Question About Buying Parts

Will most dealers sell parts to a customer without them installing
them?.i'm trying to save some $$$.

 

All dealers have a parts counter. Just walk in and buy what you want!

-David

 

Every car dealer I've ever tried to buy parts from has been perfectly willing
to sell them to me.

 

And some of the parts counter folks will even give some technical tips and
be willing to print out guides for you.
There are some replacement parts (I have it on good authority) like sensors
that are better to get from the dealer than aftermarket. When I went to
replace my mass-flow induction sensor, I was going to get aftermarket. A
friend who is a professional independant mechanic told me "no way", to get
only OEM parts. He had used aftermarket largely and found problems so always
swears by OEM dealer parts.

 

I've never heard of any exceptions, certainly. Have you tried asking
them?

-- Mark

 

I have a relative who is an independent mechanic. He sometimes gets
customers bringing him "lifetime warranty" parts to install, such as
alternators. He warns the customer that the part is a piece of crap, and
that every time it needs to be exchanged under warranty that the
customer will pay labor charges for him to take it out and reinstall the
new one. Inevitably, the customer winds up paying far more by using
non-OEM parts. I'd never buy non-OEM engine control components. Pay the
extra for OEM.

 

Then there's the catch 22 of buying something like a body control module
from a junkyard. It won't work in the new vehicle unless it is reprogrammed
(as I have heard) and the dealers are the only ones that have the machine to
do the reprograming. Many will flatly refuse to connect their Tech II to any
system with used controllers.

 

thanks guys,i tend to make a mountain out of a pimple.I just have
these wild thoughts of the partsman saying something like:''You know
how to do this?'',or,''This should be done by qualified personnel''.I
wnt to get those broken front end pieces on my Ion changed since the
weathers been cooperating.i was told I need 3 parts,& the one goes
from the corner of the car up,around the wheel well,if i dont need
it,I dont buy it.Thanks again.

 

In 30+ years of buying parts at dealerships, I've *never* been asked or told
anything like that.

 

A tip: If you can, bring in the old part. Put it on the counter and say: "
I want one of these". They will ask a few questions and then you can match
the new one to the old one when they go in the back and bring out the new
one.

 

LOL -- the first one often is "Okayyyyyy.... what is it?"

Better have an answer ready.

 

As others have said, any dealer will be happy to sell most if not all parts
to anybody with money. Some jurisdictions restrict some items like airbags
but YMMV.

The real trick is to avoid paying full retail price. Dealers will give
often very substantial discounts to those 'in the trade', this is an area
where there are major $$ to be saved. If you have the knowledge to carry it
off it is often sufficient to say that you are working on a customers car
and want the repairman's or garage discount. If you need a lot of
handholding then you will more likely be expected to pay full retail. If
you know enough to carry this off, you probably already have experience and
know what approach works best in your area. Sometimes it is best to have a
friend 'in the trade' buy or order the parts for you.

Good luck.

 

Yea,how do you know you're getting a deal.Unfortunetly,the 2-3 parts I
need are still attached to the Ion.That's another issue,getting the
broken parts off.

 

Long thread so I'll just add this for reference. If you're not in a
hurry you can buy online for less than what a dealership will charge.

For GM (excluding saturn...) there are 3 good sites for referencing OEM
parts and prices

www.gmpartsdirect.com

www.mileaautogroup.com

www.gm-car-parts.com

Shipping and time aside the prices for those OEM parts are hard to beat.

Unfortunately Saturn isnt part of the regular GM parts network so for
Saturn you can try www.RockAuto.com

And last but not least 6thplanetusedparts.com

 

Thanks for the heads up!.