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A penny pinching laugh a .89 fan belt bought on RockAuto

3K views 29 replies 21 participants last post by  Hemikiller 
#1 ·
With John's Mustang closed and Beaumont on a stay at home order I have been using other places for parts.
Well I needed a fan belt the old one was just 30 years old lol
I pop on Rock and had to laugh when I saw one for .89 cents
I just had to buy it and will report back when it comes.
And yes I actually bought a better name brand one also.
 
#2 ·
Those are usually closeout prices. When I stumble across those deals, I get a couple.
 
#4 ·
With John's Mustang closed and Beaumont on a stay at home order I have been using other places for parts.
Well I needed a fan belt the old one was just 30 years old lol
I pop on Rock and had to laugh when I saw one for .89 cents
I just had to buy it and will report back when it comes.
And yes I actually bought a better name brand one also.
Should have used a discount code available in the Rock Auto thread, you would have only paid .88 cents:D
RockAuto.com Discount Codes
 
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#6 ·
Rock auto can have good deals, but often I find those deals are slow in the arrival time. Usually after shipping the price is similar to what I would pay at the local O’reilly’s and have the part in my hand that same day. But I check both just in case the deals are really good. I guess it’s all in the timing.
 
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#10 ·
You have to be careful when buying the very cheap closeouts RA. Sometimes it will be a very old part or a part with a mislabeled part number. You will see hearts on some listings. These are the best selling items, not the cheapest, but the tried-and-true. I agree that you can get some very deals there and shipping has always been fast. I choose the cheapest shipping and it often arrives early. There's a 5% discount if you enter the code in the "how did you hear about us" box. Use google to find a code that works. It's always out there or they send customers a code in email that you can give away endlessly. Here's one good until April 12: 130058355101520281 . I've had very good luck getting "virgin" boxes with complete and correct parts inside. Unlike local big-name stores that sell you boxes missing hardware, dirty returned attempted to install parts and that kind of crap. Recently I ordered a very cheap radiator from RA that didn't have the heart. It was poorly boxed by the factory and they thew a label on the box and shipped it. It arrived smashed. RA refunded my money and let me keep the smashed radiator. I reordered a $25 more expensive radiator and it was packaged with styrofoam.
 
#11 ·
I've used RockAuto quite a few times in the past, but not so much anymore. I noticed that if you order multiple items, many times the items are "not" shipped from the same place, so you are charged shipping separately on each item. That has become a major deal killer for me with RA.
 
#17 ·
I noticed that if you order multiple items, many times the items are "not" shipped from the same place ...
I pretty sure RA are mainly just an office. But their online shop are connected directly to several huge warehouses and the parts are shipped from these. That's why RA offer several brands of the same part and sell at low prices. A lot of modern online shops actually works like this. They work as a direct connection between big central warehouses and the customer.
 
#12 ·
You can get some good deals from rockauto but shipping costs sometimes make it not worth while.
While searching for parts it will indicate if the part your looking for will ship from the same location as other parts in your cart.

If shipping from rockauto seems unreasonable, search for the part numbers on Amazon. Sometimes Amazon is even cheaper than rockauto.
 
#13 ·
Same with shipping here. When I need/want multiple items I have to check the shipping on them one at a time. If you get four items and they have to be shipped from four different locations the shipping can get absurd. Sometimes I find if I choose another brand of item it might be in the same location as the others and shipping becomes reasonable. Takes a bit of fiddling, it would be nice if the parts had a location, like A, B, C, or whatever so it would be easier to stack items from a single one.
I've bought the super cheap belts. And spares. They've worked fine for me. Biggest items I bought were a pair of '69 Goodmark quarter panels on clearance. Very pleased with those.
 
#14 ·
I think I paid less than a dollar a piece at RA for the grease seals on my front hubs. They had 6 left and I bought them all. They were old enough to be made in "Merica!
 
#15 ·
I always comparison shop. The past 24 months I have bought from RA 20+ times. With shipping a 93 Mustang starter with a lifetime warranty is still cheaper than Summit or the box stores. I bought the pushrods, springs and lifters for my 250 from RA for 75% less than I could find anywhere else. The WP was way cheaper at Summit, but the oil pump was less than 1/2 price at RA. Sometimes RA has parts in stock no one else has and they usually have a better description of the part.
 
#16 ·
I just spent $111 at RA. 3 belts, 3 hoses, C4 filter and mount, cap, rotor, wires, plugs, points, condenser, coil.

All quality parts, Motorcraft, Gates, ATP, Standard Motor Products.

Thats a pretty good haul.
 
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#19 ·
Use RA For what it is good for, BUT You have to know how it works. First, as others have said, buy the lowest price parts with a heart on them or go with name brands you trust. When you buy multiple items, watch for teh shipping truck, that will help you buy from the same warehouse. If you figure out how the site works which is not evident, they are set up to help you buy cheap. Things like disks, by the time you ship you lose but I have saved tons of money using them. THey are hard core on the 30 day return policy, no exceptions. For certain cars I use them regularly like suspension parts for my volvos, can't beat the prices BUT you have to figure out how they work...
 
#21 ·
Just to give an example, the cost to ship 2 brake rotors from RA using FedEx ground is $13.99. They list RAYBESTOS 6004R rotors for $27.99 each. The final cost of having 2 Mustang brake rotors sitting on my porch is $72.57. Amazon Prime lists these same rotors for $36.98 with free shipping. With sales tax, they will cost just slightly more than RA and be here in less than a week. RA or Amazon probably comes from the same warehouse. But at NAPA, a rotor with an identical picture costs $79.99 each. By some luck, I could pick these up today nearby. At O'Reilly, no listing.
 
#24 ·
It will be curious as to what you receive... I bought one for my car about 6 months ago for $1.50 or so when I was buying other items... it came in as an old Carquest belt, the white on the cardboard was yellowed on one side and the other side was faded by the sun... the belt is hard as a rock... I will not use it, but then again, you may get lucky...
 
#25 ·
Since Rock Auto is nothing more than a drop ship engine, I always suspected the entire operation was run by one middle-aged mom in Olongapo. But it sounds like they actually do have some local real estate. Either way, I've never been tempted to order them. Glad to hear some people are getting some good deals from RA.
 
#26 ·
I had to return parts to them one time... The shipping address was about 3 miles from work, same as a local parts store call Car Parts Warehouse... when I went there to drop them off they said they were not Rockauto, when I showed them the address.. they said you have to ship it... I am guessing they have just aligned themselves with the various auto parts warehouses around the country, that allows them to compete with NAPA, AutoZone, Etc...
 
#27 ·
I have found stuff there that I couldnt find anywhere else or the price was crazy cheaper.

I bought Melling pushrods for a 250 for $1.13 each.

Try finding those new at Ford or a parts store or anywhere else.

The ACC 10238350 8-piece sound dampening kit is $68.79, ebay has it for $139.

The molded firewall pad was $43.99, $100 at CJ.
 
#30 ·
I buy most of my parts from RA now and they typically arrive in two-three days, same as what special order parts take from any of the chain parts stores. I do have a NAPA DC about 20 minutes from that is open 24-7 for those emergencies.

Just like anything these days, you need to comparison shop across all your options. I did front brakes on my cousin's 3500 dually work van, and the rotors are a single piece casting with the bearing hub. Rock had great prices on the rotors, but the shipping was $30 for the pair. I ended up getting them from Advance for about $20 less shipped for the pair, after I played the "add to cart and wait for the 25% coupon" game. I still bought the pads, seals and bearings from RA since I could get the USA made Timken bearings and Bendix fleet HD frictions I wanted, for what Advance wanted for their frictions alone. AutoZone, Advance and OReilly don't give you those kind of options, it's this cheapo offshore pad, or their other cheapo pad labeled as a "premium" option.

Something that needs to be mentioned, is the ease of use on their site. The drill down spreadsheet like menus make for quick parts searches. I grew up on parts catalogs, and it beats the hell out of the dumbed down pictogram sites most parts stores use.
 
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