What auto parts store?

[Silver_civic]

Hello again gentlemen and what auto parts store do you folks use and why? At my work we use Autozone and local NAPA. So far no problems so cant complain, but boss whines that sometimes NAPA is more. Have had pretty good luck with autozone, except to me I prefer advance auto since they carry purolator filters.


thanks in advance,


Adam

 

[renegade_987]

I like Autozone and O'reillys best, but probably because they are both within 5 miles of my house, and they help me avoid Walmart

 

[bullwinkle]

Advance Auto Parts-the undisputed CHAMPION of online auto parts discount codes!!!

 

[JHZR2]

Autozone is the minority hiring quota store. Nothing wrong with that if they were knowledgeable, but they arent. Its like Home Depot. That plus inferior chinese made parts means that I wont buy any real auto parts from them besides the most basic basics.

Advance and Pep Boys are a little better. PB at least carries more selection.

Napa seems to me to have slightly better quality, selection and knowledge. The local mom and pop store is the best.

But for real knowledge for any line of cars, I generally go to my online sources...

 

[EricF]

for the big box stores, I actually prefer pepboys. I've never been in an advance before, they have no presence in California.
autozone parts are ok, not fond of the duralast brand, as they're all import brands, yes, most of everything are nowadays, but it's like a cheaper version. the belts used to be kelly springfield, they're now dayco I believe, although they say made in china.

 

[wallyuwl]

Oreillys and Advance. Oreillys has good sales usually, and Advance has the online coupon codes with pick up in store. All the AZs near me pretty much align with what JHZR2 said. I also like Car Quest if I need a hard to find or specialty item. NAPA is too expensive and the one close to me closed down. I will often shop Rock Auto.

 

[cmf]

I don't go to stores looking for advice so my entire goal is to get the part for the cheapest price. I generally buy parts from RockAuto.com because I never need anything immediately. I've also bought from Amazon.com if it's cheaper. Rarely AAP will be cheaper with a coupon, and in that case I buy it there. I shop at AAP for non-part items a few times a year because their coupons are amazing. I get my antifreeze at Napa because they carry the Zerex Asian and Motorcraft Gold equivalent.

I've never been in a PepBoys.

 

[ctrcbob]

Originally Posted By: EricF
for the big box stores, I actually prefer pepboys. I've never been in an advance before, they have no presence in California.
autozone parts are ok, not fond of the duralast brand, as they're all import brands, yes, most of everything are nowadays, but it's like a cheaper version. the belts used to be kelly springfield, they're now dayco I believe, although they say made in china.


At one time, I used to go to Pep Boys all the time. I used Pep Boys since the early 1960's. NO MORE. It used to be a pleasure to shop at Pep Boys, however a few years ago, they started with this "Rebate" thing, and now, just about everything I want to buy has a "Rebate" and you have to make sure to dot all the i's and cross all the t's and even if everything is sent correctly, you have to wait six to twelve weeks for your rebate to come. I don't play those games. If they want to drop the price, do it at the cash register, not by rebate.

I now buy elsewhere.

 

[walk23]

Advanced Auto, O'Rieley and Auto Zone are all within 2 blocks of each other where I live. I prefer Advanced Auto.

 

[Dave Hess]

Thats because they know many people will forget and not send the rebate in or people will not follow the rebate directions and they won't honor it.

I like AAP the best down here.

 

[fdcg27]

Originally Posted By: bullwinkle
Advance Auto Parts-the undisputed CHAMPION of online auto parts discount codes!!!


Yep.
Great deals at 40% off.
Even better if the item manufacturer offers an MIR.
AZ is mainly good for GC when Castrol is the oil change special flavor of the month.
PB was clearancing GC, as I found when I stopped by one Friday, hoping to score some GC on their Syntec oil change special.
That store only had three quarts of GC left.
O'Reillys is okay, and they said that they could order GC.
The best parts stores are local, and I sometimes need advice from someone who sells a lot of parts for a given car.
It is nice to talk to someone who has owned a variety of foreign brands and sells parts for them.
These people can often help you think through whatever problem you might be experiencing, and such stores usually supply good quality parts, since the shops they mostly deal with will let them know if a given supplier or rebuilder ships junk.

 

[Virtuoso]

I shop at our local Advance Auto (or Napa) for parts as much as possible. I was a loyal AutoZone customer until I was treated very rudely twice by their employee's recently. So no new purchases there at all. I'll return what's still covered by warranty if necessary though.

I'd do O'Riley's if there was one close enough. And +1 on Advance's online codes! They rock. I DO get most of my oil and oil filter's at Menards, though.

 

[DreamerGT]

Originally Posted By: bullwinkle
Advance Auto Parts-the undisputed CHAMPION of online auto parts discount codes!!!


+1 I search online for the discount codes, then place my order to pick up. Im in and out of there, just like that with my discounted parts.

 

[Jimmy9190]

I like Advance for their online discount codes. I have saved a ton of money with those and often they have the exact same part as Auto Zone and Napa, just has a different label on the box. My local AAP always has the parts waiting for me on the counter when I come in to pick them up.

I have bought some parts at Auto Zone and have had good luck so far with Duralast parts. I like the Rewards Card program and the AZ stores here have good guys working there.

I also like Rock Auto. I have only bought from them once but I do check their prices when I need parts and will order from them again if I need to. AAP usually gets most of my business because of their online discount codes.

 

[FZ1]

Autozone,down here.

 

[wiswind]

I like Rockauto as they have a much better selection of parts.
They have cheap, mid, and premium grade parts for many items.
I have found that for premium parts for brakes (rotors & pads) the local stores would have to special order them anyhow.

Walk-in store, I use AutoZone and Advance Auto Parts.......particularly for chemicals (brake fluid, cleaners, etc).

 

[MNgopher]

Rockauto generally if I can wait for the parts - usually cheaper and sometimes by a lot!

After that, O'reilly or Napa, with Carquest on some harder to find parts since they have a store attached to the regional warehouse. Makes the wait about 15 minutes on stuff that takes some time to get at other stores. Prices are generally high though...

 

[JosephHarmon]

The NAPA chain stores here are are able to get sometimes difficult to find parts & supplies due to us having a major warehouse in our metro area. They generally have good quality but competition has effected some areas of the suppliers to napa.
Oreilly has a warehouse that supplies a number of franchises, not nearly as large.

NAPA has a lot to offer.

Of course the best deals are found online.

 

[motorguy222]

I prefer Advance and get most stuff from them but get some things from Auto Value(they are better than NAPA)and some from O'Reillys.

I just bought a starter from O'Reillys the other day.Put it on and was checking the positive wire to the starter the next day to make sure it wasnt in a bind and the connections at the starter were loose,the main connection was loose,not the wire connections but the main connection on the starter.

It had to have came that way.It was a good thing I checked the wire when I did.

I took the starter back off and tried to tighten the connections.I couldnt,one of the screws was too short to get a good grip on the threads and what threads were there were stripped.

I took and switched another nut and got it tight.I then tried to tighten the other connection on the screw I switched the nut from and it broke.

I was quite upset.If the connections that were loose had completely came apart,there could have been a bad fire at worst or at the least,left us stranded somewhere in 90+ degree temps.That would not be good.

I took the starter back and the guy at the counter seemed to want to be kind of smart at first but when I told him that it could have caused a fire,he changed his tune.They didnt have another starter and just happened to have my old one that I had returned for the core.

I got my money and old starter back and went to Advance,I dont know why I didnt go there to begin with.I will probably avoid O'Reillys when it comes to replacement parts like starters and altenators.

 

[Chris142]

We use Napa most of the time. Napa can have a part to me in under an hr usually. Pep Boys takes atleast 2 hrs.

Were starting to use O'Riley more since when they were Kragen they were cash only and we never got our change back or a credit for the change due. O'Riley will take a check.

We tried A-Zone 2x and both times had a bad experiance so we don't use them.

I myself buy Spark plugs, brakes etc @ A-Zone just to get the $20 gift cards plus A-Zone is the cheapest place around.