Despite being a GRM'er, I'm ashamed to say I don't know much about sourcing used parts, especially online. I find myself looking for a seat for a car (long story), but short of calling every junkyard I can find, how do I source it? This is a big city (Houston), so I could be spending a lot of time.
What online tools are available?
car-part.com is the easy button, at least for figuring out who to call
Ebay is the only place i look online (with craigslist but not really a store). I use it for new or used parts and sometimes upgrades.
cmcgregor wrote: car-part.com is the easy button, at least for figuring out who to call
But you have to pay to have your yard listed. Lots still don't pay and to be listed.
Also depending on what I'm looking for I use lkqonline.com for much newer parts.
car-part.com is also very slow with updating inventory. I called a few different yards looking for diffs, and all 3 I called said they had already sold them, a while ago. But it sure is easy when it pans out.
The bigger U-pull it places usually have a decent on-line inventory system, but sometimes they're a little generic on descriptions.
For instance, on the e30 I needed an oil pan, and it showed they had an '89 "3-Series". Thinking that all of them were sixers at that point, I got there and it was an M42 car (the sedans I think were all M42s for the later years).
But, I always find it's great entertainment to spend a buck and wander around the bone yard just because.
mr2peak wrote: car-part.com is also very slow with updating inventory. I called a few different yards looking for diffs, and all 3 I called said they had already sold them, a while ago. But it sure is easy when it pans out.
i've found parts from a few local junkyards on car-part, and it's gone from the online inventory within about an hour of me buying it. it might just be a matter of the yard not reporting the sale properly if it's still there later.
i found an engine on car-part sunday, called monday and they pulled it out of the truck and had it hanging on the hoist for me to pick up at lunchtime.
i am never buying a junkyard part from ebay again. the rear axle i bought in february started clunking after the 90 day warranty, and the engine i bought in october was listed as the wrong RPO code and had to be shipped back to minnesota. they paid for everything and knew it was their mess, but i was out $1500 for over a month waiting for a refund, the online guy was out of town and his fill in dropped the ball, etc...
My sister had a habit of breaking dumb stuff on her '02 Focus - she somehow managed to crack a rim, twice! Only bad experience was one time I called a place to send me a rim - car-part is good for this because they have photos of every wheel used available for every car supposedly making getting it right pretty idiot proof for the yard and the buyer, the rim they sent was completely wrong it was 5 spoke instead of 6 spoke, it was 15" instead of 16". Anyway, they when I called them they refunded my money and told me not to bother trying to send back the rim. So my sister had this relatively useless 15" wheel sitting around in her college house for 2 years. Anyway, other than that all good experiences and all were with getting stuff shipped (2 wheels and 1 side mirror)
I tried the other on-line look up a few years back and was bombarded with spam and unrelated e-mails for parts I did not request do not use (junk yard dog)
Great suggestions, guys, thanks much!
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