PartsAvatar vs RockAuto

Has anyone on here ever used partsavatar.ca to order parts? They claim to be a Canadian alternative to RockAuto, offering no duties or shipping costs. Online reviews seemed to be mixed, some people saying it was great, others saying they received the wrong parts and refund/exchange was a bit of a shitshow. I've used RockAuto in the past and it's been great but with all these tariff shenanigans going on, I don't want to end up paying more than what I should for parts. I also don't want to risk receiving cheap knock off parts, and I know that would not be the case with RockAuto. I need to do a timing belt on my truck, I've priced out all the parts I need on both RockAuto and partsavatar.ca. RockAuto a few hundred $ cheaper than partsavatar.ca but with duties and 25% tariff, that difference can go away in a hurry.

 

Doug: my experience (in Nova Scotia) has been mixed. First, partsavatar shipping is slow. It can take a week or more just to get the parts shipped. Once on the road, they move quickly though. Rock ships the same or next day. Second, partsavatar will cancel orders for no apparent reason, or will email you and tell you that an additional shipping charge applies (so much for free shipping over $100). In my experience, this seems to happen with larger, bulkier items like exhaust parts that are probably expensive to ship. Third, they are often out of stock on items. When searching, there is a tab called "see out of stock items" or something like that. These usually the higher value, in demand parts.

I will use partsavatar for brake parts and other heavy items that cost more to ship from Rock.

My advice: sign up for emails at partsource.ca. They just had a 20% off sale and have stores everywhere in Canada. For OEM, sign up for discounts at Megazip and Partsouq. But both are overseas and so shipping is slower, Partsouq also sells decent quality aftermarket, like 555. Also, toyotapartsdirect in London, Ontario will sometimes have good prices on OEM. Hope this helps.

 

Thanks for the reply. My biggest concern would be receiving cheap knock off Chinese made parts instead of what's advertised. For example, I've heard of people ordering AISIN brand timing belt from Amazon and receiving some cheap knockoff in an AISIN box. But from your experience, PartsAvatar sends legit brand parts?

 

I hear you. These days, you can't be too careful.

I tend to stick with higher quality stuff, like Aisin, Denso, Koyo, etc. So far, everything I've ordered from partsavatar has been legit - no fakes. They seem like a solid company that way.