Automotive Parts Supply Has Become Big Business!

Once upon a time our choices for finding automotive repair parts was limited as we only had local parts supply stores, the dealership where you bought the car, and automotive salvage yard to choose from when you were searching for parts to fix your vehicle. While these standard and traditional supply chain options are still in place there are a number of options that have grown in popularity due to the ease of automotive parts shopping via the Internet.

Locally we have at least five automotive parts chain stores to choose from, plus high tech salvage yards with up to the minute inventory reporting, and a number of local automotive parts retailers to choose from.

On-line you have quite a few places to go for new and used automotive parts such as eBay Motors which is a great place to find both new and used automotive parts. For the more extreme and adventurous parts buyers there are custom four wheel drive shops with associated websites such as 4WD, and racing supply stores like Summit Racing Equipment to name just a few.

One of the more interesting trends that I have experienced is the up to the minute information you can get from almost any salvage yard today. Their inventory is kept up via databases which are on the terminals at the counter in the office, and some of these can also share basic availability with us on their website. One example of an automotive salvage yard which is taking the Internet data to a new industry level is the company called Pull-A-Part. In this unique automotive parts business model they offer the cars up on blocks in a uniform layout of rows with an inventory code on each car.

When you go to their site on-line you can see exactly where the make and model vehicle you are looking for. In our area there are four of these recycling yards to choose from, and when I search for a specific model on-line I look at all four yards before deciding which to visit first. If there are more than a few cars of the same model that I am working on then the odds are better that I will find the parts I am looking for. The only downside for now is that they can not tell you exactly which parts are still on each vehicle, so there is always a chance you will get there to find the item you are searching for is already gone.

In my experience looking for automotive parts on eBay motors has been a very successful approach to aid my auto repair efforts. Often you will find the exact part you need either new or used, and it will be at your door in a few days with USPS priority shipping. One of the best reasons to use eBay is that their policies are strong on protecting buyers from having a bad purchasing experience. If you are dissatisfied you have plenty of options to choose from in order to get your money back.

One advantage to using a chain store for your automotive parts needs would be their low prices, and convenient hours. This is convenient since they tend to be open later and have weekend hours when most of us are available to work on our vehicles. The prices at these chains tend to be low since they have such a large inventory across many stores, and this buying power is extremely important to their financial success. This may not be the case for your typical local parts shops which tend to be a little higher priced.

Over the years I have learned that some of the local automotive parts suppliers usually have some counter help which are knowledgeable with regard to automotive repair and parts. Spending time chatting with these professionals you can get a lot of useful and free advice plus help with your particular automotive problem. While it is also possible to find this at the larger chain stores, there are times when the counter help can not tell you much more about a part than the computer terminal is showing them.

There is one other often overlooked source for automotive parts and that is the parts department at your local dealership. There are a few near me who really do offer fair and reasonable parts over the counter. Some seem to be marked up a bit more than you would expect, but there are times when you need a "dealer only" part and then you have no choice. You can always shop around to different local dealers and may find that not all of these have the same mark up on their parts. Shopping around over the phone and Internet could save you a surprising amount depending what you are looking for.

Not long ago I needed a new set of main bearing bolts for a GM engine and the chains and local parts stores could not compete with the price I received from the parts department at the local dealership. This was one case where it saved me over 20% to purchase these from the dealership.

So when I am in need of a new or used automotive part I will run down my list of suppliers and will choose which to use based on price, and availability. Depending upon specific time constraints I may choose to purchase a new part from the dealership since it is already in stock.

The point is all of the recent technological advances have made it much easier for the average do it yourself automotive repair person to locate the exact parts we need and at reasonable prices as well. I believe that much of the improvement in this industry comes from competition on a much broader playing field, this holds prices down helping us get the parts we need at a reasonable price.

Thank you for reading my articles here on AC-Yahoo!

Sources:
www.pullapart.com/

www.4wd.com/

www.motors.ebay.com/

www.summitracing.com/