Jerry Wayne Odom Jr.

Buying Ford Parts

Quality Ford Parts: The Essential Ingredients

Owning a Ford vehicle means that you must maintain your wheels to manufacturer specifications in order to ensure a long life for your car. By carefully following recommended manufacturer maintenance procedures, your car should last well over 100,000 miles, perhaps a lot more. Not all Ford parts are equal, however. Let's take a look at parts for your Ford and where you can buy them.

Online Auction Sites - The Internet has several auction sites where sellers get online to market their wares. While prices can certainly be very good, the product you receive may not be what you thought it was. Fraud with one particular auction site has raised warnings from consumer activists who are urging buyers to exercise extreme caution. Counterfeit parts as well as poor quality and roughly used parts are often what have been cited as a reason why some auction sites are to be avoided at all costs.

Scrap Yards - Scrap Yards or auto salvage yards are often the top choice for the person looking for a replacement bumper, car mirrors, door handles, and the like. Still, if you are in the habit of picking off certain other parts including the exhaust system, catalytic converter, brake components, ford radiator, cargo liner, etc. what you get will certainly be used, perhaps completely worn out too. Take care when shopping this way as you certainly do "get what you paid for!"

Dealerships - Yes, car dealers can certainly be a great place to ensure that you get premium Ford car parts. Unfortunately, you can also expect to pay a premium price as dealer mark ups are probably the highest in the industry. Go there only if you have money to burn!

Discount Auto Supply Stores - You get the "luck of the draw" with these places. If you hit the right sale, you can come out all right at least with the standard parts like batteries, wiper blades, K & N air filters, and the like. Some have a good selection of mufflers, brakes, belts, timing chains, etc. Just remember, many stores purchase through middlemen, so you still have to pay a mark up on your goods.

Online Auto Parts Wholesalers - The rise of the Internet has created a new breed of retailers: online providers of premium auto parts. Of course, you must make certain that the parts you purchase are either new or remanufactured to the proper specifications. Stick with the name brands and learn what the various purchasing, shipping, and return policies the site offers. Stick with the reputable wholesalers like the Auto Parts Warehouse to make certain that you are dealing only with the finest companies too.

That's it! You have five retailing options all with varying degrees of success and prices. Remember: shop wisely and learn what you are buying before sharing your credit card information with anyone. There are some good wholesalers out there, but there are a whole lot of low quality retailers of car parts too.