After my recent eulogising on the topping of www.rockauto.com I thought it would be good to shout out props to a couple of other suppliers making the effort.
Now in these days where its so easy to go direct to the USA (and with suppliers like Rock its often quicker and cheaper to go to the USA) a lot of the UK suppliers get forgotten about. But when you want small stock items with next day postage, or expensive complex items you’d like to be able to actually claim on the warranty for if it goes wrong (remembering some foreign companies have what they call the “export shelf” for stuff they don’t care to offer a warranty on). Yeah, then is when we start wanting to support out local businesses…
I like USauto. www.usautomotive.co.uk they are friendly, helpful, respond to email queries within a reasonable time (couple of days). They can be a little tricky to get on the phone at peak times but that’s a small gripe. If you happen to be a member of a club who is sponsored by them then you also get a decent discount on “stock” items. Most of the reason I am an NSRA member is 25% off at USauto pays for the membership fee very quickly. And for some stuff its way cheaper. Brake unions and rear shoes for the Fury for example more than a tenner cheaper even than Rock Auto.
The other good guys this week (well last week, but I’m behind the news here) is Summit www.summitracing.com who have backed up their claim to be “the world’s speed shop” by adding decent international shipping options. Unlike the old days where they charged you and extra $15 for being foreign (international order processing fee) and then there being a big faff about them getting a shipping price and then when your stuff arrived you find you’ve been charged something different anyway… now you get all the shipping options on the order form page direct to your door anywhere in the world. Nice. Unlike Rock they don’t add the tax for you but you can make a guess as to that and hopefully automatic tax will come later (as this saves the carrier collection fee from FedEx or DHL or whoever) Options are available up to next day delivery (at a price!) A number of checkout options are available now too – Google, PayPal and conventional credit card.
Now in these days where its so easy to go direct to the USA (and with suppliers like Rock its often quicker and cheaper to go to the USA) a lot of the UK suppliers get forgotten about. But when you want small stock items with next day postage, or expensive complex items you’d like to be able to actually claim on the warranty for if it goes wrong (remembering some foreign companies have what they call the “export shelf” for stuff they don’t care to offer a warranty on). Yeah, then is when we start wanting to support out local businesses…
I like USauto. www.usautomotive.co.uk they are friendly, helpful, respond to email queries within a reasonable time (couple of days). They can be a little tricky to get on the phone at peak times but that’s a small gripe. If you happen to be a member of a club who is sponsored by them then you also get a decent discount on “stock” items. Most of the reason I am an NSRA member is 25% off at USauto pays for the membership fee very quickly. And for some stuff its way cheaper. Brake unions and rear shoes for the Fury for example more than a tenner cheaper even than Rock Auto.
The other good guys this week (well last week, but I’m behind the news here) is Summit www.summitracing.com who have backed up their claim to be “the world’s speed shop” by adding decent international shipping options. Unlike the old days where they charged you and extra $15 for being foreign (international order processing fee) and then there being a big faff about them getting a shipping price and then when your stuff arrived you find you’ve been charged something different anyway… now you get all the shipping options on the order form page direct to your door anywhere in the world. Nice. Unlike Rock they don’t add the tax for you but you can make a guess as to that and hopefully automatic tax will come later (as this saves the carrier collection fee from FedEx or DHL or whoever) Options are available up to next day delivery (at a price!) A number of checkout options are available now too – Google, PayPal and conventional credit card.