So you googled used car parts, and you found us, now what? You want to save money and purchase used car parts but you haven’t done it before?
Good news, this blog post will give you everything you need to know about how to buy a used car part from Pete’s Auto Parts so you can purchase like a pro!
Doing Your Homework
We understand that when it comes to buying used car parts, you may want to do some homework on your supplier. We hope that means you will be looking for good information on Pete’s Auto parts! We’d like to make your job a little easier, so here are some ways to find more out about Pete’s if you want to, no pressure!
- We take videos of our vehicles running when we inventory the parts, and we post these videos to our youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/@petesauto7873 so you can hear the motor run before you purchase it! Feel free to check out our videos on youtube before you buy used car parts so you can see we buy quality late model salvage with good running engines.
- Pete’s Auto Parts is active on Facebook, and you can learn a lot about us through our posts. You can find us at https://www.facebook.com/PetesAutoParts
- Find us on Google! We currently have a 4.4 star rating, we get a ton of 5 star reviews but we do have the occasional Karen that gives us one star. We work really hard to satisfy our customers and by reading our google reviews you can read many testimonials of real customers!
Don’t be Afraid to Google the New Price
At Pete’s Auto Parts we save a lot of people hundreds and thousands of dollars over new parts, all the time! But we don’t mind if you want to do some research before you call or text us, so you know what a good price is for the used car part you need. Often our customers save 40% over new! Occasionally, there will be a part like a fender that might cost the same brand new as it does used — just make sure you know whether any body piece you are buying new is painted or just primed, as paint expenses are a huge driver in choosing a recycled OEM part over a new primed part.
Start with Your VIN
Many customers call or text Pete’s Auto Parts for used car parts and and they are surprised by all the questions we ask them. For example, if you drive a 2016 F150 and you are looking for the power rack and pinion, we need to know some simple things you might expect like the engine size, if it’s four wheel drive or not, and if it has a turbo charger or not, however we also need to know if your truck has a wheel base of 122″, 145″, 157″ or 163″… MOST people do not have a clue how many inches the wheelbase of their vehicle is! That’s ok, you don’t need to get out a measuring tape or get underneath the vehicle, if you provide us with your Vehicle Identification Number, the VIN, we can look that up and ensure the part you order is the correct fit for your vehicle!
Contact Pete’s Auto Parts Any Way You Prefer
We are here for you on the phone, by text, email, skype, even facebook messenger! Some of our older clients like 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! Amy and Tommy are available in the front office 9am to 4pm Monday through Friday, besides their lunch breaks of course. We have five salespeople on the phones and responding to online messages throughout the day, with staff available from 8am to 5:30pm Monday through Friday. You can always call or text our main number 616-669-6592, but f 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)
- 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)
- Amy: 616-797-7962 amy@petesauto.net X231 (front counter at Pete’s)
We’ll Provide Pricing & Availability
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. Used car parts that are available on site at our facility usually take between 1 hour and 24 hours to have ready for you. We remove sold parts from vehicles in the order that they are sold, so the sooner you order the sooner we will have your part ready for pickup! Parts from our facility are normally delivered the next business day or two business days after being ordered, unless you don’t want the part until a specific day, some shop owners prefer to wait until they have the car on the hoist to accept a delivery.
When we bring in used car parts from one of our partner yards, the time frame can be a bit longer: first the partner yard must remove the sold part from the vehicle, QC check it and clean it, package it and ship it to us, then it may take 1-4 days in transit to arrive depending on where it’s coming from, and finally when we receive it we have to unpackage it and QC check it again and contact you that it’s ready or deliver it out to you. Most of our vendors are awesome to work with and very reliable, so we can easily order in hard-to-find parts when we do not have them on site! Either way, whether the used car parts you are looking for are here locally or we are sourcing them from another facility, we can let you know the price and when you could expect the part!
Choose a Warranty and/or Labor Coverage
Every used car part we sell at Pete’s Auto Parts (besides tires & batteries) comes with a 90 day warranty, but you have the option to extend that warranty to 1 year by paying 10% of the purchase price of your used car part(s), or to extend the warranty to 3 years by paying 25% of the purchase price! We also offer labor protection at 20% of the payout. That means if you want $500 in labor coverage, it will cost you $100. The labor protection is good for the life of the warranty, so if you only buy labor protection, the part comes with a 90 day warranty and your labor protection is good for 90 days. If you choose to extend your warranty to 1 year or 3 years, the labor protection is good for the time frame of the warranty you purchased. Your salesperson will offer you a warranty on any mechanical or electrical parts, basically any part that can fail we sell a warranty on. We generally do not offer warranties on sheet metal because there is nothing that fails. We do have a lifetime guarantee against perforation on sheet metal, and our batteries have a lifetime warranty as long as you save your receipt! Read more about our warranties here. if you would like!
Pay for Your Used Car Part(s)
These days most stores have you pay for your purchase up front, and our process is no different. Once we have found the used car parts that you want to purchase and agreed on the pricing and availability, we will text or email you a secure payment link. We utilize Stripe for our payment processing, and by doing it this way, we never receive your credit card information, only Stripe does. Stripe is the nation’s second largest credit card processor, with 21% of the market share, second only to PayPal. If you are uncomfortable paying by clicking the Stripe payment link, you can instead send us a PayPal payment at www.PayPal.Me/petesautoparts/ If you don’t like PayPal OR Credit cards, you are welcome to come down to our location at 2544 Port Sheldon St, in Jenison, Michigan.
Some customer balk at paying for used car parts in full before they can pick them up or have them delivered. For those customers, we are happy to accept a deposit to start the order instead of payment in full. We do not start on an order until there is at least a deposit on the order, we have just had too many people order parts and not pick them up. If you ghost us, you lose your deposit! Of course when the parts arrive and you come in to look at them, if you are not satisfied then we can find a different part or refund your payment or deposit.
Receive Updates Your Way
When the used car parts are ready for pickup, we will text you, call you or email you to let you know, whichever you prefer. You can get pictures of the part if you want them, as well! If there is any problem with your order, such as a shipping delay or if there was more damage on the used car parts than we were expecting, you will receive a call, text or email with pictures and a description of what is going on. We always want to work with our customers to make sure they are satisfied with their purchase, so if you aren’t happy with the parts we have prepped for you, all you have to do is let your salesperson know that by phone, text or email and they will get you a different part or a refund.
Pickup/Delivery/Ship
If you are picking up, you can come on down to 2544 Port Sheldon St, Jenison MI 49428 Monday through Friday between 8am and 4pm. When you come in, Amanda will greet you and ask if you are picking up parts, you can say yes and tell her what part you are there to pick up. She will find your order, finalize it, provide you with an invoice, and give you instructions on how to get to our customer pickup area for loading up the part. Our friendly QC and Shipping staff will be happy to assist you in getting your parts into your vehicle!
If we are delivering to you, one of our friendly delivery drivers will come to your business during normal business hours Monday through Friday. You can see if your shop is in our delivery area here: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1xpcgtqNLyC-0SkCFXaj6Qw9SBHDTbZiw&usp=sharing
If we are shipping the part to you, we will send it out on UPS or on an LTL freight truck, and we will provide you with the tracking number. We ask that you do not sign for the part until after you have inspected it, just in case there was any damage in transit!
Summary: Buying Used Car Parts
We hope you enjoyed this blog post on buying used car parts and that you are ready to now call us, text us or email us, with your VIN. At Pete’s Auto Parts we really believe that buying used car parts is the best choice for many reasons: to save money, to help mother earth and be a good steward of the environment, because 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 need used car parts, please reach out to Pete’s Auto Parts by calling or texting 616-669-6592 to learn more about our top-notch used car, truck, van and SUV parts. Or if you prefer to search our site, you can do that now on our used auto parts search page.
