RockAuto Sucks! or How Rockauto charges excessive shipping with pics.

Joined
Aug 20, 2003
Messages
21,333
Location
NE,Ohio
Alternative title:
How rock auto made me rage quit buying parts from them.

So shopping for wiper blades for the 2020 hyundai.. oem inserts arent available.. and oem blades are $55 for pair(at local dealer)

So I go on rock auto and select 2 blades.. ooo clearance total is 10$.. but wait there's more Billy Mays style..
they are shipping the blades from 2 separate warehouses. Jimmy thats just 13.98 additional shipping.

Ok pick 2 more wiper blades... nope those are mysteriously coming from separate warehouses too.

Ok select 10 wiper blades.. Finally found a set coming from same warehouse.

Remove the other 8 wiper blades... now those 2 that were just coming from same warehouse... coming from different warehouses...

The end.

Went to amazon ordered a set for $18. no shenanigans.

I know previously we have discussed how outrageous their shipping warehouse bait and switch is.. but this is egregious .

see pics pay attention to the warehouse change.
crock-auto1.JPG

crock-auto2.JPG
 
You're not wrong, but they still blow my local Napa out of the water on bottom-line pricing.

Competition is the solution to this sort of problem. Fill your cart with what you need from a few different (reliable) sources, and pull the trigger on the one with the lowest number on the "Total" line. Easy peasy.
 
1) They purposely do this to "pad" shipping charges, i.e. add'l profit
or
2) They purposely do this to share orders amongst their partners
 
Wiper blades seem to be excessively tricky with shipping. I added 1 more blade and total cost went down because all of the sudden they were in the same warehouse. It is super annoying but I know the game going in.
 
The web site discloses which warehouse they are shipping from, you get to decide A, B, or C. If your order comes from multiple warehouses you pay more in shipping. I am not disputing the facts of what OP said it is my experience too. I use it to my advantage when ordering. Can you play the game or not, not they suck
 
1) They purposely do this to "pad" shipping charges, i.e. add'l profit
or
2) They purposely do this to share orders amongst their partners
Or 3) they purposely do it to globally balance their stock between their warehouses in a method that is not obvious when you are just placing a single order.
Many other possibilities.
 
I buy blades at Walmart name brand and cheap same blades you get from the parts place or RockAuto. They are good just like you said I hate the shipping especially when I don’t get a magnet with it. I’d never buy parts on Amazon I’d be worried about counterfeit ones. I was going to order a new bumper for my truck but the shipping is more than the bumper itself. I buy lots of parts from there though especially ones I want name brand and not cheap parts store stuff.
 
While I'll admit the whole shipping system is cumbersome and makes no sense at times, RA has saved me a boatload of money over the years. If I can't get the shipping to work out (have had many experiences just like yours), I don't get angry, I just head over to Ebay or Amazon.

Their prices are fantastic on most things even if the shipping mutes the savings some. Case in point, I just ordered some brake pads for $25 that sold for $40+ elsewhere. I added two quarts of Bosch EIS6 brake fluid which was $7 and some change per quart. Amazon charges $14-something for the same fluid. Shipping was very reasonable.

My only complaint with RA is their return process, but I can usually figure out how to answer the automated questions to get what I want.

This topic seems to pop up on a near-weekly basis. I don't get the big deal, if the shipping is too expensive or too discombobulated for people to deal with, just don't use them.
 
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The web site discloses which warehouse they are shipping from, you get to decide A, B, or C. If your order comes from multiple warehouses you pay more in shipping. I am not disputing the facts of what OP said it is my experience too. I use it to my advantage when ordering. Can you play the game or not, not they suck
Right but when I had 10 blades in cart the 2 blades were both warehouse b
I then delete the other 8 blades and the 2 blades change to warehouse a & b

I'm used to fiddling around with rockauto to get it down to 1-2 warehouses..
last fall I arranged it 4 different air filters and a case of clearance mopar oil filters out of 2 warehouses.

but wiper blades changing where it goes from same warehouse to 2 warehouses when I remove other items from cart is some BS of the highest degree.

So... $23.98 vs $55? With shipping still less than 1/2 price...

Oem blades=$55
aftermarket brand = 23.98
I'd pay 35 for 2 oem blades but $55 just crosses the nutzo line its a hyundai not a BMW.

amazon was $18 for 2 blades. and I got another 9% off that.
Also, 2 day shipping and not usps week long wait
While I'll admit the whole shipping system is cumbersome and makes no sense at times, RA has saved me a boatload of money over the years. If I can't get the shipping to work out (have had many experiences just like yours), I don't get angry, I just head over to Ebay or Amazon.

My previous experiences with their shipping were annoying.
I'd move around items and get as close to 1 warehouse as possible.
This time they were flagrantly doubling my shipping charge for pure profit.

They take 2 items that are coming from the same warehouse and change it to coming from 2 warehouses.. resulting in shipping that is 140% the cost of the wiper blades.
 
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92saturnsl2 explained it well.

The shipping from different warehouses is annoying. But even then, it's still usually cheaper. Especially when bulk ordering stuff, like knowing I'll need some filters for the Jeep in a couple months, why not order now and keep it on the shelf?

RockAuto could raise their prices and make shipping free, but that might not make sense for cheaper items like thermostat gaskets etc.
 
So have you reached out to Rockauto with this specific question? I use them all the time and the shipping can be a pain, but I generally look around and may get a single part from somewhere else if the overall cost is lower. But more and more recently I find it's not worth the time and aggravation to worry about saving $10. You already saved $30 over dealer prices so not sure why so much time is invested to chase after a few more.
 
Right but when I had 10 blades in cart the 2 blades were both warehouse b
I then delete the other 8 blades and the 2 blades change to warehouse a & b

I'm used to fiddling around with rockauto to get it down to 1-2 warehouses..
last fall I arranged it 4 different air filters and a case of clearance mopar oil filters out of 2 warehouses.

but wiper blades changing where it goes from same warehouse to 2 warehouses when I remove other items from cart is some BS of the highest degree.



Oem blades=$55
aftermarket brand = 23.98
I'd pay 35 for 2 oem blades but $55 just crosses the nutzo line its a hyundai not a BMW.

amazon was $18 for 2 blades. and I got another 9% off that.
Also, 2 day shipping and not usps week long wait


My previous experiences with their shipping were annoying.
I'd move around items and get as close to 1 warehouse as possible.
This time they were flagrantly doubling my shipping charge for pure profit.

They take 2 items that are coming from the same warehouse and change it to coming from 2 warehouses.. resulting in shipping that is 140% the cost of the wiper blades.

Absolutely backs up my 3 Rockauto experiences.

Never will order from them.
 
I personally will just do comparison shopping if it is important.
It also depends on the type of parts.

For example, for brakes, RA have the best price even with shipping.
For cheap parts, RA will not win because it charges shipping, for this, I usually compare it with Amazon or pick it up from local part store.
 
Alternative title:
How rock auto made me rage quit buying parts from them.

So shopping for wiper blades for the 2020 hyundai.. oem inserts arent available.. and oem blades are $55 for pair(at local dealer)

So I go on rock auto and select 2 blades.. ooo clearance total is 10$.. but wait there's more Billy Mays style..
they are shipping the blades from 2 separate warehouses. Jimmy thats just 13.98 additional shipping.

Ok pick 2 more wiper blades... nope those are mysteriously coming from separate warehouses too.

Ok select 10 wiper blades.. Finally found a set coming from same warehouse.

Remove the other 8 wiper blades... now those 2 that were just coming from same warehouse... coming from different warehouses...

The end.

Went to amazon ordered a set for $18. no shenanigans.

I know previously we have discussed how outrageous their shipping warehouse bait and switch is.. but this is egregious .

see pics pay attention to the warehouse change.
View attachment 46798

View attachment 46799
Every once in a while we have some shenanigans with them. I’ve had about a 99% success with them. Take the good with the bad I guess. Sometimes their shipping is high, sometimes higher than the item, but they are still cheaper and more convenient than a parts store.

I had a part get lost in the mail late last year. According to the tracking, it sat for about a week and didn’t move to where I could cancel the order. It showed up a month later and I still had to mess around with returning it. They called me 3 times and sent an email saying they either wanted the part or wanted paid. I’ve bought from them since. 🤷🏼‍♂️

I will say lately I’ve had better luck with eBay. I needed an ignition switch for my truck. I wanted OE and Rock Auto didn’t have it in stock. Found it on eBay from a GM parts place for ~$20 cheaper including shipping.
 
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The shipping thing I understand. I manage a system that handles shipping out of multiple warehouses and even contracts out to different suppliers to ship. Depending on the warehouse location, or even the size of a package, it can drive the shipping costs through the roof. The specific wiper blades you want may be shipping from the other side of the country. Or the individual warehouse may have a contract where their shipping charges are calculated by box size instead of weight (rare, but can be a thing with Fedex and UPS). Majority of our shipping costs are weight and distance.

I have continued to use Rockauto. I like having a very large selection of parts while having an interchange available in one single spot. I did try to use amazon at one point and ended up with a used balljoint. So that was the last time I used Amazon for everyday auto parts.

I've bought probably $300 in parts over the last few weeks for my Jeep. Would have been much more expensive if I had gone through a local parts store. Having to ship the caliper cores back is kinda crappy but I can do it. Even if I hold onto the calipers, it's still cheaper than buying locally and returning the cores.
 
We've been down this road before.
>>>It's that they LIE ABOUT IT is the problem.
"Shenanigans" is what your kids do. Theft and dishonesty is what others do.

Allowing some lies and stealing while overlooking others is what we do or at least put-up with. It's not just RA.
Pretending that the lies built into their shipping charges system don't exist or are "OK because the overall price pans out" is the individual's call.

The explanation that shipping from differing companies varies between plain weight vs box volume plus weight 'sometimes' and that it all has to average out is just fluff.
Just ignoring the "dancing trucks" on their order form is fine for most because RA's total price is competitive.

However, RA advises that you look for the truck icon to lower shipping costs. They ACTIVELY MISLEAD you to their calumnious system.

Given that their website is "all words and essentially no personal contact", they could add a brief explain that the truck icon thing is a mere trapping designed to mollify.

1) All the RA shipping threads should be condensed into one clear explanation and all these repetitive ones erased. Set up a 3 column chart with "Ya, Nay and It's OK with me" headings under which members' names will be listed.

1a) Remember all the clowns who said they'd never watch football again during their strike?

2) Never overlook the wastefulness "speedy service" builds into home shipments. Big boxes for small items, while inevitable sometimes, is common.

2a) ...and what ever happened to the padded envelope for small parts?
 
It’s an aptitude test that some people can pass while others just act confused.
 
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