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Ebay car parts verses Main dealer prices ?


marsh man
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Is it false economy buying a cheaper part off Ebay ? 

Up until a few weeks ago I have had virtually three years trouble free motoring in my Honda CRV , then I had my battery light come on when we were out one Sunday , having stopped a few times without any problems the battery finally gave up the ghost and I had to call the AA out , he said the alternator wasn't charging and after getting me started I managed to get home , anyhow I got my chap to sort the alternator out and service the motor at the same time , while he had the alternator off he put a new belt on the pulley , so far so good , having got the motor back it started to make a little rattarling noise around the bottom pulley , took it back and the chap said you now need a new pulley , he rung up Honda main dealer and they said £420 , he said that was far to much and he will have a look on Ebay , he rang me last night to say he can get a new one sent with free postage for £50 odd quid , he bought it and it was dispatched today .

So after running on a bit , Is it false economy buying cheap ? and why is there such a difference in the price ?

THANKS for looking

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I buy 95% off ebay. If its a job I can't do I let my garage order it in as I know he makes a cut in the parts anyway, plus if anything gos tits up I can go back to him to get a replacement (if it has warranty). All service stuff, pads discs oil's filters ect are eBay. In fact I just bought 5 ltrs of 5/30 for £13 delivered via dpd. Bargain 

Only thing I don't buy is tyres as I have nothing to balance them. 

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Working in a garage over 30 years now no way I would payed that for a alternator from the dealers. Would of got the serial numbers off it and got a one from the car breakers or one from euro car parts or similar places like that 

Edited by db135
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Just because a part comes from ebay doesn't mean it's substandard. Like the majority of car parts, vehicle manufacturers buy them from other companies and brand them as their own when reselling. Yes vehicle manufacturers can specify part tolerances and quality, but the companies who actually make the parts will most of the time be able to supply OEM equivalent parts (or genuine original parts with the vehicle manufacturers name still on the part or ground off) for considerably less than what the dealers charge.

When buying pulleys there are only a couple of companies that should really be considered for light vehicle applications. The Schaeffler Group which incorporates INA is a pretty safe bet. There are plenty of times when parts are only available through the dealer network though. Honda is one of the brands that seems to keep a tight leash on certain parts.

As an example a friend of mine had a 2004 Honda with less that 30,000 miles on it. The car was in exceptional condition but wasn't really worth much. It needed a NSF driveshaft that was only available through the dealer. £550+vat plus a refundable surcharge of nearly £300 repaid to him when he returned his original driveshaft. Not a single scrapyard in the country had one and online searching yielded nothing. In the end he bought the driveshaft from the dealer. 

I should mention that you should always buy from verified reputable companies/sellers online. There are lots of sellers who slip the words 'original' and 'genuine' into the description of their listed parts when the reality is the parts are in no way original or genuine. The parts descriptions are intentionally misleading, so you need to be careful. Hopefully your mechanic is switched on and knows to buy from a reputable source.

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Good post Cannon.

The high level brake light on a previous Honda CRV stopped working. The Honda dealer wanted almost £300 to fit a replacement. My enquiries led to the knowledge that having this light working is not a legal requirement and will not lead to an MOT failure. My man in China sent one in less than a week at a cost of £30 and I fitted it myself.

 

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4 years ago i was rebuilding an outboard motor,...........rang the main dealer for 2 new main bearings (roller type)...........£280 quid.........just entered what i wanted on google came up with the main bearings.......£28 delivered.....unwrapped the main bearings and underneath the supplier sticker was the sticker of the outboard motor maker

fitted new pads to the suzuki recently...............from suzuki they were £58 quid ....off amazon ...same make....£18 quid delivered next day

i wont even tell you about landrover prices...........it was robbery and fraud with them........new clutch from them £600 odd quid......excactly same clutch from JSF £90 quid

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New rear brake discs and pads on a peugeot 308 from garage, fitted, make unknown, just north of £300

Ebay front disks and pads - which turned out to be from unipart - £50 delivered + 20 mins a side for me to fit - they have been fine for 5000 miles so far

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I have had non original parts which did not fit well, and rarely had any which lasted as long as genuine stuff. 

Exhausts are a good example. Originals last ten years, replacements last two years!

The worst pattern stuff is made by “Britpart”. Absolute carp.

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7 hours ago, Cannon said:

Just because a part comes from ebay doesn't mean it's substandard. Like the majority of car parts, vehicle manufacturers buy them from other companies and brand them as their own when reselling. Yes vehicle manufacturers can specify part tolerances and quality, but the companies who actually make the parts will most of the time be able to supply OEM equivalent parts (or genuine original parts with the vehicle manufacturers name still on the part or ground off) for considerably less than what the dealers charge.

When buying pulleys there are only a couple of companies that should really be considered for light vehicle applications. The Schaeffler Group which incorporates INA is a pretty safe bet. There are plenty of times when parts are only available through the dealer network though. Honda is one of the brands that seems to keep a tight leash on certain parts.

As an example a friend of mine had a 2004 Honda with less that 30,000 miles on it. The car was in exceptional condition but wasn't really worth much. It needed a NSF driveshaft that was only available through the dealer. £550+vat plus a refundable surcharge of nearly £300 repaid to him when he returned his original driveshaft. Not a single scrapyard in the country had one and online searching yielded nothing. In the end he bought the driveshaft from the dealer. 

I should mention that you should always buy from verified reputable companies/sellers online. There are lots of sellers who slip the words 'original' and 'genuine' into the description of their listed parts when the reality is the parts are in no way original or genuine. The parts descriptions are intentionally misleading, so you need to be careful. Hopefully your mechanic is switched on and knows to buy from a reputable source.

Many THANKS to you and the other members for your help and advice , very much appreciated , the seller ( 4xfours ) has a 100% feedback and been trading since 2014 , looking him up it stated , Top rated seller , One of Ebays most reputable sellers , Consistently delivering outstanding customer service . so hopefully all is fine and the item had a two year warranty that came with it .:good:

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I use a mixture, depending on price and how quick I need it.

Found a motor factors on Ebay up the road when I was rebuilding the brakes on my Frontera. They wouldn't serve me over the counter for the parts, so I went into the car park and bought them online adding a message that I would be collecting them in person. Back in to the trade counter, served by the same person and collected the parts!

(Front/rear pads, rear handbrake shoes, front discs, rear disc/drum £120)

I try and keep the little independent motor factor in the village going by doing my bit and generally buy my service parts from him.

If I'm using my mate's workshop I generally use Europarts (do a card sale over the phone and get it put on his delivery)

I think depending on the age and make  of the car would depend on whether I'd use genuine parts.

10 yr old Mondeo; use a motor factors

1 yr old Porsche; genuine parts

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  • 1 month later...
On 22/07/2020 at 08:14, 243deer said:

New rear brake discs and pads on a peugeot 308 from garage, fitted, make unknown, just north of £300

Ebay front disks and pads - which turned out to be from unipart - £50 delivered + 20 mins a side for me to fit - they have been fine for 5000 miles so far

That would have been old stock then Unipart disappeared years ago now

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Don’t even get me started on this, for the Honda the front discs were on there way so had a look and they were eye watering for a new set so had a look online and got down to just under £100 

then cross referenced some part numbers and ended up with a new pair because it had a rover part number first for £32 Even had the Honda part number listed on there. 
 

go figure! 

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We buy most of our parts from Bestpartstore it looks like a British website but actually its German. In Germany its illegal to sell pattern parts, they have to come from a manufacturer that supplies the car maker.

Prices are well below half, some times a quarter of main agent prices because the main agents inflate their mark up.

Never had any issue regarding quality from them

 

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On 21/07/2020 at 21:40, London Best said:

I will only have genuine parts fitted to my vehicles now. Been down the cheap pattern parts line many times before and in my experience they are carp.

in most cases we are talking about genuine parts..........spoke to landrover in norwich for a new clutch assembly.....(which was Borge warner).....complete with driven plate and everything...before VAT £380.oo...........got excactly the same make from JSF norwich ....£90.00........same thing with valves and so much other stuff....but i will grant you ...some none genuine parts are cheap and bloody rubbish....its only by experience you know what to buy and fit...

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2 minutes ago, ditchman said:

in most cases we are talking about genuine parts..........spoke to landrover in norwich for a new clutch assembly.....(which was Borge warner).....complete with driven plate and everything...before VAT £380.oo...........got excactly the same make from JSF norwich ....£90.00........same thing with valves and so much other stuff....but i will grant you ...some none genuine parts are cheap and bloody rubbish....its only by experience you know what to buy and fit...

My findings exactly.

Beware the Britpart!

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2 hours ago, London Best said:

My findings exactly.

Beware the Britpart!

Always had bad experience with Britpart, which should have the B removed and an S inserted. 

When I did my own work I only bought OEM, now when my Range Rover goes into a garage for work, I specify verbally and back up in writing no britpart to be used. Usually on collection I ask that its written on the invoice "No britpart used"

No good to the OP about britpart, but when looking on ebay if I can't find the make, I contact the seller, if they can't be bothered to reply then it's because the goods are 💩.

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I am exactly the same. Can’t crawl underneath and pull and tug any more so have to use the trade. Luckily I have found a good 4x4 specialist locally who understands what I want/need and so far he’s been very, very good. 
No Micky Mouse Parts Co. stuff at all.

Just not as cheap as doing it myself.

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