I am finding that shipping costs for automotive parts is rather ridiculous.I wanted to order a couple of clips for a front footrest at $2.50 each, shipping was about $12.00 in general any part has high shipping cost compared to most other online purchases, why so? I can order mountain bike parts,green coffee beans etc and get decent shipping costs,sometimes free shipping. Am I better off just ordering from a local Toyota dealer? the freakin clips weigh a fraction of an ounce and are small

 

Get your part number and go to Amazon. I find auto parts on Amazon all the time, and shipping is free.

 

Often small parts like that I get from the local dealer, but in some cases the price difference between the local dealer price and online price more than offsets the shipping even for the small, cheap items. For more expensive items, I get everything from online Toyota dealers.

 

For what it is worth I myself like having a good relationship with my Local Toyota Dealer Parts manager. I always hear I will try and see if we can still get that part.

If I need a part only to be had from the dealer it is just a phone call away.

Now I am only about 12 miles away so the trip is no big deal for me.

 

Thanks for the help, nice forum you all have here

 

I ordered a set of o-rings for my Aisin hubs from the dealer and they were only about $2 or so cheaper than toyotapartszone.com after shipping. However, I also had to go through the poor customer service of my local Toyota dealer. I'd rather not get into the whole story, but if I had to do it again, I'd order them online. That's how bad it was.

 

I have a Toyota "rewards Visa" that accumulates points that can be spent at Toyota dealerships. Comes in especially handy for small, over-priced items like you are referring too.
Basically, you get one point for each dollar spent using the card: $100.00 dollars charged using the card will get you $1.00 credit at the dealership. Doesn't sound like much, but they do tend to add up. I charge pretty much everything so I only need to write one check per month to pay bills.

 

Thanks for all this great info, I am taking a pay cut at work AND am not looking forward to tax increases so being able to keep my $1500.00 bluebook value truck running is very important to me.Besides that it is still a very reliable truck that should be fun to build as a light pre-runner.

 

it is a real shame for those that have poor dealer parts service in there area.

Sad really my attempts at ordering Toyota parts on line always ended up part discontinued or invalid serial number.

Only to inquire of my local people and have said parts show up in a few days go figure.

 

The issue with the local dealer here is not poor service, but excessive price to the tune of 103-105% of MSRP. The pricing forced me to look elsewhere and I've had the discussion with the owner. If the item has a core charge, I'll get that local to avoid the core shipping return hassle.

 

The local dealership here is pretty expensive. I'll go to them for little things that are only a couple bucks, but anything big, or several little pieces I need for a project I'll get the stuff online and save some big money. Here's a list of the places I check prices online before I order anything.

toyotapartszone.com
toyotapart.com
toyotapartscheap.com
oemparts123.com
villagetoyotaparts.com
toyotapartsdiscounters.com
usatoyotaparts.com
dealerdirectparts.com
toyotapartseast.com

I usually get my best prices from oemparts123.com once shipping is factored in. I also have an on-going spreadsheet with part numbers and prices for all the parts I've replaced on my truck (I have an 89 with a 22re). If anybody needs help with part numbers or is in a jam and needs a quick look-up let me know and I'll help if I can.

 

I guess it all comes down to the dealership and perhaps the amount of business one does in a year.

As far as price the shipping costs compared to sales tax over a year break even.

I guess whatever works best for you. Me I like dealing with people i know.

 

thanks SPARKS89 for the links, I will have a look , I am going to try the local Toy dealer here in Boise and maybe in a rural area not too far from here.Logic is they may charge less for parts outside of my town? what the hell is this anyway? > this thing? looks like a poop monster

 

It seems like a lot of people seem to find better prices away from their hometown. Apparently nobody lives where they sell them the cheapest

For some reason the local dealership is always expensive, BUT if I order parts from YOUR local dealership over the internet I get it cheaper.

I think that's Mr. Hankie's cousin