Parts from ebay - a saving or a headache?

mbrijun

Hello moneysavers,

my car is due in for a cambelt change. I figured out I can get a decent quality cambelt kit for around £55 including delivery on ebay. A garage can supply one for around £70 + VAT.

Is this saving worth the hassle? I guess that in case of any subsequent problems the garage that fitted it would wash their hands off blaming the problems on my kit?

Martin

bengalknights

ive always bought my own parts and got the garage to fit them as it works out cheaper i would advise you thought to use a car part merchant like partco, AR spares etc to buy from instead of ebay as you can return faulty items to them

Hammyman

Seconded. There's little savings on Ebay over a parts supplier. If you know anyone with a Halfords Trade Card get them to get you one from Halfords - they claim to match trade suppliers in the local area.

forgotmyname

With a cambelt i would buy from a local place, Just in case.

Makes me wonder how many fake items there are, Looking at some brake pads, Strange
how ebay sellers can sell discs and pads for £5 more than anywhere else sells just the pads for.
Even tried the local trade supplier my sister used to work for.

Fakes? or do they really sell at a loss?

bengalknights

forgotmyname wrote: »

With a cambelt i would buy from a local place, Just in case.

Makes me wonder how many fake items there are, Looking at some brake pads, Strange
how ebay sellers can sell discs and pads for £5 more than anywhere else sells just the pads for.
Even tried the local trade supplier my sister used to work for.

Fakes? or do they really sell at a loss?

they could be oem imports ie vw parts from brazil, toyota parts from china, bmw parts from south africa

ukjoel

Its such a grey area.

You have manufacturer gen parts, then branded non gen parts that have come off the same production line (often with a bosch sticker over the Ford one) then the non branded ones where they have come from the same line but in an unbranded box.

I would agree with previous posters about buying from local or national part suppliers and doing it yourself if you can.

Think it is easier with older cars. If I was cynical I would say that its almost as if manufacturers are trying to design into their vehicles added complexity and cost by merging small components into larger units so if one 50p bit breaks you need to buy the whole unit at £200.

vaio

For a £20 saving on cam belt kit I wouldn’t even think about it, just let the garage supply and fit, that way you get a full guarantee. Make sure they change anything else that rotates with the belt like tensioners, water pumps etc

Strider590

There are cheaper places than ebay...... I buy my parts from a certain online parts shop, but they don't get a free advert because they f*cked up my last delivery (but it was the first time in 6 years)

Hannah_10

Again I'd say never use the garage for parts unless you truly have to. They add a bigger mark up because they know they have the convenience factor. Ebay might not be the best source, there are others, but the garage would be seriously pushing thier luck to make it difficult for you to use parts you bought yourself as garage owners know they sell at uncompetitive rates. It's just like Spar shops selling milk for more than Asda superstores, the garage owners have the convenience factor on thier side, the parts depot's have sheer trade volume.

vaio

Hannah_10 wrote: »

Again I'd say never use the garage for parts unless you truly have to. They add a bigger mark up because they know they have the convenience factor. Ebay might not be the best source, there are others, but the garage would be seriously pushing thier luck to make it difficult for you to use parts you bought yourself as garage owners know they sell at uncompetitive rates. It's just like Spar shops selling milk for more than Asda superstores, the garage owners have the convenience factor on thier side, the parts depot's have sheer trade volume.

All very true but if the cam belt you supplied fails after 3 months and trashes your engine good luck with getting either the garage or the internet warehouse you bought the cam belt from to sort it out.

If you are lucky the warehouse will say send it back and we’ll send you a replacement and the garage will say defective belt, not our problem. Pay the extra £20 and let the garage supply the parts and it’s all the garages problem if it goes wrong.

mbrijun

Thank you everyone for your replies! Having considered everything I will probably go with what vaio says - will get everything supplied an fitted by a garage. However I will stick to sourcing my own parts for less difficult jobs (oil, filters, etc).

With this in mind I did some more research and found that a local mobile mechanic beats the cheapest garage price by around £35. When asked about a warranty on this cambelt change he told me that the warranty comes in at 12000 miles or one year. He also uses a good kit - Gates or Motorcraft.

Should I take a leap of faith and go with this local mobile mechanic or stick to bricks and mortar garages?