About dealerships selling parts online

[saneesh8]

Hi All,

What dealer websites do you guys use? I am having hard time with BMWPartsSource. Ordered some thing yesterday morning. Online status still says "In Process". Wonder when they will actually ship the item. Because of the holidays, are they slowing down the orders?

The local dealer told to wait for 5 days to get parts. Unfortunately only online vendors have this item i am looking for. No local store / dealership carry it.

Thanks..

[Jeremy]

Why not try calling them?

If you have issues, I never did with BMWPartsSource, try emailing Vincent from Bimmerzone. He's a great guy and offers some of the best prices and the best service around info@bimmerzone.com He's a Supporting Vendor here, BTW.

[saneesh8]

Seems they are gone already. Tomorrow morning, that is the first step. If still not shipped, i am going to cancel the order.

Read some bad reviews about them on E46Fanatics website just now.

I just tried bimmerzone. Seems they dont have it. Part nos 13537528539,13641437486 and 13641437487.

[Tazmanian Devil]

I use Bimmerzone for all my parts. Prices are very good and Vincent offers free shipping. http://www.bimmerzone.com/

Edit: I think you have your answer

[BimmerBreaker]

I use getbmwparts.com (Tischer), ECS, and am drawing a blank on the other one I use...

Have bought at least 50 orders from Tischer for my personal cars, not ONE issue.

[brad bedell]

Classic BMW in Plano. Talk with Shelby. Generally 20% off retail if you're a BMW CCA member. On some special, high ticket items, he has hinted that he can do better, but I've never taken him up on it.

[saneesh8]

Hi brad bedell, i called Classic BMW(only 17 miles for me). Seems they dont have these items in stock and the person who picked up the call said because of the holidays it might take some time. Also tried BMW of Dallas. Thats why i went with online vendors.

[Kyle Anderson]

I use thebmwpartstore.com. Very fast and the least expensive prices (even less than Bimmerzone).

[saneesh8]

Any stores in Texas?

[SunzOut]

On-line parts stores are not any more liable to have odd parts in stock than your local BMW dealer.

The carry the common parts in stock, most others come next day from BMW distribution center, then it tends to be from Germany or some other international location.

[Telecomtodd]

I've had great service from Jason at eBMWparts.com. Best pricing for OEM parts, quick service.

[MORRIE]

Why not try calling them?

If you have issues, I never did with BMWPartsSource, try emailing Vincent from Bimmerzone. He's a great guy and offers some of the best prices and the best service around info@bimmerzone.com He's a Supporting Vendor here, BTW.

I had the pleasure of doing business with Vincent. He's a honest and very trustworthy guy. He bent over backwards helping me with my cooling system parts. I highly recommend Bimmerzone.

[saneesh8]

Thanks to all..

[KeysCoupe]

I've had great results with Mike at TheBMWPartstore.com. He can get any OEM parts available from BMW. I have even gotten lots of pieces ordered in from Germany through him, and his prices are hard to beat. Give him a call and he can tell you your status.
-Donny

[JoshS]

As SunzOut says, pretty much no dealer, online or otherwise, actually stocks these parts for 10-15 year old cars. They all get them from the same BMW warehouses, and all at the same speed.

The only differences between any online or brick-and-mortar parts dealers are
- Price
- Service
- Speed of processing your order

But if one dealer, local or online, can get a part, they all can. And they will all get it delivered to THEM at the same speed. And if one dealer cannot get a part, they all cannot.

I personally like dealing with my local parts dealers as I get to support local businesses, and I get personal service. And if you get a good relationship with them, they can do just as well on price, and occasionally do me a nice favor. They are just as fast as the online dealers, since they all get the parts from the same places at the same speed. For those of you younger types who can't imagine buying anything over a counter or interacting with humans :-), based on reputation on this forum over the years, it sounds like Vincent @ Bimmerzone is excellent.

[Scarceas]

I don't like to trash vendors but I had problems with bmwpartssource.com. They are NOT a supporting vendor on this site, by the way. On one of my orders, they sent me the wrong item. Patrick was slow to respond, but finally said they would take a return and send me the correct part. I emailed him asking if the address I found online was correct, and he replied back with "Just ship it", and then it turns out it was the wrong place. I received no more replies from Patrick after I pointed out that he told me to ship it there. I ended up not getting the part I needed and paying for the parts that I never got back from the wrong address. Two times they could have easily made me a happy customer, by sending the right part in the first place or they could have made up for it by paying attention when I asked if I had the correct return address. Really, they could have manned up and sent me the part I needed (it was a cheap part) since they told me to send it to the wrong place.

I have since used Pelican Parts and Bimmerzone; they have both been fine. They are also both supporting vendors for this site, which makes me like them more. This is the best site for Z3 info, love you guys! So use vendors that support this awesome place:
http://www.bimmerforums.com/vendors.php

[Vintage42]

... I just tried bimmerzone. Seems they dont have it. Part nos 13537528539,13641437486 and 13641437487.

I like BMW of South Atlanta. Great site for finding finding parts, with illustrations of the assemblies, quick shipping and good automatic status emails.
I found your first part with a simple PN search at:
http://parts.bmwofsouthatlanta.com/p...rm=13537528539
So I assume they have the other two parts as well.

[saneesh8]

Finally they send it today. Thanks to all.

BMWPartsSource was cheaper than BMWOFSouthAtlanta. That is the reason i went with this way.

Good to know that all dealers get it from same warehouse. I was thinking some stock them/ some dont.

[fmcfad01]

I always use Bimmerzone. His prices are always the best I can find when considering the total order. Sometimes his price is a few cents higher or a few cents lower than what you can find at the really cheap Dealership owned websites. I like his personalized service and there is something to be said about supporting small businesses. If he recognizes you as a loyal customer, he'll really help you out in binds too. For example, my radiator in my M5 that I just replaced this summer developed a crack in the plastic. He paid for and sent me a replacement radiator without having me send him the one that needs replacing first. Thats so helpful.

With that said, if you are in the NoVa area, BMW of Fairfax has a new online parts store. Their prices are about equivelent with Bimmerzone now. Sometimes slightly higher, sometimes slightly lower. They offer in store pick up which is great, however, you have to pay tax. So on large orders, you are still way better off going through Bimmerzone.

Bimmerzone has free shipping and no tax on orders. UPS gets to me in the DC area overnight quite often when he sends things out. It's really hard to beat. Love me some Bimmerzone.

[rf900rkw]

It seems all the dealer stores are using the same Trademotion web engine. It really annoys the crap out of me that you do not, can not, find out about stock status or timeframe until after you complete the order. Basicly, the communication sucks.

I just went through this on a dash trim for Di's coupe. I wanted to change the trim while we were changing the windshield. I placed the order on Tues. Thurs I get an email saying the parts are on backorder from Germany and it would be two or three months (!!!) before they arrive. I can't wait that long, so Fri I make the windshield appointment. Monday the glass is put in. Weds I get an email saying my parts have shipped.

Bastards.

[Vintage42]

It seems all the dealer stores are using the same Trademotion web engine... you do not, can not, find out about stock status or timeframe until after you complete the order... I placed the order on Tues. Thurs I get an email saying the parts are on backorder from Germany and it would be two or three months (!!!) before they arrive... Weds I get an email saying my parts have shipped...

You did not say where you placed this order.
So you are saying that I can order parts from BMW South Atlanta, and only afterward find out they are not in stock?
And yet you did get your order shipped rather quickly.

Sounds true that dealer stores cannot stock all the parts for old Z3s, and use Trademotion to access a national BMW parts warehouse. Thanks for revealing that, but I see no alternative. I am thankful for it.

[BenFenner]

I've dealt with germanautoparts.com before for VW parts and had a good experience. I like their web site, but it needs a lot more in the catalog/database to compete.

I've bought from getbmwparts.com (Tischer) before and had good luck with them too. Their web site leaving nothing to be desired. I went with them after pricing versus pelicanparts.com.

I just finished pricing out an order for some body parts and getbmwparts.com (Tischer) was more expensive than either thebmwpartstore.com or ebmwparts.com (the two of them were identical). So it looks like I'll be going with one of those two for the foreseeable future.

(I haven't compared shipping prices yet.)

Cheers.

Edit: I need to check out bimmerzone.com

[rf900rkw]

Yes, I purposely did not say who. Trademotion is not the supplier. It is the web host used by many of the dealers. It is THAT interface that sucks, causing these problems.

As an example, Tischer above uses Trademotion. The body parts that were priced, how many do they have in stock, and how long will it take to get the others? The answer is you do not know until you place the order and Trademotion passes it on to Tischer.

[saneesh8]

Finally got it and installed it. Thanks to all for providing information about the online vendors.

[amancuso]

I often get the price from online vendors and ask my local to match it. By doing this, even though I pay tax, I end up saving on shipping, and support a local business. Even if they need to order the part, it arrives just as quick, if not quicker than many online places. Sometimes it just doesn't feel right paying $7.00 or more for shipping on a $20.00 part.