Do you source them yourself or go to a mechanic?
Varies between Autozone, FCPEuro, Amazon, Ebay and the junkyard. Saved quite a bit with junkyard parts.
My goto is usually rock auto. Other places can be cheaper but nowhere else has everything in on place. If I need something quickly then I just go to my local parts shop.
At the carparters.
I usually see if I can get it from Amazon since we already have Prime. Rock Auto is typically cheaper on the actual part price, but the shipping almost always puts it over Amazon’s price for me. I use Rock Auto to confirm part numbers though, as it’s easier to see a big list of them than the Amazon page giant results mixed in with their “recommendations.”
I’m no mechanic, but I can do brakes. I found the best deal on Rock Auto the last time I did my own.
Depends on the job, special tools and workspace needed, and time.
I recently had a mechanic replace a wheel hub assembly for me. He sourced the parts, finding them for about 5% cheaper than I could find them. His labor rates were very reasonable. And I don’t have a lot of time for that sort of job, nor space to do it efficiently where I currently live. Could I have done it? Yes. But he got it done in 3 hours where it would have taken me the better part of the weekend.
For what I have in mind I think I could pull it off relatively quickly myself. I just wonder if I should try ordering online and where. In Canada ideally.
I have a couple online stores I check, otherwise I just use the Google Shopping tab. Auto parts don’t seem to be spammed up as much as other things yet. Heck, online Walmart often times has what I need.
If it’s an OEM part that I need, I usually use the car manufacturer’s parts catalog to find a part number. Then I enter that part number in a web browser, and browse through whatever comes up to find the lowest price from a trustworthy source (usually a car dealer online somewhere that sells/ships parts and has an online store, but sometimes eBay, Amazon, etc.)
Aftermarket parts get a little more complicated because it depends entirely on what kind of part you’re looking for.
But parts quality can vary a bit. Still, it’s so much cheaper than anywhere else it’s worth a little risk.
Generally toyotapartsdeal.com because their prices are pretty good.
For generic non-OEM stuff I almost always use rockauto
Halfords
