What is the best website to buy used car parts? These days, you can find a website to buy almost anything, so why is it so hard to buy used car parts online? When the average internet savvy consumer searches for car parts online, they are often baffled at the lack of options or the plethora of bad options, the seemingly ancient technology and the difficulty of determining fitment. Why is it so hard?
Even the Best Websites have Limitations
Even the best websites to buy used car parts struggle connecting buyers with the correct car parts because of the difficulty of interchange. Interchange is basically the part fitment, most auto parts have part numbers from the manufacturer, but they also have an interchange number, because multiple parts with different manufacturers may fit exactly the same. For example, the fender for a Mercury Milan, a Lincoln Zephyr, and a Ford Fusion all have different part numbers from Mercury, Lincoln and Ford but they are all exactly the same parts and will fit on these vehicles interchangeably. The same goes for many parts on a Tahoe and a Suburban and a Silverado. Used auto parts are complex, but this can be a good problem for you as a consumer because if you have an F150, it takes the same engine as a Ford Expedition! This opens up more cost effective possibilities for replacing your F150 engine.
The Challenge is in the Details
One challenge in buying used car parts online is selecting the correct part for your vehicle. Although the Pete’s Auto Parts website, and most other salvage yard websites, take you through your vehicle year, make and model, and ask you to select the options that are relevant to choosing the correct car part for your vehicle, it can be confusing. When you are looking for the best website to buy used car parts, you don’t just need to know your vehicle you need to know all the options. For example, if you are buying an engine for your F150 like in the example above, you’ll need to know the engine size (could be 2.7L, 3.0L, 3.3L, 3.5L, or 5.0L,) and then depending on which size engine you have you may need to now the fuel type (gasoline, diesel or CNG) and the 8th digit of the VIN. One of the very best ways to make sure you are getting the correct part is to shop by VIN!
Start with Your VIN
Your vehicle identification number, or VIN, is found on your vehicle in the driver’s side lower corner of the windshield, it’s also found on the sticker on the driver’s door or just inside when you open the door, it can also be found on your vehicle registration or insurance documentation. The VIN is specific to your vehicle. There are certain digits that will be the same on many vehicles, such as VINs that start with 1, 4 or 5 were manufactured in the United States, whereas VINs that start with 2 were made in Canada, 3 Mexico, J Japan, K South Korea, S England, W Germany, Y Sweden or Finland!
The VIN can tell you many things (not just where your car was made, but who the manufacturer was, the vehicle model, engine size and type, the year, the plant that assembled the vehicle, and finally the last 6 digits of the VIN are a unique vehicle serial number. When you call a specific manufacturer or a car dealership, they will often ask you for only the last 6 digits of your VIN as they can look it up that way in their system. At Pete’s Auto Parts, we need the entire VIN because we are searching all makes and models of vehicles, not just one!
If you provide us with the VIN, we can ensure you are getting the right parts for your vehicle. The best website to buy used car parts from is the one that gets you the correct parts, on time and as described! We believe that can be Pete’s Auto Parts, and we’d love to help you find the parts you need. Our sales professionals are ready to assist by phone, text or email. If you prefer to do your own searching, you can find our parts at used auto parts search page.
Online isn’t Everything
Keep in mind that not every part we have access to is listed on our website. As a proud member of Team PRP, Pete’s Auto Parts has access to many hundreds of thousands of parts at our partner facilities that we can ship in for very reasonable costs. There are a number of advantages to ordering through Pete’s Auto Parts, including that we have a trucking system that runs between facilities and is much less expensive that shipping parts on LTL freight trucks or small package carriers like UPS or FedEx.
Additionally, when you are shopping online for car parts and you decide to purchase from Pete’s Auto Parts, our parts come with our warranty (you can read more at https://petesauto.net/warranty/) and if there is a problem with the part, we will give you your money back and handle the return shipment so you don’t have to deal with that. When you buy parts from Pete’s, you are supporting a small business with roots in the community!
Contact Pete’s Auto Parts Any Way You Prefer
If you want to contact us by phone, call us 8am to 5:30pm Monday through Friday! If you prefer to text, shoot us a text – we’ll respond 8am to 5:30pm Monday through Friday but feel free to text outside those hours and we can always get back to you later. Prefer to email? Send us an email (to your favorite salesperson, below, or to sales@petesauto.net) If you like to use skype or facebook messenger, you can find us there, too! Some clients want to walk into our office and speak to a salesperson face-to-face instead of calling or texting, and that is just fine by us! José (habla español) and Tommy are available in the front office 9am to 4pm Monday through Friday, besides their lunch breaks of course.
You should always feel free to call or text our main number 616-669-6592, but if you want to contact someone specific directly, here is the info in alphabetical order:
- Brian: 616-797-7978 brian@petesauto.net X216 (works from home)
- Dan: 616-797-7973 dan@petesauto.net X213 (works from home)
- José: 616-797-7962 jose@petesauto.net X231 (front counter at Pete’s) el habla español
- Lindsey: 616-797-7969 lindsey@petesauto.net X210 (office in our sales and business office) ella habla español
- Tommy: 616-797-7964 tommy@petesauto.net X224 (office at Pete’s)
We’ll Help!
Some customers really want to find the best website to buy used auto parts online, and that is fine, if you don’t want to talk to us, you can purchase online without having any human interaction. We think our website is pretty great and you will be able to buy used auto parts online through Pete’s Auto Parts if that is what you want to do. But we want you to feel comfortable contacting us for pricing & availability if you need it! When you contact us to buy used car parts with your VIN or vehicle info, we’ll look up the parts you need and provide the pricing and the time frame we can have your part ready for pickup, delivered or shipped.
Summary: Buying Used Car Parts Online
We hope you know now that www.petesauto.net is a great site to buy used car parts online, but that many customers struggle to choose the correct fitment and you should never be afraid to call us, text us or email us, with your VIN so we can make sure the part you are buying is the correct one for your vehicle. We firmly believe that buying used car parts is the best choice for many reasons: you’ll spend less money and be a good steward of the environment! Also, at Pete’s Auto Parts we know used parts are reliable and available, and because the best parts for your vehicle are the same parts the manufacturer intended to be on your vehicle — they made them after all!
If you want to buy used car parts online, check out our used auto parts search page, or please reach out to us by calling or texting 616-669-6592 to learn more about our top-notch used car, truck, van and SUV If you’re looking for the best website to buy used car parts, visit our used auto parts search page at www.petesauto.net/parts/. Alternatively, you can contact us at 616-669-6592 to learn more about our top-notch selection of used car, truck, van, and SUV parts. You can also find us on facebook at www.facebook.com/PetesAutoParts
