Buying parts from a Chevy dealer.

[Dave Lehnert]

Is there any reason to shop around for price on hub caps from the dealer. Is the retail price the same at all dealers?

Ok, did some poking around on the web. Looks like aftermarket hub caps just like original are available. Any good places to buy from? I don't know on online auto parts place from another.

[Matt Meiser]

I know there's a Ford dealer out east that advertises lower prices than I could get locally, but I've never used them.

Check Ebay and CL too. We got 4 OEM wheels for LOML's Focus off CL cheaper than 1 new one. If we hadn't found those I was going to order one on Ebay very reasonably. While Googling to get an idea of the price on the tire on my F150 that got a flat yesterday I noticed tons of used tires on Ebay. Not that I'd buy a tire there, but those two things lead me to believe you'd probably have a decent shot at finding that hubcap too.

You might find the aftermarket ones are as good quality--poorer chrome, poor fit, etc. Or not--hard to tell.

[David Weaver]

I can't vouch for what GM does, but someone hammered (literally) my sunroof on a honda about 5 or 6 years ago, and the car was too new for there to be aftermarket glass. Part cost for the glass was $425, and with some shopping around, I found a dealer in maine who sold parts at a discount, and I got the glass for $330 shipped instead of $425. Not cheap, but it's still more money left in my pocket and it took about a half hour of effort.

I had called two local dealers first to get the part price and the installed price, and one of them quoted an hour labor to install a sunroof and the other quoted two hours. That was sort of a joke because it's a half hour job even if you vacuum the car completely.

IF you know what the part number is, search it online, and see what you get.

[Dan Hintz]

Similar to what David was saying, there are usually a few dealers who do internet sales and charge 5-15% above their cost. They make their money in bulk rather than through markup (much to the chagrin of the dealers who don't have a massive internet presence, as several have lamented to me). For every car type I've owned, I quickly find one of these dealers. Fro example, for Honda a good one is HondaAutomotiveParts.com... it's just Majestic Honda in Rhode Island, but they provide about the best prices you can find. Buy inexpensive items (a few bolts, etc.) from the local counter as min shipping cost is usually $15.

[David Weaver]

That's the honda dealer I used. Maine was a bad guess, but for someone near the midwest, maine and rhode island are practically the same place.

[Bryan Slimp]

I bought a replacement rim for a car from LKQ. If you google them you can find their website and get a price. It was a recycled rim and it was flawless.

[Kevin Stanbary]

try oempartsforless.com and gmpartsdirect.com. Both sell discounted parts, but beware, they tend to charge rather heavily for shipping, especially gmpartsdirect. Even with shipping both are typically cheaper than your local dealer.

I've also had good luck with that kind of part from eBay and just recently been buying a lot of car parts through Amazon. LKQ is good as well.

Good luck!

[Harry Simms]

Try http://www.gmpartsshop.com/. I have used them in the past for GM hard parts with good results. They tend to be better on shipping than GMpartsdirect.