Rockauto.com

upnover

upnover

Grumpy, decrepit Old Man
Moderator
Joined
Mar 20, 2005
Location
Morganton NC
In just the past few weeks, I have had two friends, both mechanics, to suggest this site for parts. I didn't think a lot about it, but this morning while bored with my usual browsing sites, I decided to check it out. Let me tell ya, I was both pleasantly surprised, as well as monetarily excited! I just looked for some small items that I needed for the old Ugly truck, I was tickled to not only find some items, (like a interior dome light lens) but at their price! The old truck needed both window cranks. they worked, but you had to really think about it LOL because if you went too fast, didn't kinda push in, the knob would fall off. I bought one replacement for the drivers side. Only one, because they only had one when I went to get one. I paid at Advance something like $11.99, and on Rockauto it was $3 and change! So then I started shopping for some other stuff. Still looking, but wanted to share!
 
Yep love rockauto when I plan ahead..but I usually need it now
 
I just bought about $750 worth of parts from them, would have easily been almost triple that locally, and that's using Advance discount codes.
 
i've used Rockauto many times, planning ahead is the best thing, BUT, when a head gasket went on my 4Runner a few years ago, it certainly saved A LOT even though time was an issue, it was worth it.

i do tend to pay attention to weight of items, heavier items will make the shipping and total cost higher than buying local.

have also had issues with some of the parts, one was a radiator, hold in box, hole in core, new radiator sent out no questions after seeing pix.

also got caught up in parts picker inattention. ordered spark plugs, NGK and Denso ITEM NUMBERS are not compatible, got NGK plugs with the DENSO number, no where near the right part. Once the issue was figured out, sent out correct plugs and i got to keep the old ( no clue what they're for )
 
Yeah, they are a vendor on Nc4x4 and great to deal with. Just pay attention to the warehouse they are shipping from when picking parts, if you can get all of your parts from one place the shipping isn't bad but if you end up ordering parts that have to come from 3 places, it gets expensive.
 
^^^ What he said, and if you're registered you will occasionally receive discount codes in email as well, usually when you have no need to buy and don't have any plans to do any sort of repairs ( how it works for me )

I can't seem to find the codes when i do need to order.
 
Blkvoodoo said:
^^^ What he said, and if you're registered you will occasionally receive discount codes in email as well, usually when you have no need to buy and don't have any plans to do any sort of repairs ( how it works for me )

I can't seem to find the codes when i do need to order.
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They have the 5% discount code going agonist all the time. I normally search and can find one.
 
I've been getting stuff from Rock Auto for years, like almost 10 years probably. Good prices, if they have what you need and don't have to ship from multiple locations. I think the multi-location problem is a recent thing, I don't remember it being like that until fairly recently. Maybe they expanded so much that they added the extra warehouses, who knows.. I've cancelled an order more than once because of that; it's just not worth it to pay extra shipping because of split warehousing, and I don't think those costs should be passed along to the customer.
 
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Like the others, I order everything from them if I can plan ahead. I just ordered all my 350 parts from there a week or so ago. Hell, I even bought several sets of windshield wipers for both of us a little while back dirt cheap for closeout ones. You can always get 5% which helps with shipping.

Sent from my HTC6535LVW using Tapatalk
 
There's a major 4x4 shop here in Raleigh that does a whole lot of business with them, from what I hear.

I order damn-near anything I can from them. The rest comes from ECGS. The only things that come from the local parts house are the things I need today, and brakes (since rotors and calipers are expensive to ship). I'll add wiper blades to an order every six months or so. I can outfit every vehicle in the driveway for about what a good pair costs at Autozone.

I did order an oil pan from Amazon a week or so ago. It was $20 cheaper from RockAuto, but AMZN had it here next day.
 
shawn said:
There's a major 4x4 shop here in Raleigh that does a whole lot of business with them, from what I hear.

I order damn-near anything I can from them. The rest comes from ECGS. The only things that come from the local parts house are the things I need today, and brakes (since rotors and calipers are expensive to ship). I'll add wiper blades to an order every six months or so. I can outfit every vehicle in the driveway for about what a good pair costs at Autozone.

I did order an oil pan from Amazon a week or so ago. It was $20 cheaper from RockAuto, but AMZN had it here next day.
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For brake parts, try KNS Brakes. I've got stuff from them for years as well (starting with Subaru performance stuff), and they happen to be in Raleigh. They can get what you need (they'll order if needed), even low-end Centric stuff for commuter cars. I haven't ordered from them in a while, but they've always had amazing customer service.
 
As far as the shipping from multiple warehouses try looking at another one of the same item. One item at 2.99 may be at a different warehouse but the one for 3.51 could be at warehouse "a" and save 10 bucks shipping.
 
I'll echo everyone else and say if you plan ahead or have a spare vehicle, they're great. I've bought anything from wiper blades and plugs from them to ecu's and body panels.
 
Only downside with RockAuto is a limited return time and the potential for a shit ton of shipping costs when everything on your order comes from different warehouses.

Other than that, they are the shit.

Also, core swaps. Hate to have to mail my shit back and wait for the refund.
 
shawn said:
I did order an oil pan from Amazon a week or so ago. It was $20 cheaper from RockAuto, but AMZN had it here next day.
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I also love RA and use it as my primary go-to IF I've planned ahead.
However - I've recently got into the habit of using RA to get part numbers, then searching those in amazon.
90% of the time the same parts can be hard through amazon, and it's a crapshoot whether it's cheaper (usually ~10% more) but it's good for when I NEED to have it the next day.

mbalbritton said:
Also, core swaps. Hate to have to mail my shit back and wait for the refund.
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This is where Amazon wins. Never need a core exchange and typically things w/ cores (e.g. CVs, brake calipers, etc) are only slightly more than the base price so it's way less than the base + core, and there's no shipping a core back. so I often now end up w/ cores accumulating.
For something like an alternator this can e a real bonus b/c you could the recycle the core.

The biggest downside is of course warranties. The permanent warranty record from Autozone is super convenient for lifetime warranty parts, you won't be able to get that through Rockauto or Amazon.
I did warranty a CV from an amazon seller a few months ago, the guy had me buy a new 2nd one, then I "returned" it immediately by putting the old bad one back in the box.
 
They pick and pack /drop-ship from so many places, hard to say which warehouses are lazy.
For the most part, the shopping engine is smart to let you know which places you can combine shipping from to save money.

I use RockAuto for years because of the parts pricing and you can still get good name brand parts.
For example, I just swapped out the entire front suspension on my audi for under $400 with German parts including struts!
And I got drilled and slotted rotors for the 80 rear for a damn good price.

A few times with RA, you'll get an item in the wrong box.
For example i ordered a fresh set of BJs when we did the SAS a few years back and i had 3 uppers and one lower.
Even though the box said lower, it had an upper in it.
Another lazy example of part picking.... part 12010 is not 121010 and now I had to wait another week.
If you can plan for crap like that to happen, yea definitely order from rockauto

The close out deal emails are the shiz.
put your vehicle(s) in your profile and occasionally they'll email you close out offers that match with the make/model of your car/truck.
I've bought bearings and seals for pennies on the dollar waiting for emails like this.
stock pile parts for when i gotta get in there and the local shops just don't have it or I gotta wait a day.
 
Lorenzo816 said:
The close out deal emails are the shiz.
put your vehicle(s) in your profile and occasionally they'll email you close out offers that match with the make/model of your car/truck.
I've bought bearings and seals for pennies on the dollar waiting for emails like this.
stock pile parts for when i gotta get in there and the local shops just don't have it or I gotta wait a day.
Click to expand...

I got in trouble doing that...like the couponers that end up spending more money because they're buying stuff they don't need, but it's on sale. I damn near got to the point of asking myself who needs 100 sets of window seals for a 1983 Corvette.
 
Just to add another point of view...I used to use rock auto quite a bit and still do some but --and I hate shopping at advance, at least in Morganton it's the worst--anymore I go online to advance auto website and put everything in my cart then google one of their 30-50% off coupons they always have, buy the stuff then drive across the st and pick it up in half an hour without having to actually spend any time in the store. You can even stack earned "speed perks" dollars with the other coupons.
 
RatLabGuy said:
I also love RA and use it as my primary go-to IF I've planned ahead.
However - I've recently got into the habit of using RA to get part numbers, then searching those in amazon.
90% of the time the same parts can be hard through amazon, and it's a crapshoot whether it's cheaper (usually ~10% more) but it's good for when I NEED to have it the next day.


This is where Amazon wins. Never need a core exchange and typically things w/ cores (e.g. CVs, brake calipers, etc) are only slightly more than the base price so it's way less than the base + core, and there's no shipping a core back. so I often now end up w/ cores accumulating.
For something like an alternator this can e a real bonus b/c you could the recycle the core.

The biggest downside is of course warranties. The permanent warranty record from Autozone is super convenient for lifetime warranty parts, you won't be able to get that through Rockauto or Amazon.
I did warranty a CV from an amazon seller a few months ago, the guy had me buy a new 2nd one, then I "returned" it immediately by putting the old bad one back in the box.
Click to expand...

Having Amazon Prime this is typically what i do anymore. I just ordered some parts from Rockauto, but needed the brakes faster so i bought them Prime for the same price but no shipping and get them faster.
 
I've ordered thru rockauto with a coupon code, but will also shop around for the best price. Rockauto is awesome for giving you the OEM p/n for an application, then drop that in Amazon search to compare prices. The thing to watch out for at Amazon is they will often tell you this part will not fit your application....even though rockauto just gave you the p/n. I'll cross reference the number at 1Aauto.com, then watch one of their YouTube videos if I'm not sure what I'm getting into.
Of course I'll also see if Advance Auto has it where I can order online with a Retailmenot coupon for in store pickup. Once in a great while I might see what AutoZone.com says they have locally.
 
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