My experience with Rock Auto

[mikey12]

Was time to do major maintenance on a couple of the vehicles in the stable so I loaded up Rock Auto and ordered almost $650 in auto parts, after a 5% coupon. Timing belt kit, water pump, all hoses, etc. for one vehicle and a transfer case overhaul kit for another.

Within two days of that order they had called me and I had to cancel just over $200 of that order because the items were not in stock and had no idea when they would be available, if at all.

Not all items have shipped yet so there may be more. Get this, over $60 in [ground] shipping because the parts were coming from various places.

Take that under advisement next time you want to throw all the eggs in one basket with this company. Not too upset as I was able to procure the parts that were canceled from other sources at lower prices. Got my Bosch water pump from Amazon for $10 less and free shipping to boot and my transfer case kit from 4wheelparts for about $12 less after shipping. Some things are a deal at Rock Auto, and others are obviously not. Usually combining things to make a larger order is easier on the shipping charges, but not here for the parts I wanted.

 

[Johnny]

Good to know. Thanks

 

[kingrob]

Never had any problems with Rock Auto, but their shipping went up so high in the last couple of years I've found it's cheaper 90% of the time to just buy the parts locally. I don't even hardly buy form them anymore, unless it's a part that I can't get from anywhere else, which is fairly rare.

 

[Nyquist]

Let's just say that I have inside information some how. Rock Auto is probably one of the best places to buy ACDelco parts online. One of the companies RA.com does business with for parts shipping is one of the biggest ACDelco distributers in the Midwest US. KYB shocks/struts, Dorman products, A1-Cardone, and a couple others will also bring good luck.

 

[ZZman]

What kind of vehicle were you buying parts for? Maybe it is not a common one they stock alot of parts for.

 

[Shaman]

Change up the parts you are buying, and you can locate them at one place. Change brands, and you should be able to get them all from one place.

 

[PW01]

I've had good luck with Rock Auto ...

 

[mikey12]

Parts were for a '00 Rodeo and a '85 F150. Went with Rock because they had brands like Bosch, Cloyes, Felpro, Delphi, Gates, Timken, etc. for better prices than at the local stores - which meant Napa as most other parts stores do not carry such brands. There were alternates for the water pump, for example, but when you have a pump driven by the timing belt a little more money up front is usually the better approach than tearing into the engine again prematurely when the knock-off part dies early. I definitely wanted new and preferably the same brand (Bosch) as the part it is replacing after 134K miles of use. Same for the timing belt kit - Cloyes is one that I could trust more than other cheaper brands even when the price difference in more than $50. The transfer case kit was by Timken with alternates available elsewhere having China bearings, etc. Rock didn't have any substitutes for the transfer case kit so I had to settle with what another place offered.

Don't get me wrong I am not bashing Rock Auto. My point is to let people know of my experience with them so they know ahead of time and be prepared for when they get phone calls telling them 1/3rd of their order is not available and you have to substitute it or cancel it.

 

[rshaw125]

I have ordered from Rockauto and they were good. Last week I did a 100,000 mile service on my 2004 Sable. I wanted brand name parts. I ordered from Autopartsgiant for their free shipping. I ordered off of their web site 2 weeks before I needed it all. One week later it was on the door step.It was a lot cheaper especially with the free shipping. I was able to order 2 weeks in advance maybe some people might need the part right away.

 

[MNgopher]

As with anything else, shop around! I've found some great deals on Rockauto (such as Motorcraft Parts) and found others that I could source for less locally or on another website. The shipping charges are what they are since they use so many distributors. Of course it expands the availiblity of parts, but makes it toughter some times to keep the shipping in check. A recent order of three items, two of them the same, shipped from 3 locations, but I only paid the shipping as if from 1 as orignally indicated.

I also had a new foglamp assembly fail under warranty. Rockauto customer service was quick (via email - always within an hour during business hours). Even after paying for return shipping, I was still substantially ahead of other sources (and the new assembly was from a different manufacturer and has worked great!)

Just have to do your homework!

 

[TooManyWheels]

I recently needed a set of the good Felpro intake gaskets for the typcical 5.7 Vortec manifold leak. NAPA wanted $85, OReilly wanted $57, Amazon (yes, THAT Amazon) had them for $55 with free shipping, and of course no tax. I didn't know Amazon sold auto parts but one of the shopping sites had a listing from them.

 

[Ross]

I user RA all the time, You need to play around with your shopping cart to limit the number of shipping sites.

 

[mikey12]

They do have good prices on some things. They had a Wix transmission filter for much less than what I can get through Amsoil as a dealer, which is a joke in my book.

 

[The Critic]

It really depends on what you are buying. Like others have said, you have to play around with the shopping cart to minimize the number of shipping sites.

I just received a Stant thermostat and Gates upper/lower/bypass radiator hoses from RockAuto yesterday. The price including shipping was about 25% less than the out-the-door price from NAPA.

 

[Big O Dave]

I've never had any problems with Rockauto, and I've used them many times. And, I agree with comments above, about learning how to work within the Rockauto system.

 

[Colt45ws]

Ive noticed that the rockauto shopping page has a new icon it puts beside items that will ship from the same warehouse as what is already in your cart. Ive noticed that if you stay within a brand you should be pretty much good to go.

 

[gavinl]

I also noticed that Rockauto has started indicating multiple warehouses they are shipping from which increased the shipping costs.

So instead of getting a lone part from a separate warehouse I just bought it locally (NAPA) and save the additional shipping cost. I still got the bulk of my parts shipped from one warehouse and price was still lower at RA compared to the local stores.