Northern Auto Tech - ECU and Blue & Me Repairs

Where do you buy your parts from?

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Where do you buy your parts from?

AnthonyH

AnthonyH

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Where do you buy your car parts? Is it online? If so what is the website? Or perhaps you use a shop front?

And why do you buy from that company? Is it price, quality, delivery time, or something else that is important to you?

I'm currently using eBay but would like to find somewhere better.
 
For my 595 I have used Partsworld (Stoneacre Group) and TMC, both are really prompt on the delivery front, TMC do charge delivery and they both often have sales on.
So if it is someting you want and it's not urgently needed, bookmark the page and go back to it once in a while.
www.partsworld-uk.com

Partsworld-UK Official Suppliers for Abarth Fiat Alfa Romeo + More

Partsworld-uk is the online parts and accessories shop from Stoneacre motor group. We specialise in supplying genuine Fiat, Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Jeep & more parts, accessories & merchandise. Take a look at our range today!
www.partsworld-uk.com www.partsworld-uk.com

For my Cinquecento, I have used Ricambio, they send out items nice and quick, they charge for postage and you'll get a couple Fiat 500 shaped chocolates thrown in with your items. They cater for all older Fiats, but parts for Cinquecentos, especially things like RHD headlamps (Sporting, driver's side) and Sporting rear light clusters are getting hard to find now.
Otherwise it's a case of looking on ebay and waiting for something to come up and pray that the part I need isn't coming from Italy.... Where shipping and taxes take the proverbial.

A friend of mine with a few Alfas uses Alfa Shop and says they are really good, they also sell Fiat parts, so I may try them out in the future.
 
varesecrazy said:
It appears in this section,
the suggested threads are.... pretty
"scatter gun" 😕

Normally Partsworld and Shop4parts would feature
Click to expand...
I opened those threads and found them very interesting. I'd say the AI is offering something it's guessed correctly that I'd like! So I stay on site rather than just offering a solution in which case I'd leave. Is that clever? I guess so!
 
icheatatscrabble said:
For my 595 I have used Partsworld (Stoneacre Group) and TMC, both are really prompt on the delivery front, TMC do charge delivery and they both often have sales on.


A friend of mine with a few Alfas uses Alfa Shop and says they are really good, they also sell Fiat parts, so I may try them out in the future.
Click to expand...
Partsworld are GENUINE FIAT🙂 so you know the quality,
I have bought accessories, knowing they will actually fit /work 👍

Funnily enough..
I opened a link for Alfa Shop the other day.. as it loaded I wondered if it was a 2nd arm of Shop4parts..,
But looks quite different and didn't actually appear well stocked?


S4P are my "go to" for aftermarket FIAT parts, Suspension mainly in my case, they sell Italian aftermarket, plus other more mainstream brands

Both Partsworld and S4P have been longtime Forum supporters, offering a Discount code, So all good for me 🙂
 
icheatatscrabble said:
For my 595 I have used Partsworld (Stoneacre Group) and TMC, both are really prompt on the delivery front, TMC do charge delivery and they both often have sales on.
So if it is someting you want and it's not urgently needed, bookmark the page and go back to it once in a while.
www.partsworld-uk.com

Partsworld-UK Official Suppliers for Abarth Fiat Alfa Romeo + More

Partsworld-uk is the online parts and accessories shop from Stoneacre motor group. We specialise in supplying genuine Fiat, Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Jeep & more parts, accessories & merchandise. Take a look at our range today!
www.partsworld-uk.com www.partsworld-uk.com

For my Cinquecento, I have used Ricambio, they send out items nice and quick, they charge for postage and you'll get a couple Fiat 500 shaped chocolates thrown in with your items. They cater for all older Fiats, but parts for Cinquecentos, especially things like RHD headlamps (Sporting, driver's side) and Sporting rear light clusters are getting hard to find now.
Otherwise it's a case of looking on ebay and waiting for something to come up and pray that the part I need isn't coming from Italy.... Where shipping and taxes take the proverbial.

A friend of mine with a few Alfas uses Alfa Shop and says they are really good, they also sell Fiat parts, so I may try them out in the future.
Click to expand...
I've just been doing a dummy order for the same part on each of these websites.
Parts4less looks the best for price. Ricsmbino was most expensive.

One of them had a really good search mechanism using oem numbers. I need to look into using oem numbers.

I will do more research later today. I'd like to find an OK price for next day delivery too.
 
AnthonyH said:
I've just been doing a dummy order for the same part on each of these websites.
Parts4less looks the best for price. Ricsmbino was most expensive.

One of them had a really good search mechanism using oem numbers. I need to look into using oem numbers.

I will do more research later today. I'd like to find an OK price for next day delivery too.
Click to expand...

Parts4less (aka CarParts4Less) is the warehouse shipping arm of EuroCarParts, cheap but less convenient than the local ECP shops, as its a day away and reliant on a courier 😉

I've walked away from ECP as they never seem to stock A Pair of what I want, like droplinks,
Example =4 brands 1 of each in stock😣

Shop4parts is 1 shop in Yorkshire,
Look at their website 🙂
 
varesecrazy said:
Parts4less (aka CarParts4Less) is the warehouse shipping arm of EuroCarParts, cheap but less convenient than the local ECP shops, as its a day away and reliant on a courier 😉

I've walked away from ECP as they never seem to stock A Pair of what I want, like droplinks,
Example =4 brands 1 of each in stock😣

Shop4parts is 1 shop in Yorkshire,
Look at their website 🙂
Click to expand...
It is very useful to know who owns these companies.

I've previously watched euro car part prices for a week, noting prices each day. The price changed every day for some parts, sometimes dramatically, up and down. From £20 to £40 for example.

Its hard to trust a company gaming people on their website.
 
I tnink Partsworld are a bit like aldi middle isle, it has one of everything you don’t need and nothing that you do
 
porta said:
I tnink Partsworld are a bit like aldi middle isle, it has one of everything you don’t need and nothing that you do
Click to expand...
It's their "old stock clearance"..
I bought punto Evo mats for my 2012+
As they were a very good price and the real thing

One of the longstanding members here got 4x 14" alloys for less than the new list price of half a wheel
@£200 for 4 not £400 a wheel
Great value for brand new FIAT alloys
 
I'm lucky in that living in a big city I have a choice of several large trade factoring businesses to choose from. Pentland Components, Euro Car Parts, Dingbro, TPS, SRS, Halfords (Limited range of components in store but when used with their trade card can be a very effective supplier for "ordinary" parts - and they're open weekends when the factors are closed). There are others but I'll leave it at that. Being now retired from the motor trade it's difficult for me to buy from TPS and Dingbro as they require you to have an account with them and of the rest I find SRS - now part of Group Auto - gives me good quality parts at excellent prices so I use them most of the time. Your local factor is probably supplying all the small garage businesses in your area and will stock good quality products but I still like to buy brand names I know to be good quality - Mahle, NGK, Bosch, Brembo, ATE, etc.etc. For dedicated Fiat parts I've found Shop4parts are very hard to beat. Their prices are very reasonable, they ship quickly, quality is excellent (although some of their Italian sourced after market parts are brands I'm not familiar with). Check for minimum spend to qualify for free shipping and use the forum discount code and it all becomes a bit of a bargain. They are also very helpful if you phone for info and sometimes have stuff not listed on their website - nice people to speak to (they all seem to be named either Mike or Mick?)

One thing I'm very picky about is lubricants and I like to buy genuine manufacturer's Transmission lube in the grade specified for that particular unit. It does cost a wee bit more than generic product but you don't need much of it and modern Transmissions can be very intolerant of lubes which aren't absolutely on spec. For engines I'm happy to buy any "big name" brand as long as it meets the manufacturer spec. so I mostly buy my oils from Opie. or CMG Direct and Power Enhancer. I tend not to buy directly from their websites though but rather I check for their special offers on ebay where considerable savings are to be made. When buying oil it's very important to make sure it's "fresh" stock you're buying. I only ever buy from oil specialists and never from a site maybe advertising a few containers of oil and other stuff like perhaps washing up gloves, furniture polish and other "general" goods - you get the idea I'm sure.

I'd say you can buy with confidence from your local trade factor - I'm not talking about a corner accessory shop here, especially one you have no experience of, where quality may be questionable unless you know your brands but even then the very real risk of counterfeit parts must be much greater, and counterfeit stuff is a major problem in this day and age. Having said that there's a local wee shop near me I'd trust without any doubts and have bought from for years, buying stuff like wiper blades, screen wash, shampoo, etc. However I know them well. With regard to stuff I buy from factors, my only exception would be lubricants where I find "high end" product is often not stocked, the range available is limited and there are cheaper prices available on line.

Edit. PS I've never looked at Partsworld Charlie - thanks for mentioning them, must have a browse.
 
I’ve just bought a few things from ECP who are just up the road from me in East Kilbride but I got free delivery cause I spent £45 and have to say they are very nice people, they attempted delivery yesterday but I missed them, the driver left a card to contact them to arrange another delivery, so I phoned them yesterday and the guy on the phone was ultra nice and very helpful the driver’s just away there and he was the same, I’d definitely use them again.

I‘ve also used WATT BROTHERS who are a local motor factor and they’re very good too and also shop for parts who are excellent.
 
Forgot to mention that one of the great attractions of buying from your local factor is that it's very easy to exchange wrongly supplied parts. For instance I've often found several pads listed for any particular model and if the wrong part is supplied it's just minutes for me to nip back round the corner and swap them, especially if it's a Saturday morning and they're closing at midday. On line? could be days before you've got a driveable car again.
 
Pugglt Auld Jock said:
Forgot to mention that one of the great attractions of buying from your local factor is that it's very easy to exchange wrongly supplied parts. For instance I've often found several pads listed for any particular model and if the wrong part is supplied it's just minutes for me to nip back round the corner and swap them, especially if it's a Saturday morning and they're closing at midday. On line? could be days before you've got a driveable car again.
Click to expand...
The reason I posted is exactly this. I'm OK with paying a bit more if I can get the right parts quickly.
 
AnthonyH said:
The reason I posted is exactly this. I'm OK with paying a bit more if I can get the right parts quickly.
Click to expand...
Yes, I agree. I don't mind paying just slightly more for the convenience. Prices at the factors I use less frequently tend, unsurprisingly, to be less competitive compared to those SRS charge me. However I've been using them - SRS - for many years and buy all the stuff for the family fleet annual services and MOT failure replacement parts from them so, although "small fry" compared with a workshop, I'm probably one of their "valued customers" now?
 
Our local SAS factors have been swallowed up by GFS, I’ve not been in since. Not because I’ve fallen out with them, but needed model specific non routine bits and, although they all claim to be able to order them in, you then pay ‘middle man’ mark-ups
 
varesecrazy said:
It's their "old stock clearance"..
I bought punto Evo mats for my 2012+
As they were a very good price and the real thing

One of the longstanding members here got 4x 14" alloys for less than the new list price of half a wheel
@£200 for 4 not £400 a wheel
Great value for brand new FIAT alloys
Click to expand...
Had a look recently and, for the 2012 panda on, it had: bulbs; wiper blades; oil; antifreeze…all non specific panda stuff
 
I've tried looking for a local motor factor but haven't found one really close.

I found another online company that I don't think has been mentioned, does anyone have experience of this company?

Car Parts at Low Prices, Quality Brands, Free Delivery

We stock over 250,000 car parts at the lowest prices from the biggest brands. Fast free UK shipping. Our website helps you find the correct part.
www.partsinmotion.co.uk www.partsinmotion.co.uk
 
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