This article tries to come in the aid of those undecided upon what to choose.

After Market Auto Body Parts (Source: gandrudjeep.com)

The automotive aftermarket is a market behind the automotive market itself, the main business of the aftermarket being the production, remanufacturing, retailing and distribution as well as installation of car parts, catalysts, various equipment and tools for both light and heavy cars. This is a multi-billion market in the United States alone, last estimates placing the automotive aftermarket at a $257 billion per year. All in all the aftermarket provides everything needed for a car to stay on the road, by providing service, maintenance and customization of the consumer’s vehicles. Although several clashes in the Court of Law occurred between the car manufacturers and the aftermarket holders, there is a strong argument for the existence of the latter. The aftermarket can keep the manufacturers in direct contact with end users.

Aftermarket parts are supplied for almost all the vehicles on the road today, and if lucky, one can find aftermarket car parts for even obsolete models. The main advantage of the aftermarket parts is that they are somewhat cheaper than OEM parts, but usually the quality of this kind of parts doesn’t match the original equipment. However, if the part itself is manufactured at a shop according to customers’ specifications regarding sizes and materials used a better quality part is more likely to be obtained.

OEM Auto Body Parts (Source: ibspro.net)

On the other hand, original equipment purchased through a brands dealership, comes at a price dictated by the market and cheap brand new OEM parts are a bit hard to find in a dealership. The quality of OEM parts is usually higher than the parts provided by the aftermarket.

The main advantage of OEM parts is that one will own a part made by same company that produced the car, so it will be an exact fit and it will function like the part replaced when the car was purchased. However, one cannot simply order a part with one’s specifications unless the order itself counts more than 10.000 units of the part ordered.

Coming to a decision, both OEM and aftermarket have advantages and disadvantages, the final decision still being taken by end users.

Auto Body Parts (Source: 3.bp.blogspot.com)

The advantages that these aftermarket car body parts have to offer begin with the more affordable price tag when compared to the OEM parts. The amount of money that you can save generally depends on the brand so it is best to do some comparison shopping and find out how much a certain body part usually costs.

The quality of an aftermarket car body part can be equal or even better than the one of an OEM part. In some cases, you could end up buying a more affordable part that is also of higher quality in comparison to its OEM sibling.

Another reason why some people decide to go for the aftermarket parts is because the variety is huge as there are hundreds of firms that produce these parts. While some of them are specialized in manufacturing certain parts, others companies are selling just about any type of car part that you can think of. More variety means a wider range of prices so most likely you will find something that meets your budget and preferences.

Auto Body Parts (Source: 4.bp.blogspot.com)

The last advantage would have to be that these aftermarket auto body parts are usually easier and faster to buy since you won’t have to wait a long time until the part that you want is shipped.

There are several downsides that you will have to take into consideration, like the fact that some of the parts do not come with warranty since the manufacturer is trying to keep the costs down to a minimum. In addition, the quality of these aftermarket auto body parts can varies greatly and you usually get what you pay for so avoid buying the cheapest one you can find. If you are new to aftermarket brands, it can be a little overwhelming to choose from the long list of aftermarket car parts produces, but you can solve this issue by contacting your mechanic.

On their site, you can find more than 2500 car parts and also cars. You can search by the image of the car, for example from the left of the car, from the exterior, from the interior, from the engine compartment, from underneath, from under the hood and from the wheel compartments. This is very interesting; I have never seen this feature on other sites that allow you to buy car parts. You can search their parts inventory, there you will find engines, starters, alternators, headlights, rear clips, front clips, radiators, radios, wheels, fenders, doors, transmissions, hoods, tail lights, air conditioning parts, bumpers, seats, airbags and consoles.

Auto Parts Orlando (Source: photographersorlando.com)

There is also a site map that contains the sections of the site, home, information related to the guarantee offered by this company, directions, information related to the warranty provided by A&A Auto Recyclers, the parts search section and the contact area.

When I present an auto parts site, I always make a reference about the possibility of searching for the auto parts that you need, so this site is not an exception. Believe it or not, but the inventory search is the same, just like the inventory search options provided on other sites. Probably because this search service uses the car part interchange, just like the rest of the sites do.

Auto Parts Orlando (Source: carthrottle.com)

This is why I will not focus on presenting what are the elements of that you have to select when searching for an airbag for your Ferrari, let's say. You must select the year of release, the manufacturer, the part that you need for your car and other things. All of them are provided in my previous articles. If you don't find the part that you need, you may request a quote, this means that if they don't have the part that you are interested in, you may complete the form that will allow the administrators of this site to see that someone that visited their site was interested in a certain car part. They will do their best to find that part that you're looking for. You will be contacted by someone that works for this company and they will tell you if they can get your product or not. For this, you must write your phone number. The e-mail address is also required.

The current recalls that have happened on this site referred to the Strike Force portable air compressors, to some wheel hub assemblies (the part numbers were mentioned on the site) and to some control arm assemblies, whose part numbers were also mentioned on the same site. When you buy a product from an online site or from a physical store, most likely you are requested to present some information related to yourself, such as a phone number or an e-mail address, where the sales representatives to send information to you from time to time. Unfortunately, not only the sales representatives will send you notifications, but the technical representatives as well, which are required to inform the customers every time there is a problem.

Advanced Auto Parts (Source: blog.adw.org)

Let's see how an e-mail or a notification from this site looks like. First of all you will be informed that this is a recall information about the product that you may have bought. If you have bought that car part for your girlfriend or boyfriend, you must notify them instantly, because of the technical representatives see the person who has bought the product not the person who is going to utilize the product. Then it is presented the name of the product, in our case Strike Force 3.5 HP portable electric 4.6 gallon twin air tank compressor. Then there is something written in capitalized letters and also in red saying that you should immediately stop using that product.

Advanced Auto Parts (Source: cfnews13.com)

Usually the problems that may occur with the auto parts that you buy from this site or from any other site are related to the same issue that is the main cause of damages produced on computers as well: overheating. The air compressor in our case may overheat and it can potentially ignite creating a fire. Does this seem familiar to you? This happened many times before and probably it will happen again with the batteries that are inserted in laptop computers. When you receive a notification like this, you should first stop using the component that is mentioned in that e-mail that you received and only after this, verify if your car part is indeed included in the same product range that was affected by the malfunction.

If you're interested if a store of this company is located in your area or not, you have to enter the site, which is accessible in the first paragraph and you have to look on the right part of the screen, in that area where you can see the next tabs: Home, Shop by Brand, Store Locator, Help. You can find if this company has a branch in your area, only if you take into consideration several categories. These are: your address, your city, your state and the zip code. You can search within 10, 25, 50 and 100 miles; after you have presented all these pieces of information, you have to click on Find Stores.

Advanced Auto Parts Store (Source: jjoconstruction.com)

Let's see that you want to find the available locations in Alaska or Delaware. I have selected Alaska and then Delaware, but there was no answer. In fact, there was an answer telling me that there are zero stores in that area. I cannot believe that there is not a single store in Delaware. Let's try with another state; I have tried with California and I'm pretty sure that in the entire California there is at least one shop from where you can buy Advance auto parts. Probably you need to complete all of the blank fields in order to receive the information that you request.

Advanced Auto Parts Store (Source: thegreatsmokeymountainsparkway.com)

That's about it with the selection of your store locator. If you want to find more information about this, it would be preferable if you will simply call the representatives of the site, because in this situation most likely you will receive more information than you can receive by typing the zip code or selecting the state. I see that you have a map, powered by Google on the page where the store locator results must appear, only that they do not appear. I have found several locations in New York, by selecting the state of New York and by selecting also the distance within you want to find these stores (I have set the distance to the of 50 miles). So there are stores in the United States, only that you must pay attention and be very patient when you search for them online.

The featured categories in the Automotive section of this site are: suspension, automotive basics, custom wheels, battery accessories, all-terrain vehicle attachments, interior accessories, outdoor shelter, exterior accessories. To get a glimpse about the prices of these products that can be found on Kmart.com, I will present several top sellers and the prices for the products that they sell.

Discount Auto Parts Stores (Source: pickupspecialties.com)

The list with the featured products on Kmart.com starts with the Intermatic LZ511A30 Malibu marker, that costs $15.99. Then we have the ShelterLogic 10 feet per 20 feet MAX AP Canopy, a product that is very useful when you don't want to have your car watered by the rain, although if the rain doesn't have a 90° angle, your car may be in danger of getting wet. But this is not the problem with the light rain; the question is what you will do with your car and with your house in the case of a hurricane, like the Hurricane Irene? But let's not speak about Irene right now and let's mention the price of this product: $99.99.

Discount Auto Parts Stores (Source: comparestoreprices.co.uk)

But the car parts are not only represented by air filters, air bags and engine parts, but also by travel mugs and thermos sets. Such set that comes within a carrying case costs only $9.99 and it is a set that can be taken with you not only when you want to travel with your car, but also when you travel by plane or by charter on the sea. Other great product, because it has the blue color is the trademark tools ultimate comfort blue foam flooring, that costs $18.59. A Plasticolor seat cover costs around 15-20 dollars. You can customize the seat covers the way you want, if you address to certain manufacturers. An EZYFlare Roadside Flare cost $19.95, this product being available for many car brands. More information about the available products that can be used with your car on Kmart.com.

On the site named buy.com, I have found many products that allow you to organize your car accessories into different categories. You can even use bags that have different colors in order to organize the car parts better. It would be preferable to store your car parts on some shelves, not in bags, but when you will need the right auto part when you go on a trip, you are excused and you can buy an organizer tote. A tote like this costs on buy.com $39.99. This one has 4 pieces, but if you want to get other with only 3 pieces, you can get one that costs $15.99.

Auto Value Parts (Source: ak.buy.com)

Other accessory that you can use is the Case Logic ATO-40 folding cargo bag, that comes in black and costs $20.99. Even if you are a woman, you must know what to buy for your car when you suspect that one component is now broken. You have to identify the problem and if you cannot make it by yourself, just go to a repair center. There are men who don't know what to do when they have a problem with their car, so we should not be surprised that the women have no clue when it comes to changing the oil of the car or replacing the battery.

Auto Value Parts (Source: ak.buy.com)

If the specialist tells you that you need some LED valve caps, you can find some neon blue caps on the buy.com site for only $6.95. Do you need some double suction cup dent puller and glass repair tools? You can get these tools on the site as well for $7.49. If you will buy all these tools, you will need a global solution to carry all these accessories and car parts. Then how about the Global Solutions 4 PAC Pro Portable Accessory Carryall?

If you have questions related to the car parts you want to buy, you can contact the representatives. If you see that the part that you're looking for is not present on the site, you can send the representatives a request. I imagine that you can find almost anything you want, because I can see that there are many manufacturers presented on the site, the first page. We will start with Acura, AMC, Audi, BMW, Eagle, Fiat, Jeep, Bentley, Delorean, Hyundai, Jensen and more. I have selected Mitsubishi; let's see what are they used parts that can be bought from this site. The moment when you click on Mitsubishi, you will be redirected to another page of this site, page that contains information about the used parts of the Mitsubishi models. In this way, you can see what are the used Mitsubishi 3000gt parts, the used Mitsubishi Eclipse parts, Mitsubishi Expo, Mitsubishi Mighty, Montero, Raider, Tredia, Cordia, Endeavor, Galant, Mirage, Outlander, Sigma and Mitsubishi VAN. Let's say that we are interested in the used parts of a Mitsubishi Montero.

Auto Parts Salvage (Source: reviewcar.com)

The same thing happens when you click on Mitsubishi Montero: you are redirected to another page, that presents the available categories in which your auto part is included. The first category is the largest one: Accessories, then we have audio, exterior, lights, transmission, airbag, electrical, heating and cooling, mechanical, wheels and tires, air conditioning, engine unit, interior and suspension and drives. I will select the airbag category. So I am searching for airbags created for Mitsubishi Montero, used parts.

Auto Parts Salvage (Source: sjnorcalgroup.com)

In order to find your parts, you have to complete a form, that has several steps; the first step is to provide information about the vehicle, then about the part that you want to buy, then you should provide information about yourself and submit the request.

If you're searching for information about BMW cars, all that you have to do is to select the year and then the model of the car. When it comes to the BMW cars, you have plenty of choices; I will not mention all the models of this brand, I will only select the first one, with no reason whatsoever. I'm talking about the BMW 128i model. Let's say that we want an AC evaporator for our BMW car, released in 2006. We would like that our area where to find this product to be Pacific. At the end of your search, you have to enter the postal code and then to search.

Auto Parts Used For Bmw (Source: 4.bp.blogspot.com)

You will be requested if you want to find an AC evaporator for that specific model or if you agree to see the entire offer of AC evaporators created for other brands as well. If you select to see only the BMW AC evaporators, you will not find any items like this. But this is not a bad thing, because you can write to this site and ask them to notify you when they will receive an used AC evaporator for the BMW 128i model.

Auto Parts Used For Bmw (Source: 3.bp.blogspot.com)

When you will write to the representatives of this site, you have to provide your name, your state and province, your business type, if you are a consumer or a recycler, your e-mail, your postal code, your address and to write the claim, if applicable. At the same time it would be better to provide a phone number as well and the name of the city where you live.

This site is about auto parts, manufacturers, categories, accessories, car parts, mechanic tools, maintenance operations, auto repair software, auto services, do-it-yourself auto repair services, auto parts articles, guides, auto insurance, wholesale parts and in general all about the automotive industry.

Auto Parts Interchange (Source: autohack.files.wordpress.com)

But what interchangeability means? It means that the accessories that you use or the car parts are not necessarily tied to a certain year of release of the car. For example, you can use an air filter for your Toyota car even if the filter is universal. It does not mean that if you buy an universal accessory or auto part, it will not work with a specific car brand. The interchangeability means that you can use a certain auto part for a vehicle, no matter if that part was created for another vehicle. The interchangeability is not one and the same thing as replacement. You can replace an air filter for example, with another air filter created for the same manufacturer by the same maker. This is the concept of the replacement of the auto parts.

Auto Parts Interchange (Source: centralcartservices.com)

If you have a light bulb created for the left headlight and you switch this lightbulb and you use it in the right headlight, this means that you have changed the purpose of that light bulb. When you buy like about, it is not written on the package that you can use that bulb for the left headlight or for the right headlight. You can use it for both types of headlights and also for more cars. You can see how the interchangeability transforms itself into replacement. But the concept of replacement can be transformed into the concept of interchangeability. That's it for today, I will meet you all tomorrow!