Can Rock Auto parts be trusted to be OEM quality?

[Marty Roth]

On 9/7/2021 at 5:23 PM, Ronnie said:

 The other thing I don't like about RockAuto is I have never been able to talk to a human about a problem.

 

I had dealt with Rock Auto many times and had been mostly satisfied with products and delivery, BUT ---

They emailed me with "Close-Out Specials" for a certain few Corvair parts and I placed a relatively small order,

a bit over $18 including shipping.

 

The parts never arrived !!!

 

Exchanges of multiple emails (no person would follow up), provided no relief, no refund, nor the parts which had been charged to my credit card.

Rock Auto's email Customer (dis)Service person insisted that I had to deal with my issue via the shipping service, but no such delivery was recorded. 

Ultimately I had to file with my credit card company, and of course they did the right thing, charging back to Rock Auto.

 

Since that time, and it has probably been a few years, when I attempted to purchase from Rock Auto, they accept the order, and then cancel,

insisting that I pay the outstanding charge-back ($18+) for parts I never received before they will honor any orders for me.

 

There are plenty of honest vendors out there,

many of whom deserve my business-

I won't deal with Rock Auto !

Edited November 9, 2021 by Marty Roth (see edit history)

[Paul Dobbin]

I just had a local garage tell me OEM motor mounts were not available for my Honda Powered Saturn Vue and I would have to accept after market parts for $750.00..

They wanted $750 to install them.   Got the OEM parts from Rock Auto in 2 days for $244.00.   Another garage put them in for $112.00.

Only problem I ever had with Rock Auto was in finding motor mounts for my 57 Ford Ranchero.   I called Rock Auto and asked If I should look under another name than motor mounts?   The girl replied  "We're not mechanics."

 

The rest if the motor mount story:   Finally I took the old mounts off the Rancero and took them to the local parts store amd they found matching mounts in their warehouse.

Edited January 27 by Paul Dobbin
The end of the story (see edit history)

[Dave Henderson]

On 9/7/2021 at 8:36 PM, 46 woodie said:

Something everyone should be aware of about Rock Auto is that after 30 days you can not return a part for any reason, even if it's bad. I was installing a new exhaust system on my car. I stockpiled several "U" bends and straight pipe plus two Walker mufflers. It took a while to get down to the mufflers and when I opened the boxes I noticed that the mufflers were different, even though the part numbers were the same. I called Walker and they admitted that they had a problem with one of the mufflers and I should return it to where I purchased it. Well, I purchased them from Rock Auto and they absolutely refused to accept a return. I even asked the Walker people to call Rock Auto and explain that it was their fault, but Rock Auto would not budge.

I too had a similar problem with RA.  I bought cv axles for my Cadillac from them and was comforted by the information in their description which said there was a 1 year guarantee from the manufacturer, because I knew it would be beyond the 1 month RA guarantee period when they were installed.  Unfortunately, they were defective, so I went to the manufacturer for an exchange.  It was denied, I was told that their guarantee applied only to direct sales from them.  I went back to RA complaining that I had relied on manufacturer guarantee information they had displayed but they in effect said "tough".  I haven't purchased from them since.    

[ia-k]

To answer the actual question in the title, yes.

 

If I order a MOPAR air or oil filter for my Chrysler minivan from RockAuto it will be a MOPAR (OEM quality) filter. If I order Champion sparkplugs that was original equipment for my car I will get OEM quality plugs. On my Toyota, if an emissions sensor went out and I order a Denso sensor (OEM supplier) it will be OEM quality also.

 

Now if I order a "Filter Plus" filter that is 1/4 the price of the MOPAR filter it probably is not OEM quality.

 

I have had good luck with RockAuto. Making sure to try and get parts from the same warehouse by ordering filters, etc... that I need in the future with parts I need sooner.

 

Did learn my lesson on some close out items that were either very shelf worn or like some ultra cheap oil filters that I think just by looking at them thre would be no way I would put it on my car.

 

 

[zepher]

22 hours ago, Marty Roth said:

 

I had dealt with Rock Auto many times and had been mostly satisfied with products and delivery, BUT ---

They emailed me with "Close-Out Specials" for a certain few Corvair parts and I placed a relatively small order,

a bit over $18 including shipping.

 

The parts never arrived !!!

 

Exchanges of multiple emails (no person would follow up), provided no relief, no refund, nor the parts which had been charged to my credit card.

Rock Auto's email Customer (dis)Service person insisted that I had to deal with my issue via the shipping service, but no such delivery was recorded. 

Ultimately I had to file with my credit card company, and of course they did the right thing, charging back to Rock Auto.

 

Since that time, and it has probably been a few years, when I attempted to purchase from Rock Auto, they accept the order, and then cancel,

insisting that I pay the outstanding charge-back ($18+) for parts I never received before they will honor any orders for me.

 

There are plenty of honest vendors out there,

many of whom deserve my business-

I won't deal with Rock Auto !

 

RA is famous for blaming the shippers when parts get lost or do not arrive in the promised timeframe.

I had a part arrive a week later than the estimate on the check out page and RA said they could do nothing about it since they only get shipping estimates from the shipper.

Previously, I had completed hundreds of orders with them without issue.

But now if I need something right away I source it locally or I buy from another vendor.

I have placed, maybe one order with RA since they refused to cover the return shipping charges on the part I sent back that was a week late.

 

[avgwarhawk]

I have no problems with RA except one time.  Ordered a brake caliper piston but was sent a PVC valve.  It was corrected quickly.  Anyway, I do find good parts for my 54 and 60 Buicks. 

[BearsFan315]

Rock Auto is like Advance, Autozone, NAPA, etc... they do not make anything, they just sale others. they carry many manufacturers, and like the local store they may NOT have a certain brand, or it may be out of stock at various times, especially right now. Just make sure you validate the part number and vehicle fitment including options you may have that may affect the said part. Yes certain parts have many manufacturers, other parts maybe one or two. certain parts i buy name brand only, others i find the cheapest. and on Rock Auto they usually categorize them by such. 

 

Like others i have ordered many parts from them for my vehicle, kids vehicles, friends vehicles. it all depends on urgency and availability. If a part breaks and i need it NOW i get it local and pay the price. if i am planning a job out for the weekend, i find best quality at the best price. 

 

I like the fact that they tell the parts are coming from various warehouses, and when you add a part to your cart it tells you it is coming from warehouse A, then when you search for other parts it tells you that part is coming from same warehouse or from warehouse X. they could hide that fact and just tell you shipping cost. and multiple packages. i like the fact i know why shipping is a little higher, since it is coming from 2 locations or more. they are pretty transparent and i like that !! plus they give you shipping options as well usually 3 or more !!

[SC38dls]

The moral of these stories is go to someone that you can talk to a knowledgeable person and even call their customer service department and ask them what to do about a return. I my be lucky in that I have two or three suppliers for Studebaker parts. Steven Allen’s in Florida is great. I ask about a part and instead of making me wait he says he will call back in x minutes and does!  Great customer service. I’ll order small items if it’s a problem he sends the correct one and has said don’t bother returning the defective one it’s not worth the cost. Maybe that’s because I’ve used him for years but I’ve heard the same thing from other guys. Know who you are dealing with, do a little research, ignore anyone advertising on TV as they are just middlemen in most cases that work on volume not service. 
dave s 

Edited November 10, 2021 by SC38dls (see edit history)

[TTR]

2 hours ago, SC38dls said:

The moral of these stories is go to someone that you can talk to a knowledgeable person 
dave s 

Now that makes sense, but wouldn't that prevent all these people accustomed buy everything (cheap) online to start or participate in these silly forum debates about the validity of their choice ?

[joe_padavano]

3 hours ago, SC38dls said:

The moral of these stories is go to someone that you can talk to a knowledgeable person and even call their customer service department and ask them what to do about a return.

 

Good luck with that. Have you been to a NAPA store lately? The bottom line is that knowledgeable help at a vendor is rapidly becoming extinct. You need to do your own research and assume that ANY catalog has errors. RockAuto's on-line application catalog comes directly from their suppliers. If Moog or Raybestos gets it wrong, it will be wrong on line. It will also be wrong at your local store that uses the same catalog/database. And frankly, marque-specific vendors are no better in my experience. But again, to the original question, a brand name part from RA is the same brand name part you get anywhere else. That is not the problem.

[Trulyvintage]

No

 

That is why they are an online discount supplier ….

 

 

Jim

[CarlLaFong]

I ordered every part to rebuild the front end on my 95 Dodge Ram. Every part was genuine Moog

[joe_padavano]

1 hour ago, CarlLaFong said:

I ordered every part to rebuild the front end on my 95 Dodge Ram. Every part was genuine Moog

 

Agreed, though sadly even Moog parts are imported today.

[Frank DuVal]

6 hours ago, Trulyvintage said:

No

 

That is why they are an online discount supplier ….

 

They do have OEM brand replacement parts. They (Rock Auto) are a group of name brand jobbers with a central computer system. It's like buying from your friend that works at the direct from manufacturer jobber. My shop was in the same block as a direct from Delco jobber. They had nice pricing on Delco parts! Way cheaper buying radiators from them than the dealer!!!!

 

Now if you shop their (Rock Auto or the local store) cheaper lines, you get cheaper stuff. Some excellent, some not.

[Racer-X-]

I order lots of stuff from RockAuto.  With one very visible and notable type of exception (see below), everything I've received from them has been accurately described, and I have never had an issue with counterfeit stuff from them.  I can't say that for Amazon.

 

They do make mistakes, but they've always owned up and done the right thing by me. If they ship the wrong part, and I go through their online process with pictures to show what I got wasn't what I ordered, they issue the refund. They either send a return shipping label if they want the wrong stuff back, or they tell me to keep it (generally I throw it away if it's wrong).

 

The exception to watch out for is anything described as "private label packaging," especially in the "closeout deals."   With that, it's a crap shoot. It's about 50/50 whether they describe it correctly.  And if it's incorrectly described, it's also up in the air if it's junk or if it's something much better than what they presented. In the closeout deals, I sometime take a gamble. I once bought a small block Chevy timing chain set on there that was described as "Cloyes (private label packaging)."  I paid $12.xx plus shipping, about $17 total.  I got an American made set with a really high quality chain with a crank sprocket with an adjustable billet aluminum hub and heat treated (hardened) outer sprocket on the crank and a heat treated cam sprocket (for an application where the factory/AC Delco set cam sprocket wasn't heat treated).

 

Sometimes stuff gets delayed in shipping. That's part of doing business with any online vendor.  What I've found, is if it's way late and I've had to go to a backup source, I refuse the shipment with the shipper and it'll get returned to the warehouse.  I've always been refunded that way when the warehouse receives it. Sometimes the refund includes the shipping charges, sometimes not.  If you accept a late shipment, expect to pay return shipping and have to fight for a refund. Especially if it's over 30 days late.

[Skvitt]

So far RA been good to me. Lot's of parts ordered from them in the past. Lately I ordered 6V bulbs for my 49"' Buick, they were on close out sale. Came in in a few days. Last week ordered some engine electrical parts for the same vehicle, received them in 3 days ( shipping charge is not too bad too, considering that I'm in Canada). There was a problem with qty though, generator brushes were supposed to be 2 in the package, but only 1 was included, I let them know right away, and they sent me missing one free of charge.

 

[michaelmackay]

On 9/8/2021 at 2:08 AM, mike6024 said:

(I'll delete this post after I get some input because it's obviously not an antique car issue)

 

I wanted to get a small replacement part for the fuel injection system for my 2002 Toyota. It's called an IAC, Idle Air Control Valve, which contains a solenoid, and a metal door that opens to allow air in so it will idle. Like the idle air screw for a carburetor. The IAC also has connections for coolant so it monitors temperature. So you get temperature dependent idle air into the fuel injection system.

 

Obviously i wanted to get a new part from the dealer and swap it out. Dealer parts can be trusted. They wanted $444.65 for this tiny part. Plus 9.5% sales tax would put it close to $500.

 

Rock Auto has many versions of this part, but most are out of stock. They do have this one for $67.

 

And Ebay has one even cheaper at auto parts St. Catharines.

 

 

Hey. im thinking of buying a used ford focus 2012 118k miles for 3850 and ive heard of these cars having transmission issues and i heard ford is discontinuing the focus in 2020. so my question is can i buy car parts or still get it repaired if the trans goes bad considering it being discontinued or would i be screwed? im in north america btw thanks

Edited January 28 by michaelmackay (see edit history)

[plymouthcranbrook]

I would imagine so.  Lots of parts are available for discontinued cars and trucks.  As far as a mechanic you will just have to check with the shops in your area. After all, it’s not really that old so I suspect most reputable mechanics can work on it.

[Rivguy]

I buy from RA all the time, haven't had any problems. I don't buy the cheapest part unless there isn't any alternative. I'll bet that the replacement IAC valve will last for years. It appears that The OEM unit didn't. 

[avgwarhawk]

1 hour ago, michaelmackay said:

Hey. im thinking of buying a used ford focus 2012 118k miles for 3850 and ive heard of these cars having transmission issues and i heard ford is discontinuing the focus in 2020. so my question is can i buy car parts or still get it repaired if the trans goes bad considering it being discontinued or would i be screwed? im in north america btw thanks

There are repair kits available for your transmission.  Ford has sold thousands upon thousands Focus.  Parts will be readily available for a long time. 

[Marty Roth]

On 11/8/2021 at 6:42 PM, Marty Roth said:

 

I had dealt with Rock Auto many times and had been mostly satisfied with products and delivery, BUT ---

They emailed me with "Close-Out Specials" for a certain few Corvair parts and I placed a relatively small order,

a bit over $18 including shipping.

 

The parts never arrived !!!

 

Exchanges of multiple emails (no person would follow up), provided no relief, no refund, nor the parts which had been charged to my credit card.

Rock Auto's email Customer (dis)Service person insisted that I had to deal with my issue via the shipping service, but no such delivery was recorded. 

Ultimately I had to file with my credit card company, and of course they did the right thing, charging back to Rock Auto.

 

Since that time, and it has probably been a few years, when I attempted to purchase from Rock Auto, they accept the order, and then cancel,

insisting that I pay the outstanding charge-back ($18+) for parts I never received before they will honor any orders for me.

 

There are plenty of honest vendors out there,

many of whom deserve my business-

I won't deal with Rock Auto !

Here it is, a couple of years later, and I tried again to deal with Rock Auto.

Once again, they stated that I had to pay the for the $18+ chargeback for the parts I never received before they would allow me the honor of buying from them !

 

Ain't Gonna Happen !

 

I'll continue to deal with honest firms - those with integrity -

But NOT  ROCK AUTO !!

[TTR]

Interestingly enough, last year a good friend of mine in Europe, against my strong objections to the idea, bought a lot of brake and chassis service parts for one of his 60+ years old vintage American cars. 
After their long awaited, a month+ later arrival and eventual inspection, he realized more than half of them weren’t correct, even by a long shot, for his car and not because he had ordered them incorrectly…

 

Lesson learned (hopefully) and the sad thing was that he had to throw all those incorrect parts to dumpster as he didn’t want to spend/waste time on trying to figure out what they belong to and sending them back from Europe was cost prohibitive, even if RA would’ve refunded the original purchase prices.

Edited January 27 by TTR (see edit history)

[Zimm63]

Reading over this, lots of people order from Rock Auto, but when they need the right part go to their local parts store.  

 

Ya'll realize you are killing the local guy to save a few bucks, right?  

 

[Frank DuVal]

6 hours ago, TTR said:

Interestingly enough, last year a good friend of mine in Europe, against my strong objections to the idea, bought a lot of brake and chassis service parts for one of his 60+ years old vintage American cars. 

While I use the Rock Auto website to see what parts fit what cars, I know that I need to look at every part and the associated page of info to make sure the part does fit a particular car. Many fellow Corvair people make that mistake of not doing the research and buy parts for a 60 to 64 car, but the parts fit the 61 to 65 FC (truck)! Nope, not going to fit. One must do research, as catalogs have gone digital, and mistakes happen along the way of digitizing and eliminating part numbers.

[m-mman]

On 1/27/2024 at 10:57 AM, Marty Roth said:

Here it is, a couple of years later, and I tried again to deal with Rock Auto.

Once again, they stated that I had to pay the for the $18+ chargeback for the parts I never received before they would allow me the honor of buying from them

Two choices 

1. pay the $18. (It’s not even 20 bucks, but yeah it’s the principle of the thing)

 

2. create a new account, with a new credit card and shipping address. Then you don’t appear in the database.  

[joe_padavano]

On 1/27/2024 at 10:34 PM, Frank DuVal said:

While I use the Rock Auto website to see what parts fit what cars,

That's a risky proposition, Frank. I can tell you that for Oldsmobiles, a large number of listings are incorrect. This isn't necessarily RockAuto's fault, as they just use the applications lists that the manufacturers provide. I usually find the OEM part number in my parts books, find the cross reference, and order from RA using part numbers, not their applications.

[Marty Roth]

3 hours ago, m-mman said:

Two choices 

1. pay the $18. (It’s not even 20 bucks, but yeah it’s the principle of the thing)

 

2. create a new account, with a new credit card and shipping address. Then you don’t appear in the database.  

Why should I give them the money, the win, the satisfaction, when they are still trying to screw me into paying for a item I never received?

 

There are other vendors -

         Honest Vendors out there, -

                        Vendors who will SPEAK with us -

                                  Vendors who aren't too big to care about the individual hobbyist !

 

NO !   I'll take my business elsewhere  !

 

Cheaters, Scoundrels, and Thieves do not deserve our business !

Edited January 29 by Marty Roth (see edit history)

[TAKerry]

Unfortunately my only local stores are autozone, advance and napa. Mostly staffed with the cheapest staff they can find for the moment. Not really hurting anyone local by shopping online. Although I try to get 'everyday' stuff from napa, I have found that as of late they have not been giving me the correct stuff for my 79. I never had a problem with the 77, basically the same car. I figure the supply may be wearing thin at this point. 

Rarely do I go to RA, but I seem to think when a part is selected there are usually several choices listed by manufacture and price. If available one should be able to get factory stuff.

[Marty Roth]

3 hours ago, m-mman said:

Two choices 

1. pay the $18. (It’s not even 20 bucks, but yeah it’s the principle of the thing)

 

2. create a new account, with a new credit card and shipping address. Then you don’t appear in the database.  

Why would I even try to subvert their system to do business with a company which is attempting to cheat me?

Why should I give them even more profit?

 

No, thank you !

[Buffalowed Bill]

I've mentioned this on other threads so maybe you will recall my experience. I bought some front end rebuild pars for my Lincoln Mark Vlll. Not a particularly old or rare car, but I thought it would be easier to order online and just push some computer keys. I've used RA in the past, quite a few times, with no difficulty. When I received my order I realized that while the ball joints were produced by the same manufacturer, the boxes were different-one looked older then the other. Upon inspection of the parts I realized that one was a sealed unit, as original, and the other had zerk fittings. If I had been dealing with a local FLAPS I would have just taken it back for an exchange or refund, but because I wanted to get on with the project and didn't want to have to wait, so I used them. Henceforward I made sure that I used local sources before shopping for anything on line.

[Chris Bamford]

My one experience with RA was ordering brake cylinders and hoses for my ‘47 Dodge D25 (Canadian, and a badge-engineered Plymouth) about 2010. 
 

All the parts fit OK but there were considerable metal shavings in the master cylinder. 

Edited January 30 by Chris Bamford (see edit history)

[joe_padavano]

1 hour ago, Chris Bamford said:

My one experience with RA was ordering brake cylinders and hoses for my ‘47 Dodge D25 (Canadian, and a badge-engineered Plymouth) about 2010. 
 

All the parts fit OK but there were considerable metal shavings in the master cylinder. 

Who was the manufacturer of the parts? Neither RockAuto nor NAPA nor your local store of choice makes the parts they sell.

[Chris Bamford]

1 hour ago, joe_padavano said:

Who was the manufacturer of the parts? Neither RockAuto nor NAPA nor your local store of choice makes the parts they sell.

That information is lost to the mists of time.  My takeaway was that whoever was their supplier had sloppy QC. 

[joe_padavano]

11 hours ago, Chris Bamford said:

That information is lost to the mists of time.  My takeaway was that whoever was their supplier had sloppy QC. 

Agreed, but again not RA's fault. The Raybestos and Wagner brake parts I get from RA are the same ones I would have gotten from my local auto parts store.

[Frank DuVal]

On 1/29/2024 at 12:04 PM, joe_padavano said:

That's a risky proposition, Frank. I can tell you that for Oldsmobiles, a large number of listings are incorrect.

That is exactly what I said in the rest of my sentence!

[Frank DuVal]

On 1/29/2024 at 6:53 PM, Buffalowed Bill said:

Upon inspection of the parts I realized that one was a sealed unit, as original, and the other had zerk fittings. If I had been dealing with a local FLAPS I would have just taken it back for an exchange or refund,

You mean to take the one w/o Zerk fittings back, right? As the one with Zerk fittings is typically a higher end replacement!😉 

[Paul Dobbin]

it think Rock Auto is pretty reliable for modern car parts, but for old cars, i doubt it.

Unlike on ebay, where it says "Fits Chevy, Ford VW Cadillac, Rolls Royce, etc, etc."

[JACK M]

I buy from RA on occasion.

When I first got my 64 D-100 several years ago I was perusing available parts.

They listed a windshield but was out of stock.

I guess I hit the remind me button as a few months later they sent me a message that the now had the windshield.

Mine was OK but had quite a bit of sand pitting making it difficult to see very well at night. Especially in the rain, which we are famous for.

I don't recall the price, but it must have been reasonable because I am enjoying the view thru it now.

 

[Gronk]

On 9/7/2021 at 9:01 PM, mike6024 said:

.So prices range from $444 at the dealer to $67 to $128 at RA, to $22 on Ebay, and O'Reilly has one for $202.
I like that O'Reilly actually makes an effort to describe the part.

 

 

 

I like O'reilly's. I didn't at first. I thought they are more expensive than the others. But the 99% of the time they have what I want and of is of good quality. They also are helpful.as they can be

Edited March 28 by Gronk (see edit history)

[Akstraw]

Personally, I don’t see how you can go wrong with Rock Auto.  They clearly give you options and state the supplier of each up front.   If you want OEM (Motorcraft, Delco, etc.), you have the option to buy that one.  If you want something less costly; e.g. Cardone, Dorman, you can buy that one.  I get it that some folks have personal beefs with them, but to answer the OP’s question, there is no question about trust in quality.  You get what you order and they are fully transparent.  I use them monthly, if not weekly.