I buy from them quite a bit and never had an issue with them, ever! I did have to return a few parts on occasion but that was due to my error, not theirs, and the returns have always went smooth as silk. Even with the shipping, they are priced better than the local part houses. Forget NAPA. My local store has taken up the Starbucks method of marketing. They want you to pay a premium for the honor of walking into their store. Want a 5% discount? Enter the number 135920751229145 in the "how did you hear about us" line of your shopping cart. This number expires 5/5/13.
What he said. I buy enough from Rock that I'll make every effort to try and get all the urgent stuff coming from one location and hold off ordering stuff that I have more time on until I need several other items from a unique "shipped from" source. I usually check for "wholesale close out" items from those odd ball source locations too. A dime on the dollar makes it worth carring a little inventory on stuff you know you'll need eventually.
I ordered a pair of OT vehicle brake drums from them, one was correct, the other was some gigantic 10 lug rotor that was twice the size/weight, in a box labeled as the drum I wanted. One quick phone call, no arguments, or excessive questioning, and the correct drum was on its way to my door. & they said I could keep the massive doorstop-truck-rotor for my troubles.
Heres what I found out. You ship your box to Rock and they send it to Lares corp for the rebuild. Takes about two weeks and shipping back is free and lifetime warranty and all American parts. Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad
I'll order from them if there's an advantage in it. I recently needed a fuel pump for my 70 F100 with 360. Local Napa wanted about $40. I bought a closeout item from them for $12 to my door. It was obviously old, probably even made in America. I wasn't in a hurry to get it done that day so no big deal. Yesterday my son needed an intake set for his 283. Rockauto was $9 plus shipping, local Oreally's was $13. We went local and had it so he could put his motor back together, even though it's in hhis car yet. Devin
Funny story about RockAuto. I bought an in tank fuel pump for my daughters car from them. It was about half price and the same brand as the local stores. Went to all the hassle to drop the tank, R&R the pump then the lines wouldn't plug back in, they appeared to be the wrong size. I called Rock Auto and explained, even sent pictures. They said the pump I had was right, the only one listed for that car. The line clips to attach the pump lines to the car lines were color coded, at least that's what I thought, red and green. It seems the colors were reversed on the new pump. Once I figured that out all was well. They were really nice when I called about it although just as confused as me.
A friend of mine owns two NAPA stores. I was thinking the same thing Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad
Rock Auto has always been great for me. I will usually plan out what is going to need to get done in the near future, and order all my stuff. It all comes, very promptly, and I can get all my tune up stuff four 4 or 5 cars for the price of one set of tune up stuff for one vehicle locally! On my ol' lady's OT DD Jaguar, I got all four pairs of ceramic brake pads for less than the price of one pair from the Jag dealer!
I know a guy who is involved in the computer inventory side of the auto parts business. There are a lot of small private parts stores and warehouses partnered with RockAuto. So many times the different locations for shipping are coming from regional stores that are hooked up with RockAuto. They have a great business. I like them a lot.
I have had nothing but great luck from them. Bought a lot of parts for a 401 nailhead, came from multiple places,(did increase shipping slightly) but being that i buy regularly they email me a 5% discount code 3-4 times a year. That has always covered my shipping and then some. If a item is close out, buy it, it will be some closed store's inventory in a beat up box. Tremendous savings. They always have a picture so you can compare product quality. Building a 63 F-100 and will buy parts there.
I have used them a lot and their shipping pricing to New Zealand and Australia is excellent. Quick service and great packaging for International. I cannot speak highly enough of them.
Rockauto...used them a fair amount. Customer service when necessary has been good. Pay attention to the shipping cost. Pay attention to the brand and source of the stuff you're buying. There's always 5% discount codes active, google for 'rockauto discount' before you place your order, it goes in the 'How did you hear about us?' field. Alas, it only applies to the part, not shipping or core charges. That said, they'll often have 'wholesaler closeout' items and these can be a real grab bag. Sometimes they're so cheap that you can't pass it up. I bought a new Wagner C3 'Vette master cylinder for $12 for my '64 Country Sedan and while it's clean and healthy it's obviously been on the shelf a while - it was in a house-brand box of a brand that I haven't seen on the market in fifteen years. Sometimes...well, the $3 '86 Celica clutch master cylinder I bought as a 'wholesaler closeout' turned out to be a mis-boxed part that had obviously been sold and returned (by whatever retailer or warehouse the thing was shipped from) at least once. Caveat emptor and all that. The $3 slave cylinder, though, works fine...
I'm a little gunshy now. ordered a spendy switch for an OT car. it arrived and at a glance looked right but ultimately was not. after 3 hours under the dash I had to got to the local big box and spend the extra to get one ASAP. on the upside they took it back with no hassle and paid the return shipping.
I guess I'm just repeating what most are saying, but I have never been disappointed by Rockauto. Even with the extra charges for shipping from multiple locations I still save a lot. I can also see on their site who the part manufacturer is and the country of origin for the part. On a recent order a pair of brake hoses had been discontinued and customer service called to get my ok on an alternate set and even ate the extra shipping since they were coming from another location. I've been very pleased with their customer service people. As for NAPA, the one I use has a couple of great guys at the counter. One has been there for at least 25 years and will pull out the catalogs to cross reference some oddball part anytime. The other regular I deal with is in his 20's but is knowledgable and has been well trained.
I bought a mirror for the missis Yukon. GM $535.00 Keystone $135.00, rock auto, $37.00, came in a keystone box. I like when you look up a part you get a choice, cheap stuff, or AC Delco etc. I like em.
Another valuable feature of Rockauto's website is that in many cases you'll find pictures and spec sheets linked to the part. They do a better job of this than pretty much anyone else out there. So if, for instance, you're looking to come up with a brake rotor and caliper combination for a custom application the Centric spec sheets are invaluable even if you then end up walking the junkyard to find cores to mock up with. It's kinda funny to shop Amazon for car parts, their indexing utterly and completely sucks and their listings often have limited and sometimes conflicting information, the only way it works at all is if you research what you're looking for elsewhere then look it up by part number, but if you have Prime 'free' shipping you can sometimes blunder into some very good pricing (like the US-made Raybestos Saab 900 rotors I'm using for the back of my Mk1 Cortina at $6 each, or the Vintage Air Gen IV Magnum test-fit shell I recently bought.) These days they seem to fiddle the pricing on the automotive-aftermarket stuff they sell directly so that, 'free' shipping factored in they're within a couple percent of Summit plus or minus, so I'm not sure if a TKO600 with 'free' two-day shipping is the bargain it used to be, especially when they're collecting sales tax from certain states now.
Yeah, talk about Amazon deals... I got an old Ford 302 flywheel for $42 and free shipping from them. It's a semi-rare part too, 28oz imbalance and only fits old aluminum bellhousings for Top Loaders as far as I know. I couldn't even believe it, it actually shipped from an Amazon warehouse too... like they're keeping these things sitting around right next to George Foreman grills and Star Wars Collector Edition BluRay sets?
Rock Auto is the Bomb! Just stay away from anything remanned by A 1 Cardone , their stuff it total crap, especially their steering boxes.
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