Online car parts .

[grumpy52]

Used to be a pleasant experience and value for money .
What on earth happened?
Now even from established suppliers, wrong parts ,missed delivery deadlines, obstructive returns systems ,missed collection deadlines .
Try finding a phone number that is buried in the system .
The people we are now dealing wi.th are not car people but call centre operators.

[Smint]

What used to be superb local motor factors have changed hands and no longer what they once were either.

I've been quite lucky buying parts online, brakes are where things go wrong so the very first thing i do when i get a new to me car is when i service the brakes for the first time i take a stencil of the pads both sides and measure the discs, all on a sheet of paper i keep with the paperwork, then when i need new parts can compare with the specs given for the new parts.
Similarly take a note of oil filter part number, then use a cross reference guide to find compatible alternatives, same with other filters batteries etc.

Its the car part buying version of the old saying 'measure twice cut once'.

[Ganglandboss]

Smint said:

What used to be superb local motor factors have changed hands and no longer what they once were either.

I used to do most of the work on my Elise on my cousin's drive, and there was a reliable motor factors in walking distance that had most service items in stock.

The only bad experience (I would say more like slightly frustrating) was when I tried to buy a wiper blade from them. The spray nozzles on the S1 Elise are pretty crap, and there is quite an easy modification to solve the problem. If you change the wiper arm to the one from the S2, you can fit a wiper blade with a spray bar. The Valeo VM15, which is from a Renault Espace, fits perfectly.

When I went for a replacement...

Me: Do you have a Valeo VM15 wiper blade, please?
Assistant: What's the reg number?
Me: The reg number won't give you the right part. I have put a different arm on.
Assistant: I need your reg number...
Me: But that will give you the wrong part...
Assistant: Okay, what vehicle is it for?
Me: A '99 Lotus Elise.
Assistant: (enters reg number, goes into back room, brings out blade without spray bar)
Me: That's no good. I want one with the spray bar (I have now looked up the guide on SELOC to remind me what car the blade is supposed to fit). The blade for a '94 Espace should fit.
Assistant: (Taps at keyboard) Right...you need a Valeo VM15...

We used to have a place around the corner from where I live now. It was only a small shop, but he would get most things next day. I gather he took over the business from his family and wasn't as enthusiastic. He closed the shop and let it to a Papa John's. Now that has fking shut!

Another one opened nearby. I won't name and shame as per the rules, but their name implies they do things quickly. Every time I go, I cannot get in the car park and it takes them ages to serve you. Today I went for a service kit for the same car. I was served by a morbidly obese bloke with a limp, who took half an hour to tell me everything would have to be ordered in.

I'll stick to online shopping now.

[grumpy52]

Ganglandboss said:

Smint said:

What used to be superb local motor factors have changed hands and no longer what they once were either.

I used to do most of the work on my Elise on my cousin's drive, and there was a reliable motor factors in walking distance that had most service items in stock.

The only bad experience (I would say more like slightly frustrating) was when I tried to buy a wiper blade from them. The spray nozzles on the S1 Elise are pretty crap, and there is quite an easy modification to solve the problem. If you change the wiper arm to the one from the S2, you can fit a wiper blade with a spray bar. The Valeo VM15, which is from a Renault Espace, fits perfectly.

When I went for a replacement...

Me: Do you have a Valeo VM15 wiper blade, please?
Assistant: What's the reg number?
Me: The reg number won't give you the right part. I have put a different arm on.
Assistant: I need your reg number...
Me: But that will give you the wrong part...
Assistant: Okay, what vehicle is it for?
Me: A '99 Lotus Elise.
Assistant: (enters reg number, goes into back room, brings out blade without spray bar)
Me: That's no good. I want one with the spray bar (I have now looked up the guide on SELOC to remind me what car the blade is supposed to fit). The blade for a '94 Espace should fit.
Assistant: (Taps at keyboard) Right...you need a Valeo VM15...

We used to have a place around the corner from where I live now. It was only a small shop, but he would get most things next day. I gather he took over the business from his family and wasn't as enthusiastic. He closed the shop and let it to a Papa John's. Now that has fking shut!

Another one opened nearby. I won't name and shame as per the rules, but their name implies they do things quickly. Every time I go, I cannot get in the car park and it takes them ages to serve you. Today I went for a service kit for the same car. I was served by a morbidly obese bloke with a limp, who took half an hour to tell me everything would have to be ordered in.

I'll stick to online shopping now.

Years ago in a Ford parts department I asked for the rear spring hanger bolts for a Mk2 Cortina GT estate .
Not available was the reply we don't keep parts for cars that old .
Ok ,got spring hanger bolts for a Capri 3ltr ?
What year ?
Any year they're all the same .
Can't sell them too you ! Dangerous to fit parts from a different car .
I went up the road to an engineers parts suppliers and got the correct bolts without question except the guy serving me said which old ford was I repairing! He said they only sell that size to people repairing old fords .
The days of comparison parts books has gone .
I got fed up of dealer parts people telling me that they never fitted that part to that model .
Except a Volvo parts guy in Wales that knows which police spec parts fit what cars . Despite the belief that police cars were bog standard !

[Doesitdrive]

Smint said:

What used to be superb local motor factors have changed hands and no longer what they once were either.

I've been quite lucky buying parts online, brakes are where things go wrong so the very first thing i do when i get a new to me car is when i service the brakes for the first time i take a stencil of the pads both sides and measure the discs, all on a sheet of paper i keep with the paperwork, then when i need new parts can compare with the specs given for the new parts.
Similarly take a note of oil filter part number, then use a cross reference guide to find compatible alternatives, same with other filters batteries etc.

Its the car part buying version of the old saying 'measure twice cut once'.

Omnicraft filters are very good at supplying the right one.

Probably what you get from Ford service now too, Parts Plus supply them to Ford agents.

[spants]

I used to have a honda crv mk2. Reg shows that it was registered in 2007 and all the parts I needed "didn't fit" as they were for a mk3 (2007+).
I had to find a random mk2 reg from the internet to buy bits for it.

[E-bmw]

For some years now my go-to-place has been Parts in Motion either on the bay of E or their own online shop, they are excellent and quick.

[AlexGSi2000]

Many parts in general seem to have skyrocketed - just another thing in a catalogue of increases over the past few years.

In terms of service, probably down to the fact people seem to give less of a damn these days.

As above, I've had a lot from parts in motion over the past few years, cannot fault the service at all.
I placed an order with them on Monday for three different parts - they all turned up in different boxes at different times by different couriers - I did ponder over my carbon guilt that day - obviously the parts were all from different warehouses.

[chris1roll]

Another vote for parts in motion, used them quite a bit, however there is now both a GSF and a Euro Car Parts in the next town which can often be cheaper on click+collect.
Mann W917 oil filter for £5.97 yesterday.

However ECP's datababase seems to be purging information for older cars - three years ago you could enter the reg and the two options (based on ignition system) for spark plugs would come up. Now, nothing.
They still sell them, but I have to refer to the previous invoice for their stock number, as searching for BP6ES doesn't work

So back in Feb I ordered a set but when I came to fit them I noticed they had given me 2 of those, and 2 ZRsomething-or-other.
When I went back there - and I wish I was joking - the person behind the counter took them out of the box, and said "well they look the same"

After a bit of persuading that I was not going to put something 2 heat reanges different in my car, they did go back out to the warehouse where it turned out they now had just a pile of random spark plugs. I did eventually end up with 4 correct ones but sheeesh.

[CoolHands]

I don’t like ECP, rippoff merchants generally and st searching

I use ebay with parts in motion.

In real life, I use Motor Parts Direct which are pretty good but can be bit pricey.

[tim0409]

E-bmw said:

For some years now my go-to-place has been Parts in Motion either on the bay of E or their own online shop, they are excellent and quick.

Same here. I've been slowly replacing lots of parts on an older VW Caddy and Parts in Motion have always been great; fast delivery and competitive, especially when eBay are running their frequent 10/15% off.

I ordered a DMF/Clutch kit from them a couple of years ago and when I went to fit it I noticed oily fingerprints on the friction surface (I suspect it was a previous return). I emailed them a couple of pictures on the Friday and on the Saturday morning a new kit arrived and they emailed to apologise and told me to keep the old one. That's why I have used them ever since.

[ARH]

tim0409 said:

E-bmw said:

For some years now my go-to-place has been Parts in Motion either on the bay of E or their own online shop, they are excellent and quick.

Same here. I've been slowly replacing lots of parts on an older VW Caddy and Parts in Motion have always been great; fast delivery and competitive, especially when eBay are running their frequent 10/15% off.

I ordered a DMF/Clutch kit from them a couple of years ago and when I went to fit it I noticed oily fingerprints on the friction surface (I suspect it was a previous return). I emailed them a couple of pictures on the Friday and on the Saturday morning a new kit arrived and they emailed to apologise and told me to keep the old one. That's why I have used them ever since.

Yep Parts in Motion for me as well been using them for years now, only issue I ever had was the payment for an order did not go through, so redid the order and it worked fine. But checking my orders the failed one showed up in the list. I emailed them to make sure only one order was processed, and they had no notification of the first order. That order still shows in my list, but it was never charged for or delivered so I guess there system may have an issue somewhere.

[sixor8]

I get most of mine from off eBay these days. At my local motor factors (Loverocks), he got his ruler and reference books out to get me the right brakes discs for a 500 Chimaera back in 2001. The reg gave the wrong, smaller ones.

They are still there (Loverocks) but are all 'reg please' now and don't stock little things like fuses and filaments, shame.

GSF are no longer just German, Swedish, French and are quite good. They have their own brand 'drivetec.' Personally, I've found ECP OK, got wiper blades from them very cheap recently for my TVR.

[boyse7en]

I use a mixture of parts suppliers depending who actually has stuff in stck. Used to use ECP quite a lot, but I've gone off them for two main reasons:

First issue is the "in stock" notification on the website. You find the part you want, add it for click an collect, and great, it says it is in stock on my local branch! Only closer reading shows it can be collected the next day... which means it isn't in stock, it means they will bring it up overnight from the regional depot. I've been scuppered by this a couple of times now.

Second issue was some pads and discs i ordered from them (they actually were in stock!). Collected the parts and started fitting them. discs were fine, pads were incorrect. Completely different, way bigger and had a were indicator sensor. Checking the invoice showed that i had ordered the correct part, but they had given me a different part number (similar, but two digits different). Went in to swap them over...

Me: Hi, collected these earlier, and you've given me the wrong ones. Part number is different.
ECP guy: Ah yes, no problem. *taps on computer* Sorry, the correct ones are out of stock.
Me: No, I ordered them this morning and there was one set in stock, so they'll still be out there on the shelf
ECP guy: They're definitely out of stock. Says so here *shows me the computer screen*
Me: No. I ordered them, and the computer has marked them as collected so has deducted them off of your stock. But you gave me the wrong ones, which means the ones i ordered are still out there on the shelf. No one else can buy them, as they don't exist as far as the computer knows.
ECP guy: OK, i'll go check, but they're definitely showing as out of stock...

a few moments later...

ECP guy: You're in luck! I managed to find a set!
Me: *metaphorical facepalm* Thank you.

[shtu]

tim0409 said:

E-bmw said:

For some years now my go-to-place has been Parts in Motion either on the bay of E or their own online shop, they are excellent and quick.

Same here. I've been slowly replacing lots of parts on an older VW Caddy and Parts in Motion have always been great; fast delivery and competitive, especially when eBay are running their frequent 10/15% off.

I ordered a DMF/Clutch kit from them a couple of years ago and when I went to fit it I noticed oily fingerprints on the friction surface (I suspect it was a previous return). I emailed them a couple of pictures on the Friday and on the Saturday morning a new kit arrived and they emailed to apologise and told me to keep the old one. That's why I have used them ever since.

Likewise. They're well priced and generally quick and competent. I'm sure someone will buy them out and ruin them soon.

In a similar manner, they inadvertently sent me the wrong cambelt kit for a car (the only mistake they've made in several dozen orders), and had a new one there the next morning.

On eBay, put your reg number in the comments for your order and they will double-check the fitment, if it's wrong they'll cover the returns cost.

[SuperPav]

E-bmw said:

For some years now my go-to-place has been Parts in Motion either on the bay of E or their own online shop, they are excellent and quick.

Agreed, I buy quite a bit from them. They're still not immune to some of the quirks of e.g. brake pad caliper types etc. (I've ordered a part that said it would 100% fit, but it didn't as there are apparently two types of caliper and no way to easily distinguish until you get into it).

However, they send stuff out fast, and at least respond/deal with wrong parts well (or did so on the few occasions I've needed to get in touch with them).


Not the same as a one-warehouse old school motor factors but the complexity and variety of offering of parts and cars these days makes that virtually impossible.

[TrevorHill]

[quote=AlexGSi2000]Many parts in general seem to have skyrocketed - just another thing in a catalogue of increases over the past few years.[quote]

Earlier this year I was buying 5 litres of Mobil 1 for around £45; it’s now closer to £80. Everything seems to have skyrocketed.

There are always various promotions, payday deals and discount codes available, but why can’t they just keep the headline price reasonable without requiring you to have an account or hunt around for a code?

I use roughly half a litre every 1,500 miles or so, so it’s not something I’m buying particularly frequently, but the price increase is still very evident.

[Clad-Hach]

I used Halfords when I bought new rear brake discs and pads for my van, they were a good price and I collected them the next day.

And they were local too.

[shtu]

SuperPav said:

Not the same as a one-warehouse old school motor factors but the complexity and variety of offering of parts and cars these days makes that virtually impossible.

A good point well made.

The corner-shop parts factors of decades gone by could cover the majority of the market with a fairly small selection of parts, and have room left over for a rack of Dulpi-colour paint and filler for the first MOT.

A corner-shop place has little chance of managing the same parts coverage today, there's just too much stuff to stock.

[vikingaero]

I've been finding that Halfords has been really competitive of late. 2 rear discs and 2 sets of pads for £40odd for the Jazz.

And ECP. Where have they gone? All the fake wacky discounts have gone, but they don't seem to like retail customers any more, apart from selling them plastic swimming pools.