Quick rant thread.

[Driftit 1945]

Spareto uses DHL btw.  And they are not just BMW.
Ordered a whole lot of parts for our 200SX.  As the 200SX actually exists in the same format in the EU.

[Palazzo 427]

4 hours ago, C-130 Hercules said:

Yes FCP still use UPS which generally has longer delivery times. Pelican Parts is not bad. They give you the option to choose between different freight companies - UPS, DHL, FedEx. 

Spareto and Turners are good too. Garagistic if you are looking for heavy duty items or speedo gears. 

The part description on Spareto is not great but customer service makes up for it. 

You just need to cross reference part numbers, easy enough for BMW, harder for Fiat and Mazda.

I bought brake pads/discs and suspension arms for the Mazda, got the pad part numbers wrong, still worked out cheaper than than buying locally even after sourcing new pads.

[Palazzo 427]

4 hours ago, C-130 Hercules said:

Yes FCP still use UPS which generally has longer delivery times. Pelican Parts is not bad. They give you the option to choose between different freight companies - UPS, DHL, FedEx. 

Spareto and Turners are good too. Garagistic if you are looking for heavy duty items or speedo gears. 

The part description on Spareto is not great but customer service makes up for it. 

You just need to cross reference part numbers, easy enough for BMW, harder for Fiat and Mazda.

I bought brake pads/discs and suspension arms for the Mazda, got the pad part numbers wrong, still worked out cheaper than than buying locally even after sourcing new pads.

[C-130 Hercules 556]

10 minutes ago, Palazzo said:

You just need to cross reference part numbers, easy enough for BMW,

Yes, and that usually gives you the right Spareto part but the lack of additional description always leaves me with a certain unease. I like to triangulate my selection. Time is of essence 😁

[Palazzo 427]

Don’t get me wrong, I now triangulate all parts across different sites. 
Rock Auto won out last time on price while I was cross checking.

[Apex 693]

42 minutes ago, Palazzo said:

Don’t get me wrong, I now triangulate all parts across different sites. 
Rock Auto won out last time on price while I was cross checking.

So a good experience then? That's great to know. What did freight cost if you don't mind sharing, I need the same parts for my non exotic American car and the local agents want over 2k for disks and pads vs $250usd on Rock Auto.

Also. This rant thread is getting a bit too positive TBH, its like 2019 levels of optimism, I don't know if we are ready for this. 

 

[Eagle 1519]

2 hours ago, Palazzo said:

Don’t get me wrong, I now triangulate all parts across different sites. 
Rock Auto won out last time on price while I was cross checking.

I forgot about RockAuto. Yeah you are right they are sometimes cheaper, but their selection is pretty poor for decent quality parts. Their shipping prices are calculated very inconsistent too i find so only good for one offs or a few small items if they happen to have them. 

[Palazzo 427]

2 hours ago, Apex said:

So a good experience then? That's great to know. What did freight cost if you don't mind sharing, I need the same parts for my non exotic American car and the local agents want over 2k for disks and pads vs $250usd on Rock Auto.

Also. This rant thread is getting a bit too positive TBH, its like 2019 levels of optimism, I don't know if we are ready for this. 

 

Positive experience. And Eagle is right too, sometimes your choice on Rock is limited, but just pick and choose. 

I can turn negative real quick though if it makes you feel better as I’m currently 6 floors up in Mercy Ascot hospital recovering from surgery.

[Driftit 1945]

Getting really high shipping prices from rockauto as of late.

[gjm 3193]

I used to buy through a parts wholesaler in Germany. Because they shipped so much stuff all over the world - they'd have a BIG truck collecting at least once a day, so equivalent of a 40' container of parcels every day - they got a great rate from the couriers.

Then the couriers decided they didn't need to offer the special rate and shipping more than quadrupled overnight. That was before Covid. It meant the wholesaler had to re-plan their business model, and they started focusing on 'local' (Europe) sales which worked within the EU. (So the UK got left out.  Not that it was an issue for us in NZ.) Feedback is that they actually dropped that courier completely, 

 

[Apex 693]

13 hours ago, Palazzo said:

Positive experience. And Eagle is right too, sometimes your choice on Rock is limited, but just pick and choose. 

I can turn negative real quick though if it makes you feel better as I’m currently 6 floors up in Mercy Ascot hospital recovering from surgery.

Oh sh*t, that looks nasty, get better soon good sir, be thankfully you have a phone so you can google things like "how long until my finger grows back" or "should I be able to feel my legs". 

14 hours ago, Eagle said:

I forgot about RockAuto. Yeah you are right they are sometimes cheaper, but their selection is pretty poor for decent quality parts. Their shipping prices are calculated very inconsistent too i find so only good for one offs or a few small items if they happen to have them. 

I have a POS American car so luckily I have 28 different front disks and pads to choose from, I don't recognize any of the brands. 

9 hours ago, Driftit said:

Getting really high shipping prices from rockauto as of late.

Might be time to go back to 2001 forums and set up some group buys to split shipping costs??

 

[Palazzo 427]

I’m mainly googling “is that normal?”

Doesn’t fit with this thread, but as a positive, I’m alive.

[Driftit 1945]

5 hours ago, Apex said:

Might be time to go back to 2001 forums and set up some group buys to split shipping costs??

 

Youngins at work are already doing that with clothing out of China using panadabuy.
Working well for them.
Nerds (including me) are buying computer parts from Microcenter and having people bring everything back to avoid bad shipping and GST.
Quite some savings going on.

[M3AN 4015]

Spareto is my go-to for heavy items, their shipping seems unreasonably good in comparison to others by weight. I've even had success emailing them when I got a shipping estimate/quote that seemed high and got a new quote for $40 less for shipping. YMMV. That it's cheaper to personally import things like discs and clutches than buying local is criminal (but not new).

Also, as mentioned a few posts back by others, Turners can deliver quite appealing outcomes in comparison to others and will also work with you on shipping options/costs.

[Eagle 1519]

Shipping cost for 2x bump stops converted to NZD.

FCP (not to mention the always way overpriced genuine parts) -  $67  

Rockauto - $27 

Spareto - $48  

Schmedimann - $36

Turners - $28 (better than i though)

1 hour ago, M3AN said:

Spareto

They also have the most balanced shipping cost calculator ive found. All the others adding certain items that weight nothing\arent large ramp the shipping cost up considerably, near doubling alot of the time. You could probably email to sort this but i cant be fooked with that rigmarole.

[hqstu 780]

Schmiedmann has the most randomly useless shipping calculator IMHO.  One can add two items to cart and get a stupid shipping price, delete 1 item and the shipping actually goes up !!  I have 0 trust in it, and I've never been emailed to adjust shipping.. and when I have them on about it - the response is less than helpful...

[Driftit 1945]

Isn't Turners owned by ECS?

[Driftit 1945]

Anyone know who to contact when a DHL package has been sitting in NZ without delivery since the 26th?
The DHL investigation process is next to useless.  First time I have had issues with DHL.  But of course it is the NZ side of things.  It left Germany and arrived in NZ in just over a day....  Maybe the courier here is still navigating the potholes on SH1.

[M3AN 4015]

16 hours ago, hqstu said:

Schmiedmann has the most randomly useless shipping calculator IMHO.  One can add two items to cart and get a stupid shipping price, delete 1 item and the shipping actually goes up !!  I have 0 trust in it, and I've never been emailed to adjust shipping.. and when I have them on about it - the response is less than helpful...

Yep. I once added a free branded coffee mug to an order and it reduced the total shipping cost for that order. Go figure. 

[KwS 2373]

8 hours ago, Driftit said:

Anyone know who to contact when a DHL package has been sitting in NZ without delivery since the 26th?
The DHL investigation process is next to useless.  First time I have had issues with DHL.  But of course it is the NZ side of things.  It left Germany and arrived in NZ in just over a day....  Maybe the courier here is still navigating the potholes on SH1.

Its probably been handed off to Aramex or something. Try the tracking number in a couple of different carriers sites and see if it pops up.

[jon dee 500]

Sorry... couldn't resist... 

 

[M3AN 4015]

That's ^ actually better than gold. Thank you.

[Driftit 1945]

Still waiting on whatever useless NZ courier company that is delivering my package that arrived in the country on the 26th.

14 days in NZ.

[Palazzo 427]

2 hours ago, Driftit said:

Still waiting on whatever useless NZ courier company that is delivering my package that arrived in the country on the 26th.

14 days in NZ.

Have you called DHL? 

[Driftit 1945]

9 hours ago, Palazzo said:

Have you called DHL? 

Referred to DHL Parcel Germany.  Informed me that the shipper will need to initiate the investigation.  Have asked the store to do so.