Rockauto.com - Thumbs up

[68RGR]

I've placed several orders with rockauto.com in the past two years. Everything from suspension parts to electrical items and I am a satisfied customer.

OK, like most things in life, they are not perfect.

Their website can be a bit difficult to use at times. One thing that has worked for me is this:

Bring up Google, search for rockauto.com + the part name or number. Often, there will be a direct link to the specific part in the search results.

The multiple warehouse shipping thing can be a problem as well. You can have an order with several items that will ship from the same location so that the shipping cost per item will be low. But, when you add an item that will ship from different location, the shipping cost can increase significantly. So, if you can wait, you might want to hold off on that odd item until later.

HOWEVER, I have rarely run across a company that so consistently ships my orders as promptly as Rockauto does. They are very good about that.

Plus, their prices are often much lower than I can find elsewhere - Locally or online.

Yes, I am concerned about cost. I compare the total delivered cost to buying local or ordering from other suppliers like Advance Auto Parts. Discounts, sales taxes and shipping costs play an important part in determining the overall cost. I have gone so far as to build shopping carts at 2 or 3 places in order to compare the total costs. Fairly often, Rockauto will be the best choice. Perhaps not for the entire order but for part of it anyway.

And, yes, returning items to Rockauto is more of a problem than local returns. But, having to go only as far as my front door to receive the items more than offsets this factor for me. Plus, so far, I haven't had to return a thing to them. I'll take part of the credit for that because I try to research part numbers, descriptions, etc carefully before placing an order. They get the balance of the credit for promptly and accurately filling my orders.

YMMV but I like their prices and their service.

[fireguywtc]

I have used them many times also. They are great, you can find good deals and they provide great service. Rockauto does have their stuff together.

I got an all copper radiator for my 70 when I broke my old one for $140 shipped. It was a perfect fit and a smoking deal. Right now I have an order for a reciever/drier for my 70's AC system. They charged $17 shipped while LMC sells the same style for $69 not counting shipping.

[Calfdemon]

Ditto.... I have used Rockauto many times as well as they are usually cheaper than anyone else, have quite a few options for each part including clearance parts, and they ship fast!

[Clunker]

I got an all copper radiator for my 70 when I broke my old one for $140 shipped.

Where did you find an all copper radiator for only $140? I looked at their website and as far as I can tell, the copper core units for my 1970 start at about $370 (still not bad compared to some of the other prices I'm seeing). How long ago did you buy it?

[fireguywtc]

The radiator I got was a "clearence" item, and it was the last one left if I remember correctly. So it was a smoking deal. Those are the kind of things that you just have to keep an eye out for and are not there all the time. I got really lucky since I ripped a hole in my old one. I bought it about 1 1/2 years ago.

[Clunker]

We all should be so lucky. I ordered an all-aluminum radiator from an ebay vendor for $187 shipped. He's got 100% positive feedback, 60-day no questions asked return policy (including shipping), and nice looking radiators. I'll post a new thread as soon as I have anything positive or negative to say.

[motzingg]

+1 from rockauto. i've got the entire side of my filing cabinet almost filled with their magnets!

if you're getting something that you want a higher quality part or warranty, i go to napa because i like their house brand and service, but more and more it seems like its all the same china junk. Rockauto is almost always the cheapest and watching for their closeout pricing can be huge.

I just got new discs, calipers and pads for the front of my escort for about $60 shipped, just the discs alone at advance were going to be $25 each... Wasn't planning on getting calipers, but they had them on closeout for $14, cheaper than buying the rebuild kit and the hardware kit ($6 and $8) and sometimes their core returns are a lot cheaper as well.