Rock Auto, first order

Earlier I placed my first order with rock auto. Doing a fluid check on SWMBO’s car I found the reason for the coolant loss, a 1/8th inch hole in the radiator neck by the hose to the overflow tank. Auto zone would have been $140 for a Spectre. I checked RA and found a plethora of options. When comparing different ones I found no 2 had the same shipping. A budget unit with cap was $62, but $15 and 4 days to ship. A Denso(OE) was $68 plus $11 and 1-2 days to ship. Adding a $4 cap doubled the shipping cost, pass. A different “premium” radiator with cap was decently priced in the low $70s but had $20 and 5-6 day shipping. I settled on the Denso and buying a cap locally. An hour later I get a shipping notice and an eta of Monday or Tuesday despite ordering on the weekend. 

My two takeaways was compare shipping and don’t buy the little parts. Fingers crossed. 

If you can wrangle a commerical address to ship to the costs drop pretty well.  I started having all my Rock Auto stuff shipped to the workshop which is a couple units in a self storage place and I'm saving 5-10 per order.

5% discount code for Rock Auto orders for friends of GRM

Remember to stick the little magnet cards to your refrigerator.

Has anyone ever covered the entire door of theirs?

I think Rock auto should follow Amazon and have rock auto prime. Free 2 day shipping. Juggling all the numbers and time makes my head hurt. I just want the part. I think getting jaguar parts made me hate there system as it seemed everything was comming from there warehouse in England and shipping was always at least $40 and was 7-10 days. But get the exact same part for a ford or Volvo that was the direct replacement for the jag and it was a couple days and normal shipping

Then there is my catching them charging one price if I use my wife's computer not logged in and charging me more for the exact same part when I am logged in on my computer down stairs.

They never did give ma a strait answer on that one so I say it is them rigging there pricing.

In reply to John Welsh :

Wow,  good to know.  I order from them all the time and 5% is 5%.  Thanks.

In reply to Brian :

There’s a check box to the right that says something like “choose the best option to save on shipping”. After you select it, the parts you view will indicate if they ship from the same warehouse. 

I had a discount code, but couldn’t find where to enter it. Also, in the referral box I listed GRM. 

Where to put it... 

There is a line that says, "how did you hear about us." 

If you write in that box GRM then Rock Auto will learn the answer but no discount for you. 

In that same box is you put no other words than the alpha numeric code then that code will tell Rock Auto you are a GRMer and that the GRM advertising is working but even better... you'll will get a 5% discount 

Sure seems unnecessarily complex. Why can't the box say, "discount code here"? 

I have the equivalent of one of the doors worth of stickers on the side of my fridge, so yes it's been done.. 

I get stuff from Rockauto almost weekly. 

I get a minimum of an order per week from RA. Just not having to deal with hassles at the local parts store makes it worth while for me. 

I have my freezer door full of magnets, and I have a bunch of doubles which I gave to my friend who is starting out with RA.

RA is much better than the local parts stores, which almost never stock anything if it's not for a domestic or newer than 10 years.

Shipping is often faster than their estimates too.

jimbbski said:

Remember to stick the little magnet cards to your refrigerator.

Has anyone ever covered the entire door of theirs?

Close

John Welsh said:

Sure seems unnecessarily complex. Why can't the box say, "discount code here"? 

It's a marketing thing. If you have a box that says "discount code" people will open another window and go searching for a discount code. This results in more abandoned shopping carts and a loss in revenue as the people who do come back often have a discount code,

I've practically given up on RA, it seems like every time I try to place any order of size I end up spending a half hour dicking around with their system to not get hosed on shipping cost from Australia or wherever the one warehouse that has that washer is located..   Then I get mad and just eat the 10% higher cost to order from Amazon or my local NAPA store.

Yeah count me out as a Rock Auto fan - their cross references are nice, but I can usually get everything as cheap or cheaper from Amazon or Ebay, and even the stuff thats a few bucks more on Amazon is prime with free shipping plus a 5% statement credit on my Amazon credit card.  Thats really tough to beat.  Not to mention Amazon's return shipping is easy.  Also, when things go south on my vehicles I try to upgrade them, IE need shocks for the truck I don't get Moogs I get Bilstein 5100s.  Need tires, don't get the driver grade fleet profiles, get the BFG All Terrains.  Need the brakes, Powerslot drilled/slotted and ceramic pads.  

If I needed a case of filters for some car I will only own for 6 months or some "get it out of my driveway" grade rotors, I could do better on RA, but man - Amazon is so easy.  

Now if RA had Will Call or Ship to Store with free ship- maybe - since they have a big office in Madison, WI, so I could drive 2 hrs round trip to pick up a big order, and get a good gyro on State St.   That would almost justify itself on a big enough order.  

I love Rockauto.  My issue with them is primarily that a lot of the parts they carry are garbage :(

I like Rock Auto and I order from them a lot. The problem (as others mentioned) is their shipping cost / time. I can often get the same part from Amazon at either the same or lower cost with free 2 day shipping since I'm a Prime member.  But there are still a ton of things the RA can get me that no one else can.

Can't say I've cross shopped RA/Amazon but I may start considering.  RA has generally been pretty good for me and works fine granted if I don't need parts right this minute and can wait.  They have messed up a few orders of mine in the past though with 2 instances of the wrong part in the box and another with a fuel pump/sending unit that was damaged but they resolved everything in a timely manner.   

Lately, as long as I am ordering >$100 worth of stuff, I can usually find a 30% off coupon code for Advance Auto online and get the same parts from them for nearly as cheap, and pick up that day or maybe a couple days later.  They're on my way home so it's convenient- and I usually need some coolant or something else anyway.  

But I throw a good bit of business to the local Napa store, too.  They can often get me parts same day and the good quality stuff, too.  

Rock auto is useful for stuff I don't need in a hurry.  I've also used them for "research" (like figuring out what cars have brake rotors of a certain bolt pattern or thickness).  And they can source some obscure stuff, too.  I learned the hard way, however, that their account system can only handle up to 25 vehicles.  

I cross shopped Amazon and rock auto for stuff for the ranger. Shocks, wheel bearings/hubs, basic tuneup stuff. The only way Amazon won price wise, in this particular instance, was by having no name hubs for $55/set. Everything else was at least double price the of rock auto, so even after accounting for prime free shipping vs rock auto, there was a $25 difference in Amazon's favor. To get name brand hubs from Amazon put rock auto ahead even after shipping fees. 

I find it too frustrating to shop parts on Amazon. The "will it fit" option just plain doesn't work, and it's almost like eBay with the variety of off brands and massive price differences. Punching in a specific part number rarely brings up that part for me as well. 

Not to say I haven't been burned with shipping charges that are almost double the parts costs from rock auto, but both stores have their ups and downs. 

My only complaint is my last two orders contained no fridge magnets.

In reply to Nick Comstock :

I have found that they sometimes put them in a plastic pouch on the outside of the box with the packing list.

Brian said:

My two takeaways was compare shipping and don’t buy the little parts. Fingers crossed. 

Most common reason Rockauto will ding you on shipping is not so much as you are buying little parts, but if the parts are shipping from different locations. 

I have never had Amazon beat Rock Auto on parts prices, even after adding in Rock Auto's shipping. Amazon Prime prices are all marked up to pay for the shipping. The $99/year seems to get you the right to overpay for your parts. (I still order other stuff from Amazon, but their car part prices are *not*good*.)