eBay/mail order or local parts supplier??

How many of you have a local landrover parts supplier? you know the sort of small outlet where you get to know the owner, he'll put a brew on when you get there and an hour later you end up leaving after only nipping in for a sump washer. Well I phoned mine today for a price on parts and was quite amazed at how much more expensive he was to the likes of eBay and shops advertised in LRO and LRM ect. This is all good and well that I can get the parts cheaper but felt I was betraying this man, the man who goes out of his way to help you and who's tea I drink. But what do you do??? Monies tight and I wanna get the best deal. I'm talking a difference of £15 just for 2 brake hoses and brake seal kit which is quite a difference for such a small amount of parts of the same quality. Should I pay through the nose and support the local outlet or buy via mail order which means I can still manage to feed the family??

Hmm moral dilemma ???? why not a third option ..... see if he will price match the parts, personally i go to whoever is cheapest although depending what youre buying cheapest aint always best plus aftersales service is perhaps summat to consider .... go ask you never know

When you have a **** experience with one of the mail order places it makes the local independent seem like a nice place to be but they are usually a bit more expensive. Ebay doesn't seem to be cheap generally especially when you factor in the outrageous postage charges that seem to be normal on there. It's swings and roundabouts but if you've got a good place locally I reckon it's worth supporting them.

it's worth checking bot sources before buying.
on some parts, the local indy is cheaper and on others he's dearer.
one of my local indys also sells on e-bay. once I got to know, I realised that they have dual pricing, so I now always check their e-bay price before going to the shop.

dual pricing when listing on ebay fancy that

I would check the prices on webstie before buying of off ebay. As for mail order or local depends on needs.
I have had to buy from my local indy before and i run a mail order supplier cos i didnt have the part i needed

My nearest decent indy is 20 miles from where I live. His prices are usually only a couple of quid more than those of craddocks or paddocks. I try and use him when I can but sometimes there are other factors involved. It depends how quick you need the part or if you have the time or transport to get to the supplier. At the moment I am waiting on a water pump for mine. I want the landy on the road yesterday but I can't get to my indy. Online supplier it is then. I need some other parts too but once the water pump is fitted hopefully I can drive to my indy to get em.

my local factors is a con man,£73 for a brake master cylinder and £39 for a footwell repair panel!,a 15 minute drive to a landy specialist got me the cylinder for £20 and 2 repair panels for £18,when i told the landy man he was ****ed off because the local factor gets all the landy bits off him anyway!
i would shop around,some people are just too greedy.

I've always found mail and web order fairly cheap, but I have had teh wrong parts sent. Then theres the time, hassle and cost to return it.

I have 2 local Landy dealers (Challenger 4x4 and Safari engineering) Both their prices are higher, but one of them will have the correct parts on the shelf. I quick trip and drool over other bits, also pick up advice on actually how best to do the job and I almost always buy my parts from them now.

There's Keith Gotts over our way as well, I've found them pretty fair too.

We have a landie parts place near us. But on most things they are more expensive. For instance charging £4.00+ VAT for a body bush on a range rover classic. They are £0.39 online...and when you consider there are 20 of them that makes quite a lot of difference! So unless I am in the middle of something and I desperately need the part I have a shop round on ebay or paddocks/craddocks/lrseries.com/etc

I agree in the fact that if you dont need them straight away then the internet is the way forward BUT you do need to shop around to make sure you get a good quality part and not some cheap rubbish, I bought a temp gauge of e bay and it was done on the part number, when it arrived it was a britpart one and i could have got a bosch one for the same price!!!!

ratty said:

My nearest decent indy is 20 miles from where I live. His prices are usually only a couple of quid more than those of craddocks or paddocks. I try and use him when I can but sometimes there are other factors involved. It depends how quick you need the part or if you have the time or transport to get to the supplier. At the moment I am waiting on a water pump for mine. I want the landy on the road yesterday but I can't get to my indy. Online supplier it is then. I need some other parts too but once the water pump is fitted hopefully I can drive to my indy to get em.

Click to expand...

which indy do you use ,have got some bits from smithy in glasto but can be bit pricy

baggyjim said:

which indy do you use ,have got some bits from smithy in glasto but can be bit pricy

Click to expand...

I use christian autos in Kingswood, Bristol. A bit of a trek but they aint far off paddocks and craddocks prices. I try to avoid CWS. I went there to get some 2nd row high back seats. They wanted £60+ VAT EACH and they were tatty. They are only £85 each NEW.