Technical Summit Vs Jegs vs. RockAuto vs.?

Rockauto will send an email a few times a year showing discounted/discontinued parts for your car that you list. I rotate my cars to try and get some deals. I recently got a bunch of stuff (gaskets, thermostat, radiator cap, wiper blades, lights, filters etc.)for my wagon and I think I spent about $20.

 

parts buying is a job. it takes a lot of work to find, then comparison price every piece, add in time to figure in shipping, then placing each order, receiving the parts , unpacking, sorting and making sure you got what you ordered. "what's on back order?" a shop with a few guys in it almost needs a dedicated "shopper". do you spend two hours comparing and ordering, to save $50 or do you just give a quick call to the place that gives you the best service in the past. it really is a lot of work.

 

I have used them all for a variety of parts for all my cars. I just check the price and shipping costs.
Never had a problem with any of them.
I also use Mac's/Ecklers, honest Charlie's, van pelt, the local parts plus, Amazon, and the HAMB classifieds...

 

Yep, ALL well run shops could benefit from a good parts guy. I say that as a parts guy though, so I may be biased

 

Speedway is only 48 miles from me and I love a road trip...I just drive down there and BS with the guys on the counter getting my parts. I buy a lot of parts from my local NAPA store too. They give me a healthy discount. Summit had the water pump I needed for my ancient Pontiac engine at a fair price so I used them........stuck their stickers on my storage lockers.

 

Man you aren't kidding!! I spend a lot of time doing that stuff and it's nerve wracking. It's usually a task that takes priority over every other high priority task because if it's not getting done shit comes to a screatching hault. Go ahead and Think you're loosing money or time while you're doing it, then don't do it and you'll see what loosing time and money is really like.

My sister is a purchasing agent and been that for many years at several different places. It's a demanding job.

 

Have bought from (Summit, Jegs, Speedway), Yogi's, Napa, Oreilly's, Car Quest, AutoZone, Rock Auto, ALL Good IMO. With Rock Auto if anything is back ordered on your order/shipment, cancel that part and buy that part somewhere else as their back order system NFG, IMO. Rock Auto gives you choices on product,(brand name OEM) have had acceptable results choosing products marked with heart symbol, their best seller. Its such a different world buying parts today, When I was young, the local parts store had someone at counter that actually had some knowledge, today, not so much, also not many choices back then, OEM, aftermarket OEM quality, not 15 different company brand names you never heard of,( most everything is made offshore today, cheap, but some junk) I have learned at parts store to open box's and look at product, crap/ junk, have them reorder a different brand, again today's counter person has no knowledge to advise you on product. I tend to stick with OEM if possible. The big 3 (Summit, Jegs, Speedway) have tech people to help you and free shipping w/$100 purchase and free shipping specials. In so many ways its better today for the car hobby, but I've gotten old and sometimes miss the old days another sure sign of my age. You being a young man starting out, use the KISS system (Keep It Simple Stupid) baby steps, so the car gets done/on the road so you can enjoy it, It takes some time/experience to figure out hot rod deal and to wade through all the BS that comes with the car hobby.

 

Rock auto for stock type parts, they have cheap close out deals (lower hose was $80 at orileys and rock was $8), Jegs does online price match and Summit has a warehouse in Vegas, so it gets here fast. All that’s great but can’t beat a local mom/pop parts store.....our last one is gone and I’m sad

 

If I need something fast, I buy it locally, if they have it in stock. If the price seems too high, I might check online first. We have several local chain parts stores, and I get a shop discount at NAPA and Orielly's.
If I'm looking for something I might not need right away (or no one local has what I need in stock) I search online. Rock Auto has a pretty easy website to get part options and part numbers from, but often the shipping kills it for them.
With a part number in hand, I do a google search and look for the best price (including shipping) on the specific part number. Lately, I've bought a lot of stuff through Ebay.
Summit seems to be the fastest at shipping, and they have the best customer service, but I hate their website.
The down side to buying stuff on line is if there is a core charge, or if a problem with the part comes up, it often adds at least another week to the process, and can get pretty complicated. Gene

 

I use mostly Summit. Speedway has a good catalog but their web site is horrible compared to Summit. I can usually find anything at Summit. Jegs' online site is pretty bad too.

I buy a lot on eBay too. I have favorite sellers I go to first. Rock Auto is good for brake parts, master cylinders and power boosters. Their shipping is usually pretty fair.

 

Shit.. I buy a lot of gun parts too. I was comparing a Hogue shotgun stock between eBay and Amazon, same price exactly. Amazon adds tax and shipping... back to look on eBay. No tax, free shipping. So eBay it is. I get the item, comes in an Amazon Prime smiley-face box. Can you say 3rd party???

 

I think their web site is the best by far. It could be improved but I can't find one better.
What don't you like about it?

 

NAPA is on my eternal shit list. I had a real good store right by work, but that closed down. So I go to one not far from my house. I needed axle bearings pressed on, bought it all from them, bearings, seals and they said they send the axles out. I pick them up and they whacked me with a $100 press charge and they did do it at their own shop.

Anything I need... nothing exotic... they will have it for me in 2 days. I tell them Summit can have it at my door in 2 days. Sometimes I buy it from them anyway. I bought a starter solenoid which crapped out in 4000 miles, a brake light switch sooner than that. My expensive ignition switch, it doesn't want to let go of the key at times. But they had all the brake lines I needed. I stop in to pick up things like brake fluid and carb cleaner. I like their hand soap.

 

One more plus to Summit... They have stuff that isn't auto related too! I was needing a new motor for an air compressor. After I cross reference the number on it and did some Google searching... Summit had it in stock at a price a lot lower than any of the compressor places. They sell air compressors and parts for them.

Impressive !

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That deal with Ebay/ Amazon: my last two purchases off ebay, they came straight from Amazon. It is getting hard to keep up with all this.

 

I have read that Rock Auto has a lot of warehouse space and specializes in buying out old parts other retailers don't find profitable to house anymore. So in essence they are conserving older parts that would otherwise be tossed in the dumpster by corporate bean counters.

 

Rock Auto does not stock any parts. They have contracts with a lot of warehouses across the country and the parts are drop shipped from them. This is why they have so many different brands and why the shipping can get a little crazy at times. That is why it is important to keep an eye on the icons in the shopping cart that shows how many different locations the parts are shipping from. I have ordered parts before that were shipped from 2 miles from my shop... LoL

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I buy from all of them, though typically more from Jeg's than Summit. Jeg's has always been a pleasure to deal with, including the purchase of a crate engine. Summit's website is easier to navigate, especially since now the more comprehensive inventory seems to be online rather than in print catalog form. Both are my "go-to"s for performance parts and when I'm looking for a better than OEM quality or severe duty part.

That being said, I buy a lot of stuff through Rock Auto. My wife and I each drive a lot, average about 33K per year on our daily drivers, so inevitably our fleet need some maintenance along the way. Rock Auto is great for OEM quality stuff, and is substantially less expensive than local suppliers, even with paying for shipping. I have not really used them for my classics, but I would without hesitation.

 

Your link
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Amazon Markeplace sellers (3rd party sellers) are akin to ebay sellers, but with some _slightly_ more stringent oversight (ie, if you have a problem with a seller, Amazon will usually be able to resolve for you). The only other big difference from ebay sellers is that _some_ Amazon Marketplace products are actually in Amazon's hands when you buy (ebay doesn't hold anyone's inventory. All sales are shipped by the seller or whatever relationship they have with "4th party" fulfillers). As a one-time Amazon seller, I had to ship certain classes of product for them to carry in inventory on my behalf; some other classes they allowed me to direct ship.

 

What link?

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That one

 

Oh..... I guess I need to pull that off since I retired and closed my shop

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For years I used Speedway, but about 5 years ago I started using Summit for some stuff,- very happy with both.

 

Just ordered two 2 1/4" exhaust elbows from Rock Auto today. Even with shipping, still $15 cheaper than O'Reilly's. And O had to order them too, so instead of ordering from them, waiting for them to come in, then driving 17 miles to go get them, I'll just wait an extra day and let the postman bring them.

 

Luckily I still have a real parts store with knowledgeable salespeople. I try to buy about a third of my stuff from them. Big or expensive items like suspension arms, water pumps, carbs or starters I like to take a look at before I pay. They are only about a mile and a half away. If you don't patronize your local independent store they will have to close. They might anyway! That said I shop at Parts Geek, Rock Auto, E bay and other sites like Late Model Restoration. I buy local if they can get me the part that day and I'm on a very short time crunch. It is hell to run a brick and mortar business in today's market. Everyone, (myself included) wants to save every nickel.

 

We use Atech, which is the dealer side of Summit. Have for 30 years. Also Speedway.

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Summit from now on. I used jegs for a crate engine last summer nothing but issues with discontinued items and no reply or help from customer service. Engine I ended up with was fine I just wasn't impressed with customer service. So ill use summit or speedway from now on.

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I've had good luck with Speedway for certain parts, but I've ordered wide whites from summit and they were great to work with when I had to return 2 of the 4 for a smaller size great customer service at both places

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I've bought a ton of stuff from Summit in the past.... Never had a problem....