Youtube ain't gonna help me if the engie is fucked. Sure it can teach me to replace some tiny part but if I have a issue with the engine or transmission, or the oil bath, or anything that needs a car lift then its kinda Joever, no matter how much car fixing knowlege I have.
My extent of what I can do on my own vehicle is oil/oil filter changes, belt replacements, brake/rotor replacements, light replacements, battery replacement, and alternator replacements. If it’s too complicated, I’ll bite the bullet and go to a mechanic.
I'm in the same boat as you. I know how to swap parts out if I know what the problem is, but if it's beyond me, or a pain in the ass I don't feel like dealing with, I have no problem going to a mechanic
Some carmakers are making it harder and harder to do the basic shit too. My fucking Kia has a giant ass undercarriage shield that I have to remove to get to the oil filter, makes it take like 2x as long.
They've realized how much profit they've been missing out on when you just buy a car and fix it anywhere. They make so much more when you bring it back to the dealership for yearly maintenance/any issue
They're all going to adopt the apple business model just like tesla has. You pay the company brand dealership to fix "your" company brand car or warranty is voided/massive bluebook value loss
Bonus if they let you supply the parts and only charge labor. I'll gladly pay a few hundred instead of 6 hours in a parking lot trying to replace mega rusted control arms again.
It’s rare to find an actual mechanic who knows how to actually diagnose a vehicle (and knows how they work). Most mechanics in my area are novice techs who default to reading fault codes & blindly replacing parts hoping that it would fix the issue. Like if I wanted someone to read fault codes and quickly google them, then I could do that at home (instead of paying $99 for them to hook up their scan tool)
Walmart/sams/Costco already have service centers, entire automotive aisles, and personal who will do maintenance on a vehicle.
I think so many more anon's need to be worried about working on their cars. It's just the kind of semi-complex task required to keep their sick brains occupied. It will cure their issues. Sadly none of them have even the slightest capability of getting a car.
At Toys R Us’ absolute ZENITH, it was worth roughly 7.5 Billion dollars.
Amazon is currently worth 1.8 TRILLION.
That’s literally two full ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE bigger. The two are not even remotely comparable. Toys R Us was a large corporation. Amazon is THE Megacorp. Amazon puts the “mega” in mega corporation.
Toys R Us was a retailer that sold toys. It was huge for what it was, but it was dominating one aspect of the supply chain of one industry. It’s largest possible claim was at one point representing 25% of the global market in toy retailing.
Amazon has massive stakes in HUNDREDS of industries and nearly monoplolizes dozens of them. Currently, Amazon represents roughly 15% of the global market for toy retailing, and that’s just that one sector of one industry.
So what you're saying Amazon has a model that works regardless of industry and no consumer cares for whatever the specialist stores offered? 7.5 billion dollars and almost 50 years headstart is megacorpy enough that you can expect them to have their unique selling point figured out. If you are still pushed out within 10 years out of your own industry, it is probably a sign that you missed something big.
How is it a detriment to me, I can get basically anything delivered to my doorstep in a day for cheaper than I’d get it anywhere else, and it’s not like Amazon is gonna start price gouging me since they make all their money from AWS anyway
I personally never saw the benefit of Toys R Us personally. I don't shop regularly at amazon either, so maybe I am the wrong kind of customer.
However, I do have a net benefit from amazon the few times when i need something and they are one of the like 3 or 4 sources that I check first for availability.
I really think you’re misunderstanding me here. I’m not some champion for Toys R Us, and I don’t care either way that it’s gone— in a vaccum.
What I’m bemoaning is the fact that a single giant corporation is increasingly monopolizing every facit of everyone’s daily life.
Toys R Us WAS a huge corporation, and at the time of it’s peak it might even have been described as a megacorp. But then along comes Amazon which makes the entire old generation of Megacorps look like mom and pop shops.
It’s due to their ownership of the supply chain and multiple revenue sources that Amazon is able to cannibalize any and all competitors before they even get their feet off the ground. Amazon isn’t just a company that sells things, it is THE global supply chain network. It is a gross benefit (in the financial sense; meaning before deductions) to everybody that products are cheap and easy to get.
But it is not a NET benefit. The downsides of monopolizarion are too tremendous. Already we’re seeing amazon products and reviews become less and less reliable; this is a process known colloquially as enshittification.
Competition is the component of a free market that gives a company an incentive to provide a reliable, quality good or service. The more that Amazon owns, the less competition there can be. And therefore, the quality drops. It’s already gotten much worse than it was, but it will keep getting worse. It will get as worse as it can possibly get before people switch to alternatives— only, there will not be alternatives to switch to. This is the long-term invisible cost that so heavily outweighs the tangible, immediate benefit. It is the net loss for humanity.
It is the natural auto cannibalism of the free market. A free market is intrinsically unsustainable.
Yeah, obviously capitalism needs regulations to function, because an unregulated environment is basically just "might makes right". There is no self regulating and the court that came up with the verdict of "a company must always try to maximize profits" should have been shot right on the spot.
I don't get it. Expecially in Canada, where there are barely any Toys R Us left, every item in there is 10% more than any other shop. Maybe in an age where TRU was often the only place to get certain gifts, but when Walmart and Amazon have everything and cheaper, what's the point? Brand loyalty??
When Toys R Us was having there "going out of business" sale in the US, my friends and I stopped by 3 or 4 of them. The "sale" prices during the last two days were still higher than you could buy it online at any point in time (and probably with free shipping).
I want to walk into a toy store and impulse buy random shit I don't need, but I'm not willing to pay 30% more for it.
Local parts store has insane prices for most things. Almost anything is double the price you'd see online. I've only gone there because I needed specific brake pads and spark plugs, and fast, to pass overdue inspection and avoid paying an even larger fine, so it was worth it.
Still, I'm never going there again if I can avoid it.
I bought an alternator off Rock Auto a couple years ago. Even with express shipping a new alternator was cheaper than any local auto store like Autozone by over 50 bucks. Standard shipping would have been a $100 difference.
Most of the repairs I do on various vehicles. I just ordered the parts from there as even with the shipping to Canada. It’s still cheaper than going to the store for usually the exact same brand parts. I could get it even cheaper using the cheapest parts they have, but I learned my lesson long ago doing that.
RA is pretty cheap even for international shipping. They had some ceramic brake pads for my Peugeot that I couldn't get in Europe, and it was only like $15 for shipping, and since the price of the part was really good I basically didn't pay any more than I would locally for normal pads.
Amazon needs to kick rocks for what they've done to brick & mortar stores. Their net negative impact on global emissions & just fundamentally reworking how our society works is awful. The part of their contracts that forces wholesale distributors to offer the cheapest price to Amazon is what prevents normal stores from capitalizing on economies of scale & offering products for cheaper.
The fact that it's cheaper to mail an individual package to your house than it is to head to a store is ridiculous & a symptom of just how rigged our economy is.
It's because in their system they have to specify all that before it'll show them compatible parts, and to avoid giving the wrong parts, they don't bother thinking critically and just choosing one at random for something that's standard across the entire model.
I changed my brakes for the first time this summer. The whole story is quite a long one filled with more trials and tribulations than should have reasonably occurred, so here's just one roadblock I ran into.
To change brakes, you obviously need brake pads. For my car, they asked if I had a single overhead camshaft or a dual overhead camshaft engine. I'll admit, I don't really know, if it's engine work I don't really wanna fuck with it, so I guessed it was an SOHC. They give me the pads, now I just have to put 'em on.
Turns out I was wrong, because the pads they gave me had these extended flanges that weren't on the old ones and thus didn't fit the bracket, because my car actually has a DOHC engine. Why the fuck an engine design has anything to do with the shape of brake pads is beyond me, but apparently it did in fact matter.
Better trim/ package is the difference. A version of a car with a more complex or higher output engine is likely to have larger brakes specced as well, which could mean different pads.
A DOHC engine can deliver more power than a SOHC engine, if we are talking about the same car model and year. That's not always the case but usually is. More power means that the tires and brakes also need to handle more stress, so it means beefier tires and higher performance brakes (beefier calipers and pads).
As someone who’s worked in an auto parts shop if the manager caught us not checking every detail when looking up parts (even window wipers) we’d get ripped out
I've had rock auto send me wrong parts before ,so it does happen.
Though I've gotten a alternator from autozone that was cracked when I got it. Think they'd at least check that shit
I had a similar issue with my car, bought starter motors that weren’t the right part even though our version of this in Australia said it was for the right model of my car. It worked but the issue was the electrical connections weren’t quite right, and on the third one I gave up and rewired it properly myself.
Wasn’t till I started looking at another vendor that I’ve bought more obscure parts from did I realise that the FUCKING PRICKS WHO BUILT THE CAR USED THE PREVIOUS MODELS STARTER MOTOR. My one was one of the first batch of the production line for the updated models.
They must have decided to use up the existing starter motors and then for whatever reason change the connections for the 2nd batch and then never bothered to update anywhere that an older model starter motor was being used. That was a fun discovery after buying 3
lol I got everything I needed to repair a taillight and bumper from rock auto and they overnighted it for a fraction of the time and price I would’ve paid for going to advanced auto or auto zone. Only time I went to a auto store was to get push pins for some of the body parts
The only thing I use an auto parts store for is to drop off oil, and it's always a huge hassle anyway. The disposal plant in town takes way more than just 5 gallons and never asks endless questions.
I've been fixing my own car for 20 years now, I used to go to Advance all the time. They had AMAZING coupon codes for in store pickup. Like 35% off with no minimum or limit and other places had pretty slow shipping.
Now, I could order stuff off Rock Auto or even Amazon and it'll already be about 40% cheaper than Advance and I'll get it in like 2 days tops. People still work on their own cars, those people just aren't stupid.
Company I used to work for had an open account with the maximum (supposedly) discount available and they were cool with using it for personal use as long as you paid for it ("This is for [company] but I'm paying cash" type deal), and one of the people working the counter was my friend's fiancé. Was super sweet until it wasn't.
Last couple times I went in the store she told me the company's price and even her price don't come close to prices online. Now I don't even go in, just text her and ask. If I don't absolutely need it today, I don't even bother.
Aftermarket parts are terrible quality now. It's all bunch of chinesium. I stick to OEM, which is hard to find at Advance Auto. Rock Auto has been much better for me, especially since I own an old Ford. I bought a CarQuest brand thermostat from them and it never worked properly. It was rated for the proper temperature, but it would open too soon and the engine took forever to reach operating temperature. I've been sold hoses that don't fit and spark plugs that are broken.
Also, I had all three of my batteries from Advance Auto fail on me within the 5yr warranty period. They replaced them for free, only for two of them to fail again within two years. Still waiting on the third one to fail. I ended up going to Batteries Plus and getting a Duracell battery. It was about $35 cheaper and is likely going to outlive its warranty. They also installed it for me in 10 minutes. Trying to get someone to install a battery at Advance Auto is like pulling teeth. Either they don't know how to do it, or they just don't want to.
1st of all, what is said in the post, and 2nd, if it's a modern car, it's probably built to ensure you can't fucking fix it yourself or you are forced to go to the mechani, like 7 years warranty but only if you do all maintenances and repairs at the official dealership, which is kinda shitty.
It doesn't help that the stores are staffed by general idiots off the street these days instead of helpful people, same with hardware stores. Even just 10ish years ago the first line of diagnosis could reasonably be asking the old dude at the auto parts store of your choice, but that's not an option anymore.
Another issue is the amount of work the layman CAN do on their vehicle has drastically reduced with newer model vehicles.
At least that's what I've heard from my Father, he said you used to be able to access almost all the parts of the engine, exhaust, belts, etc. and the newer models are designed to make working on your own vehicle require a professional garage and more technical know how.
I'm an elder millennial and I can do work on my front end, tires, brakes, etc. But anything under the hood aside from the most basic stuff like checking and replenishing fluids and replacing a battery I wouldn't know where to begin.
I just buy parts wholesale ,online unless I need it right then and now.
I can buy an oem part online at rockauto for cheap.
Even by dirtcheap brands(obviously you get what you pay for)
Sometimes buying things from a place like advanced auto can be good get a battery with 3 year warranty that will last.
Meanwhile you go to wallmart and buy some cheap one that's going to have issues after a year.
Also can't fix my own car when I live in an apartment and have no where to work.
Not to mention if you aren't sure what your doing and only have 1 vehicle. You risk being out of a car for longer.
Only time I go is if you're in the middle of a project and you need this one extremely niche, rare, specialized tool to finish the job, so you go down to the local auto parts store and pick up an 11 mm socket.
If I need it quick I go to Kenny's and rip the part off an old car myself.
The auto parts usually has me wait half the day just to give me the wrong part with missing washers and screws
SerbianCringeMod@reddit
but don't you still need a mechanic, even with a lower price at those places
CommunistLlamma@reddit
Mechanics will try to scam you regardless, might as well not go to an auto parts store if you're not gonna buy anything
HybridPS2@reddit
i've been going to the same local guy for over 10 years, i don't know what i'm gonna do when he finally calls it quits
YourAverageGod@reddit
YouTube
Special-Remove-3294@reddit
Youtube ain't gonna help me if the engie is fucked. Sure it can teach me to replace some tiny part but if I have a issue with the engine or transmission, or the oil bath, or anything that needs a car lift then its kinda Joever, no matter how much car fixing knowlege I have.
YourAverageGod@reddit
You're not using enough 2x4 and cinder blocks.
jobezark@reddit
Fine for small stuff but your average car owner does not have the tools or understanding of mechanics to replace most parts.
Sleeping_Goliath@reddit
anything that involves/ needs a lift, or fuck it, even a car jack, is going to scare off 90% of car owners that might be interested in DIY
BeaverBumper@reddit
Whens the last time you wrenched on a modern car?...
CatBroiler@reddit
My guy is the same age as me, so I'm hoping he has a long career lol, finding a mechanic you can trust is so hard
BartlettMagic@reddit
Not if you know how to do basic things yourself
EdwardoftheEast@reddit
My extent of what I can do on my own vehicle is oil/oil filter changes, belt replacements, brake/rotor replacements, light replacements, battery replacement, and alternator replacements. If it’s too complicated, I’ll bite the bullet and go to a mechanic.
BartlettMagic@reddit
I'm in the same boat as you. I know how to swap parts out if I know what the problem is, but if it's beyond me, or a pain in the ass I don't feel like dealing with, I have no problem going to a mechanic
UpboatOrNoBoat@reddit
Some carmakers are making it harder and harder to do the basic shit too. My fucking Kia has a giant ass undercarriage shield that I have to remove to get to the oil filter, makes it take like 2x as long.
Stuffssss@reddit
Just leave it off you don't need it.
Sux499@reddit
I ran over a can of soup at highway speeds and I'm glad I had the shield.
goosebumper88@reddit
Some? More like all.
They've realized how much profit they've been missing out on when you just buy a car and fix it anywhere. They make so much more when you bring it back to the dealership for yearly maintenance/any issue
They're all going to adopt the apple business model just like tesla has. You pay the company brand dealership to fix "your" company brand car or warranty is voided/massive bluebook value loss
HybridPS2@reddit
yeah, hell my wife's 2012 equinox doesn't even have a fucking transmission dipstick
BeaverBumper@reddit
Honestly most Auto transmission haven't for the better part of a couple decades.
hobomaxxing@reddit
Honestly just get an electric car. Infinitely less maintenance and far fewer parts
I_am_Reptoid_King@reddit
That undercarriage shield is for aerodynamics. It's so the can pass the CAFE standards.
Ck_shock@reddit
Bonus if they let you supply the parts and only charge labor. I'll gladly pay a few hundred instead of 6 hours in a parking lot trying to replace mega rusted control arms again.
CatBroiler@reddit
Actual conversation I had with my mechanic last week:
"Why are all the jobs you give me a pain in the ass?"
"Because I do all the easy ones myself"
"Fuck"
bell37@reddit
It’s rare to find an actual mechanic who knows how to actually diagnose a vehicle (and knows how they work). Most mechanics in my area are novice techs who default to reading fault codes & blindly replacing parts hoping that it would fix the issue. Like if I wanted someone to read fault codes and quickly google them, then I could do that at home (instead of paying $99 for them to hook up their scan tool)
Egg_Yolkeo55@reddit
Unless it's a craigslist mechanic, he will want to buy the parts himself.
Dmitruly@reddit (OP)
Watches DIY tiktok whole day But can't use wrench
plutonium-237@reddit
Walmart/sams/Costco already have service centers, entire automotive aisles, and personal who will do maintenance on a vehicle.
I think so many more anon's need to be worried about working on their cars. It's just the kind of semi-complex task required to keep their sick brains occupied. It will cure their issues. Sadly none of them have even the slightest capability of getting a car.
TheChunkyGrape@reddit
Or just do it yourself
billylolol@reddit
Same thing happened to Toys R Us. I was looking up the same toys on Amazon and Walmart and it was cheaper.
Maximillion322@reddit
Love it when Mega-corps undercut competition to increase their ever-growing monopolization of every industry.
HotShitWakeUp_Ceo@reddit
Toys r us? “Oh no the megacorp got out megacorped”
Maximillion322@reddit
Ok just for the record.
At Toys R Us’ absolute ZENITH, it was worth roughly 7.5 Billion dollars.
Amazon is currently worth 1.8 TRILLION.
That’s literally two full ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE bigger. The two are not even remotely comparable. Toys R Us was a large corporation. Amazon is THE Megacorp. Amazon puts the “mega” in mega corporation.
Toys R Us was a retailer that sold toys. It was huge for what it was, but it was dominating one aspect of the supply chain of one industry. It’s largest possible claim was at one point representing 25% of the global market in toy retailing.
Amazon has massive stakes in HUNDREDS of industries and nearly monoplolizes dozens of them. Currently, Amazon represents roughly 15% of the global market for toy retailing, and that’s just that one sector of one industry.
Neomataza@reddit
So what you're saying Amazon has a model that works regardless of industry and no consumer cares for whatever the specialist stores offered? 7.5 billion dollars and almost 50 years headstart is megacorpy enough that you can expect them to have their unique selling point figured out. If you are still pushed out within 10 years out of your own industry, it is probably a sign that you missed something big.
Maximillion322@reddit
I mean if your argument is that Amazon is more effective at doing profitable business than Toys R Us, you’re obviously correct.
My point is that it’s a net detriment for everyone on the planet not named Bezos
The free market has decided. And as usual, the free market has decided poorly.
Lolmemsa@reddit
How is it a detriment to me, I can get basically anything delivered to my doorstep in a day for cheaper than I’d get it anywhere else, and it’s not like Amazon is gonna start price gouging me since they make all their money from AWS anyway
Neomataza@reddit
I personally never saw the benefit of Toys R Us personally. I don't shop regularly at amazon either, so maybe I am the wrong kind of customer.
However, I do have a net benefit from amazon the few times when i need something and they are one of the like 3 or 4 sources that I check first for availability.
Maximillion322@reddit
I really think you’re misunderstanding me here. I’m not some champion for Toys R Us, and I don’t care either way that it’s gone— in a vaccum.
What I’m bemoaning is the fact that a single giant corporation is increasingly monopolizing every facit of everyone’s daily life.
Toys R Us WAS a huge corporation, and at the time of it’s peak it might even have been described as a megacorp. But then along comes Amazon which makes the entire old generation of Megacorps look like mom and pop shops.
It’s due to their ownership of the supply chain and multiple revenue sources that Amazon is able to cannibalize any and all competitors before they even get their feet off the ground. Amazon isn’t just a company that sells things, it is THE global supply chain network. It is a gross benefit (in the financial sense; meaning before deductions) to everybody that products are cheap and easy to get.
But it is not a NET benefit. The downsides of monopolizarion are too tremendous. Already we’re seeing amazon products and reviews become less and less reliable; this is a process known colloquially as enshittification.
Competition is the component of a free market that gives a company an incentive to provide a reliable, quality good or service. The more that Amazon owns, the less competition there can be. And therefore, the quality drops. It’s already gotten much worse than it was, but it will keep getting worse. It will get as worse as it can possibly get before people switch to alternatives— only, there will not be alternatives to switch to. This is the long-term invisible cost that so heavily outweighs the tangible, immediate benefit. It is the net loss for humanity.
It is the natural auto cannibalism of the free market. A free market is intrinsically unsustainable.
Neomataza@reddit
Yeah, obviously capitalism needs regulations to function, because an unregulated environment is basically just "might makes right". There is no self regulating and the court that came up with the verdict of "a company must always try to maximize profits" should have been shot right on the spot.
Garchompula@reddit
I don't get it. Expecially in Canada, where there are barely any Toys R Us left, every item in there is 10% more than any other shop. Maybe in an age where TRU was often the only place to get certain gifts, but when Walmart and Amazon have everything and cheaper, what's the point? Brand loyalty??
Phayzon@reddit
When Toys R Us was having there "going out of business" sale in the US, my friends and I stopped by 3 or 4 of them. The "sale" prices during the last two days were still higher than you could buy it online at any point in time (and probably with free shipping).
I want to walk into a toy store and impulse buy random shit I don't need, but I'm not willing to pay 30% more for it.
finicky88@reddit
Local parts store has insane prices for most things. Almost anything is double the price you'd see online. I've only gone there because I needed specific brake pads and spark plugs, and fast, to pass overdue inspection and avoid paying an even larger fine, so it was worth it.
Still, I'm never going there again if I can avoid it.
Dje4321@reddit
I buy supplies at an auto store more than I buy parts. I'm either going used or OEM if I do buy parts, neither of which they have.
BartlettMagic@reddit
Anon left off Rock Auto. I haven't bought a single larger part from a local store in a long time because Rock Auto beats them on prices every time.
madhattergirl@reddit
Rock Auto stopped shipping to CO so I can't use them any more. 😥
FunkyOnionPeel@reddit
Whaaat why?
airfryerfuntime@reddit
Yeah, but how often as Rock Auto fucked up your order?
BartlettMagic@reddit
not once.
Gravesh@reddit
I bought an alternator off Rock Auto a couple years ago. Even with express shipping a new alternator was cheaper than any local auto store like Autozone by over 50 bucks. Standard shipping would have been a $100 difference.
megatraum2048@reddit
Most of the repairs I do on various vehicles. I just ordered the parts from there as even with the shipping to Canada. It’s still cheaper than going to the store for usually the exact same brand parts. I could get it even cheaper using the cheapest parts they have, but I learned my lesson long ago doing that.
CatBroiler@reddit
RA is pretty cheap even for international shipping. They had some ceramic brake pads for my Peugeot that I couldn't get in Europe, and it was only like $15 for shipping, and since the price of the part was really good I basically didn't pay any more than I would locally for normal pads.
ThePowerOfAura@reddit
Amazon needs to kick rocks for what they've done to brick & mortar stores. Their net negative impact on global emissions & just fundamentally reworking how our society works is awful. The part of their contracts that forces wholesale distributors to offer the cheapest price to Amazon is what prevents normal stores from capitalizing on economies of scale & offering products for cheaper.
The fact that it's cheaper to mail an individual package to your house than it is to head to a store is ridiculous & a symptom of just how rigged our economy is.
DonkeyKongaLongDonga@reddit
Spice002@reddit
It's because in their system they have to specify all that before it'll show them compatible parts, and to avoid giving the wrong parts, they don't bother thinking critically and just choosing one at random for something that's standard across the entire model.
Everestkid@reddit
I changed my brakes for the first time this summer. The whole story is quite a long one filled with more trials and tribulations than should have reasonably occurred, so here's just one roadblock I ran into.
To change brakes, you obviously need brake pads. For my car, they asked if I had a single overhead camshaft or a dual overhead camshaft engine. I'll admit, I don't really know, if it's engine work I don't really wanna fuck with it, so I guessed it was an SOHC. They give me the pads, now I just have to put 'em on.
Turns out I was wrong, because the pads they gave me had these extended flanges that weren't on the old ones and thus didn't fit the bracket, because my car actually has a DOHC engine. Why the fuck an engine design has anything to do with the shape of brake pads is beyond me, but apparently it did in fact matter.
a3x@reddit
Better trim/ package is the difference. A version of a car with a more complex or higher output engine is likely to have larger brakes specced as well, which could mean different pads.
LuzJoao@reddit
A DOHC engine can deliver more power than a SOHC engine, if we are talking about the same car model and year. That's not always the case but usually is. More power means that the tires and brakes also need to handle more stress, so it means beefier tires and higher performance brakes (beefier calipers and pads).
Dare568@reddit
As someone who’s worked in an auto parts shop if the manager caught us not checking every detail when looking up parts (even window wipers) we’d get ripped out
Justindoesntcare@reddit
Anon doesn't know you can just measure the fuckin blades.
neoqueto@reddit
I have heard a "normal or manual?" question before, sigh.
ChooChooCherry@reddit
NAPA gave me the wrong alternator 3 times, Rock Auto gave me it once and it fit. Have had beef with NAPA ever since
Huntaaaaaah@reddit
NaPa KnOw HoW
Ck_shock@reddit
I've had rock auto send me wrong parts before ,so it does happen. Though I've gotten a alternator from autozone that was cracked when I got it. Think they'd at least check that shit
TheTMJ@reddit
I had a similar issue with my car, bought starter motors that weren’t the right part even though our version of this in Australia said it was for the right model of my car. It worked but the issue was the electrical connections weren’t quite right, and on the third one I gave up and rewired it properly myself.
Wasn’t till I started looking at another vendor that I’ve bought more obscure parts from did I realise that the FUCKING PRICKS WHO BUILT THE CAR USED THE PREVIOUS MODELS STARTER MOTOR. My one was one of the first batch of the production line for the updated models.
They must have decided to use up the existing starter motors and then for whatever reason change the connections for the 2nd batch and then never bothered to update anywhere that an older model starter motor was being used. That was a fun discovery after buying 3
TallBoy24@reddit
lol I got everything I needed to repair a taillight and bumper from rock auto and they overnighted it for a fraction of the time and price I would’ve paid for going to advanced auto or auto zone. Only time I went to a auto store was to get push pins for some of the body parts
ridethroughlife@reddit
The only thing I use an auto parts store for is to drop off oil, and it's always a huge hassle anyway. The disposal plant in town takes way more than just 5 gallons and never asks endless questions.
A_Blue_Potion@reddit
"Could it be that I'm overpricing everything? No, people just don't fix their cars anymore."
350SBC@reddit
I've been fixing my own car for 20 years now, I used to go to Advance all the time. They had AMAZING coupon codes for in store pickup. Like 35% off with no minimum or limit and other places had pretty slow shipping.
Now, I could order stuff off Rock Auto or even Amazon and it'll already be about 40% cheaper than Advance and I'll get it in like 2 days tops. People still work on their own cars, those people just aren't stupid.
Phayzon@reddit
Company I used to work for had an open account with the maximum (supposedly) discount available and they were cool with using it for personal use as long as you paid for it ("This is for [company] but I'm paying cash" type deal), and one of the people working the counter was my friend's fiancé. Was super sweet until it wasn't.
Last couple times I went in the store she told me the company's price and even her price don't come close to prices online. Now I don't even go in, just text her and ask. If I don't absolutely need it today, I don't even bother.
TarantinosFavWord@reddit
Yea I started doing my own repairs and very quickly realized Walmart or Amazon had most of what I needed for less.
partywithloki@reddit
I only go there to dump used oil
Themlethem@reddit
But how else will the poor corporation paint themselves like the victim?
Hynch@reddit
Aftermarket parts are terrible quality now. It's all bunch of chinesium. I stick to OEM, which is hard to find at Advance Auto. Rock Auto has been much better for me, especially since I own an old Ford. I bought a CarQuest brand thermostat from them and it never worked properly. It was rated for the proper temperature, but it would open too soon and the engine took forever to reach operating temperature. I've been sold hoses that don't fit and spark plugs that are broken.
Also, I had all three of my batteries from Advance Auto fail on me within the 5yr warranty period. They replaced them for free, only for two of them to fail again within two years. Still waiting on the third one to fail. I ended up going to Batteries Plus and getting a Duracell battery. It was about $35 cheaper and is likely going to outlive its warranty. They also installed it for me in 10 minutes. Trying to get someone to install a battery at Advance Auto is like pulling teeth. Either they don't know how to do it, or they just don't want to.
I_am_Reptoid_King@reddit
For batteries, get interstate. You will pay, but they have never let me down.
Zharken@reddit
1st of all, what is said in the post, and 2nd, if it's a modern car, it's probably built to ensure you can't fucking fix it yourself or you are forced to go to the mechani, like 7 years warranty but only if you do all maintenances and repairs at the official dealership, which is kinda shitty.
gigadanman@reddit
I needed to replace the washer fluid sprayers on my car. $28 for one at Advance. $5 for both on Amazon.
98VoteForPedro@reddit
Another industryngiant gets cuked by Jeffrey bezos
Legend13CNS@reddit
It doesn't help that the stores are staffed by general idiots off the street these days instead of helpful people, same with hardware stores. Even just 10ish years ago the first line of diagnosis could reasonably be asking the old dude at the auto parts store of your choice, but that's not an option anymore.
MattackChopper@reddit
Another issue is the amount of work the layman CAN do on their vehicle has drastically reduced with newer model vehicles.
At least that's what I've heard from my Father, he said you used to be able to access almost all the parts of the engine, exhaust, belts, etc. and the newer models are designed to make working on your own vehicle require a professional garage and more technical know how.
I'm an elder millennial and I can do work on my front end, tires, brakes, etc. But anything under the hood aside from the most basic stuff like checking and replenishing fluids and replacing a battery I wouldn't know where to begin.
Ok_Ordinary6694@reddit
I need windshield washer fluid “What year is your car?”
Count_Dongula@reddit
I get anything I need off RockAuto unless I need it now.
Ck_shock@reddit
I just buy parts wholesale ,online unless I need it right then and now.
I can buy an oem part online at rockauto for cheap. Even by dirtcheap brands(obviously you get what you pay for)
Sometimes buying things from a place like advanced auto can be good get a battery with 3 year warranty that will last. Meanwhile you go to wallmart and buy some cheap one that's going to have issues after a year.
Also can't fix my own car when I live in an apartment and have no where to work. Not to mention if you aren't sure what your doing and only have 1 vehicle. You risk being out of a car for longer.
WhatDoWeHave_Here@reddit
Only time I go is if you're in the middle of a project and you need this one extremely niche, rare, specialized tool to finish the job, so you go down to the local auto parts store and pick up an 11 mm socket.
Unlucky-Position-16@reddit
Maybe mechanics/auto part stores could stop trying to upsell everyone and get them to buy a bunch of shit they don’t need? Just a thought.
DonkeyKongaLongDonga@reddit
You mean you don’t want a 13 dollar container of nuts or a 18 dollar bag of jerky by the checkout?
The_Family_Juul@reddit
Can’t beat the spend $20 5x at auto zone for a $20 reward.
PaintThinnerSparky@reddit
If I need it quick I go to Kenny's and rip the part off an old car myself. The auto parts usually has me wait half the day just to give me the wrong part with missing washers and screws