When buying car parts online you can have plenty of success stories as well as horror scenarios. Personally I have had some great experiences with some places but then again I also ran into a few major problems when buying parts out of country (as I live in Canada).   Success can be easy when buying within your country or finding a retailer without borders. When I needed special guide cables for my 1984 Audi 5000s project I found that by buying the cables locally within Canada I’d be paying ca. 6 times the amount I would than by buying the items online and in the United States. Now this trend continues on till today with any of my work on my vehicles and respective parts purchases.  

Shop with confidence and without surprises  

The very first thing you have to be aware of is that not all online retailers allow international purchases, which can cause you a lot of frustration when trying to find your parts online. When looking for the lift cable for my 1999 Oldsmobile Intrique (which broke on Christmas Eve 2008) I was blown away by the local store’s responses for the pricing. In town I would have had to pay a total of 724 dollars for the actual part, yet when I started searching online I found dozens of online retailers selling the exact same part (matching model numbers etc) as well as third party products starting at the 49-179 dollar mark. Yes that is U.S Dollars but then again that still is more than a 500 Dollar savings.   Now this scenario does not just apply to international purchases when you check your local parts dealers prices such as; Lordco, Napa, AutoZone, etc you will find that many prices are quite a bit higher than those found online. There is a reason for that and its not just related to the matter of profit. These companies, franchises tend to order for their outlets and with that incur plenty of overhead which needs to be taken care of, add to that it is considerably easier for you to return the item to the store if it doesn’t fit or get additional parts immediately if there is the need.   Returning items to online stores/companies tends to be a bit more complicated and does require you to be on top of the return policies as some places may not accept returns or may charge restocking fees. This however should not be a deterrent in you saving money as long as you know what parts you do need.  

The real Deal  

Buying parts online can have its dangers too, when buying your parts ensure that you have the model number of the original part handy. It is easy to find a lot of websites that sell parts (by name) but tend to ignore the model number or fail to mention it on their website. If you come across a case like this I would definitely recommend to be aware, names mean nothing in matters of car parts. Many parts for example sold as a Mercedes, or any other manufacturer for that matter, fuel pump could very well be the same fitting your Infinity or Pontiac as long as your model numbers match. Be careful though this is not always the case but does seem to occur more and more often, this could be a great thing when you own a Mercedes for example and the dealership tries to sell you a part for one price based on the “Mercedes” factor whereas the actual cost of the part is drastically lower. In these matters it is always recommended to read up on the parts your buying, here are Haynes, or Original Manufacturers Manuals a great help.   The other danger you may encounter with parts without model numbers is that the part may be a fake part and considerably lower in quality, which in matters of car repair can put your life at risk. When buying parts online ensure a few things;  

The website your buying from has to have SSL (Secured Socket Layer) when checking out This is crucial to avoid the chance of your becoming a phishing (identity fraud) victim. This technology is usually made apparent by a lock icon in either the address bar or bottom status bar.

Ensure the website offers means to contact the online retailer There is nothing worse than not being able to call the retailer or email them in regards to your order or one of their products. Contact information is usually found in the about, support, help, or contact us sections.

Double check the shipping availability Even though many websites will ship across all of the united states some will have restrictions for certain states or Canada for example. Many times you won’t find this out unless you check the F.A.Q. (Frequently Asked Questions) or won’t know until you contact the retailer and create an account with their site.

Your Parts and Mechanics

One more important thing for you to know is that many Mechanics working in shops will not install parts that you bought privately. The excuse for this is that they cannot guarantee the quality of the part and their ability of installing it. 

This in my opinion tends to be an excuse as the parts could be the exact same part they'd buy, yet the same argument will rise again. Make sure that either you can install the part or you have a mechanic that will do this for you otherwise you could be spending money on a part that you would be buying again just to get it installed.