Why are there so many car parts in Lithuania?
Why are there so many car parts in Lithuania?
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Discussion

ingenieur

Original Poster:

4,653 posts

211 months

Saturday 29th April 2023
quotequote all
Anyone ever noticed scrolling through a certain internet auction site how many second hand car parts are available from Lithuania?

Just wondered how / why it seems to have become the car breaking world capital?

gamefreaks

2,067 posts

217 months

Saturday 29th April 2023
quotequote all
My guess is regulations...

To sell car parts on eBay you need enviroment permits etc so you can't just buy scrappers and dismantle them on your driveway.

I suspect this is easier in places like Lithuania...

ingenieur

Original Poster:

4,653 posts

211 months

Saturday 29th April 2023
quotequote all
gamefreaks said:
My guess is regulations...

To sell car parts on eBay you need enviroment permits etc so you can't just buy scrappers and dismantle them on your driveway.

I suspect this is easier in places like Lithuania...
I guess selling the odd part here and there does not require all that paperwork as I have often sold car parts on eBay as a casual sort of thing... not for business reasons.

Yahonza

4,076 posts

60 months

Saturday 29th April 2023
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Is that where all the stolen stuff ends up, whole front ends of Vauxhall Corsas, that type of thing?

Louis Balfour

28,176 posts

252 months

Saturday 29th April 2023
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ingenieur said:
Anyone ever noticed scrolling through a certain internet auction site how many second hand car parts are available from Lithuania?

Just wondered how / why it seems to have become the car breaking world capital?
I don't know, but the blokes who stole my Range Rover were Lithuanian. scratchchin

Grumps.

19,971 posts

66 months

Saturday 29th April 2023
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Louis Balfour said:
ingenieur said:
Anyone ever noticed scrolling through a certain internet auction site how many second hand car parts are available from Lithuania?

Just wondered how / why it seems to have become the car breaking world capital?
I don't know, but the blokes who stole my Range Rover were Lithuanian. scratchchin
Did you get it back?

ChocolateFrog

34,954 posts

203 months

Saturday 29th April 2023
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Stolen I assume and the bits sold back into the lucrative markets like the UK.

Ussrcossack

1,115 posts

72 months

Saturday 29th April 2023
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Lots of cars go East for either repairing and put back on road or stripped for parts.

It's not just Lithuania

V8covin

10,196 posts

223 months

Saturday 29th April 2023
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Not just second hand, plenty of new parts too,at a fraction of the price of UK suppled parts,even including delivery charges

CoolHands

23,474 posts

225 months

Saturday 29th April 2023
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Yeah I’ve noticed a lot of new parts from there big stuff like complete bumpers etc, competitive with uk price or for some items that aren’t commonly available. Cant explain it.

gazza285

11,167 posts

238 months

Saturday 29th April 2023
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I’ve sold a few scrappers in my time, there’s been a few occasions when a Lithuanian bidder has won the auction. Within a few days a beavertail has turned up, usually with a trailer also attached, and removed the offending vehicle. They are not all stolen.

Gordon Hill

2,412 posts

45 months

Saturday 29th April 2023
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I've noticed it too, I could entirely rebuild my W211 with parts from there, seems to be a particular favourite over there.

Louis Balfour

28,176 posts

252 months

Saturday 29th April 2023
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Grumps. said:
Louis Balfour said:
ingenieur said:
Anyone ever noticed scrolling through a certain internet auction site how many second hand car parts are available from Lithuania?

Just wondered how / why it seems to have become the car breaking world capital?
I don't know, but the blokes who stole my Range Rover were Lithuanian. scratchchin
Did you get it back?
Yes, within 24 hours. It was in a nearby Premier Inn car park, presumably to test whether it had a tracker on it.

It was on false plates, which I think were nicked from a sales forecourt. My guess is they pinged ANPR.





DaveyBoyWonder

3,897 posts

204 months

Saturday 29th April 2023
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Large number of RHD parts too. I've bought stuff from Lithuania before via eBay (new parts) and they've been exactly as described, OEM parts dirt cheap Vs UK prices.

grudas

1,408 posts

198 months

Saturday 29th April 2023
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I love the “stolen” comments. Because that’s what every Eastern European does, steal. Mad.

Cold

16,708 posts

120 months

Sunday 30th April 2023
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grudas said:
I love the “stolen” comments. Because that’s what every Eastern European does, steal. Mad.
Not every eastern European, no. However a selection from the first page of Google seems to suggest that stolen car parts appear to have an attraction to Lithuania. But it must be stressed that Lithuania is an equal opportunities stolen car parts magnet with spares finding their way in from all over Europe and not just from the UK.
https://www.europol.europa.eu/media-press/newsroom...
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/6559630/ernestas-luk...
https://www.facebook.com/metpoliceuk/photos/lithua...
https://www.tellerreport.com/news/2020-03-10---int...
https://www.mylondon.news/news/uk-world-news/gang-...

off_again

13,917 posts

264 months

Sunday 30th April 2023
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Lower per hour labor costs and lower storage / workplace costs means what is uneconomic elsewhere is a viable business in places like this.

When you add in global reach through the likes of eBay and you have a number of specialists who do very well. From what I understand, there are a couple of companies who do super rare cars like Maybachs and similar.

Jamescrs

6,405 posts

95 months

Sunday 30th April 2023
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It's not just used parts, around a month ago I was looking for a microswitch for the roof mechanism on a Boxster I recently sold, the only place I could find for a new part was a seller in Lithuania via eBay, even Porsche Germany was on back order for the part with an 8 week waiting time.

I ended up buying a used part from a U.K breaker instead simply because of cost.

ingenieur

Original Poster:

4,653 posts

211 months

Sunday 30th April 2023
quotequote all
Jamescrs said:
It's not just used parts, around a month ago I was looking for a microswitch for the roof mechanism on a Boxster I recently sold, the only place I could find for a new part was a seller in Lithuania via eBay, even Porsche Germany was on back order for the part with an 8 week waiting time.

I ended up buying a used part from a U.K breaker instead simply because of cost.
I've never ordered from Lithuania before. But I also try not to order anything from China either. Just the logistics of getting something from so far away mean it's almost inevitable there'll be a delay waiting for it to turn up. Having said that... since I've not experienced post from Lithuania before it's probably unfair to say the delivery couldn't be efficient. I've been lucky enough so far to find all the parts I've wanted in the UK. Been burnt by the China deliveries many times though. The worst is the lamp for the utility room, took 3 months to arrive.. then it broke and I have had to order a spare part and that looks like it'll be 3 months waiting for that.

V8covin

10,196 posts

223 months

Sunday 30th April 2023
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ingenieur said:
I've never ordered from Lithuania before. But I also try not to order anything from China either. Just the logistics of getting something from so far away mean it's almost inevitable there'll be a delay waiting for it to turn up. Having said that... since I've not experienced post from Lithuania before it's probably unfair to say the delivery couldn't be efficient. I've been lucky enough so far to find all the parts I've wanted in the UK. Been burnt by the China deliveries many times though. The worst is the lamp for the utility room, took 3 months to arrive.. then it broke and I have had to order a spare part and that looks like it'll be 3 months waiting for that.
I had a part from Lithuania, took 13 days to come and that included the easter holidays so may have come quicker at another time