBay than locally and less hassle too.

Local garage fitted it for me as part of another job.

Buy lots of other bits and bobs and fit them myself. Just careful about what they are to avoid cheap crap which will break.

[The Moose]

Depends what it is.

If its brakes, then I would rather pay a bit extra and know what I'm buying and from where.

For bits that don't matter such as trim or anything non-safety related then hell yeah!

[Jazoli]

I have bought pretty much all of my car and bike parts both new and secondhand from ebay over the last 10 years or so.

Its a total no brainer, as long as you buy from reputable sellers with good feedback and are careful what you buy you will have no issues, if you do you have buyer protection on your side.

I have sold plenty of car and bike parts too, although I don't really bother anymore, but to buy stuff and have a massive range of choice it really can't be beaten imo.

[Negative Creep]

Yep, plenty. Things like uprated bulbs, cable ties, connectors etc are often vastly cheaper if you're willing to wait a few days.

[Astra Dan]

Yeah all the time. For the age of my cars (12 to 23) you find a few dealers are a bit clever and list new old stock items instead of binning them. Brand new GM lambda sensor for £12 was a good example.
Big Redd (utterly superb for brake caliper rebuild parts) have special deals on eBay occasionally.
Pretty much the only place worth buying A/C recharge cans for half the price of Halfrauds (and they work very well).
Also find brand new sealed Mintex brake disc and pad kits very often.

[itz_baseline]

I recently bought an ABS sensor for my Integra as the one I had was faulty and was an MOT fail. Honda quoted £260 and a 5 week delivery period (yes really, 5 weeks to get an ABS Sensor!!!).

Had no choice but to buy one from ebay. Ended up getting a pair of used ABS sensors for £30 (£520 worth of parts!). Bargain - and in full working order.

[MX7]

Six Fiend said:

Rently bought genuine Jag part cheaper from a Jag dealer via eBay than locally and less hassle too.

Same. I needed a new handbrake cable, paid for it, and then realised it was from an official Mazda dealer.

[y2blade]

Yep...fit them myself, I'm ok with the Spanners.

[not260]

I buy bits on ebay and when they arrive get the spanners out. Job jobbed.

[mackie1]

I've bought Eibach springs, gear knobs, ICE gadgets etc on eBay and never had any problems.

[philmots]

Yep I find a pukka Peugeot or Saab dealer/specialist and get it all delivered. Always at trade money I find...

Fit what I can myself, stuff I can't I take to my indi. Invoice for parts goes with invoice for fitting in service history.

[NiceCupOfTea]

Loads of stuff - when you run 15-20 year old cars where most parts are NLA it's the only choice!

[PlayersNo6]

I generally buy all my filters (oil, fuel, air & pollen) on ebay but I only buy OE or quality aftermarket brands from reputable sellers. Usually get my oil on ebay also (Vectra excepted where it's still cheaper at Autovaux)

I'll usually fit air & pollen filters myself but get the oil & fuel filters done at my local garage as part of the service. My local mechanic is happy for me to supply parts.

I do find that nowadays most of the well known suppliers now have an ebay presence.

Not bought brakes via ebay yet though...have so far stuck to specialist suppliers or EBC outlets.

Edited by PlayersNo6 on Saturday 21st April 00:58

[g3org3y]

Couple of bits and pieces but tbh ECP is my main source for parts/service items.

[Perseo]

If it's small parts that don't influence vehicle's safety I do buy them on Ebay, if it's stuff like brakes etc I shop around on different websites that have garages/authorized dealers. The cheapest I've found so far is carsparefinder.co.uk if you have a few days to wait for the quotes to come through and delivery. Otherwise if it's urgent I just spend a few hours going around at local garages to find the best price on the part and buy it then normally I let my trusted one fit them...

[Justin Cyder]

Too many to list. Have bought service parts, wheel bearings, even a couple of full leather interiors from Ebay. Always carefully looked into what I'm getting & can't think of a problem I've had yet.