A Rant about On-Line Shopping for Parts

What happened to the on-line parts business with Toyota dealers? Since about a year ago it appears to have changed considerably. In the past when I went to my usual on-line dealers (the last time was last year around this time) I saw parts lists, diagrams, what part fits which truck, prices, etc. and each dealer had a different on-line presentation.

However, when I checked yesterday and the day before for on-line parts I saw that many of the Toyota dealers appeared to have given their on-line shopping to the same on-line representative. For example, here's what I get from McGeorge:

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When I scroll down to the first Springs image, I see a Springs image just below the Emission System image, and another at the bottom of the page. Clicking the first one does nothing, clicking the second one gives me a "Suspension Shocks and Struts" page. That page does not contain any "springs" (what I was looking for) but it does contain short blocks, door checks, and a bunch of other stuff that's in no way connected with suspension.

(And what's with the phone number...)
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Okay. Let's try Swope Toyota. I don't even get a parts listing, just a phone number to call:

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And when I try the Camelback (Parts Factory) site I get the same exact website that I get for McGeorge except for the logo at the very top of the page. Same exact stuff shown in the same order as with McGeorge, same prices:

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Next I tried Lakeland Toyota. I managed to get to a web page that showed what I was interested in along with a price:

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So finally I went to Prestige Toyota. Here is what I found for springs on their website:

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Unfortunately I couldn't get a price for shipping and handling, so the Total cost was more than it was with Lakeland including shipping! The man looked up the parts and told me the shipping would be around $68. Then he told me the shipping cost was a TBD because the items I want were most likely not available. (I wonder why they are on the website page if they are indeed unavailable). I'm sure I'm not the only one who gets these results.

Oh how I wish for the good old days when on-line ordering was simple and quick!

 

Yes. Looks like the dealers are using a consolidated web catalog. Saves them the effort of maintaining their own website DB.

 

I think many of them share inventory as well… I find the websites difficult to navigate but I grew up w/o technology. I prefer a counter w/ a guy browsing a 1000k paper catalog…. Ehhh. Anyone seen a wormhole back to ‘85?

 

I too have orderd parts online dealers show "in stock", only to be notified a few days later that parts are currently unavailable. Whats more annoying is not all dealers are competitive. Most physical dealerships around my area will price match with online retailers, however the "best" my local dealership can do is %10 (still comes out to above msrp lol). *COUGH freeman toyota COUGH*

 

They are local to me and have the best prices ever. Sometimes I go in person and pick up sometime ship to my house. Guy on phone told me they compete and they really do have the best prices. Their online prices are cheaper than when you go in to their location lol.
https://parts.stevenscreektoyota.co...d-d891-49e7-8294-c9415f0bc7e7|toyota|T3|false

 

Being old School I always liked dealing with people I know i always got the best prices and no hassle returns with my local dealer they ever delivered if needed.

Though getting the free Coffee and Doughnuts is worth the short drive.

 

The local dealer in my neck of the woods doesn't even have counter service anymore. To get anything, you have to order it online, wait for them to truck it over to their office, and then go pick it up. Minimum of a day or two to get anything that way.

Only a few years ago in tx I could go to the local nissan dealer and get darn near anything i needed for a decade old frontier as a walk-in.

The future sucks.

 

Ya it’s bad and getting worse.
The future does indeed suck..
I’ll add to this rant about getting questions answered, most places want you to ask questions over email but if ya ask multiple questions in one email you only get one answered. Back and forth back and forth till everyone is confused.

 

Thank the China Flu for most of the negative changes.

 

Boy I sure am glad that other folks are thinking the same as I.

 

That's another good example. After I entered that URL in my address field and clicked Parts, I typed in my VIN and then pressed Enter.

Nothing happened.

 

I had a pretty candid conversation with the F&I guy at Freeman recently. Freeman Toyota like most, are not making a ton off of new vehicle sales. However, I did see they lifted a new truck and tacked on nearly $9k. That truck was gone a few days later. Money is generally made in the F&I office, Service Dept and Parts. Freemans diagnostic fee alone will set you back about $200.
I've found using parts.toyota.com works 1/2 the time. Simpleparts operates the back end and they have temperamental algorithms that cancel orders randomly. Sparksparts is another option too.

 

Yeah, I've noticed this change as well. I can't imagine any dealer having their own IT team, and many of the sites I have hit over the last several years have had a similar look to them (pretty much identical). So, someone is providing them with the tech to expose the parts catalog -- not sure if it is Toyota corporate themselves or some other outfit. But it has gotten worse lately.

Dealers don't seem to carry much stock these days, other than the stuff they go through all the time (filters, batteries, tires, etc.). But, they typically get things in quickly so there has to be a central warehouse somewhere serving regional dealerships. I'm wondering if they are the ones controlling the tech. Having the diagrams sure was a nice feature when looking for parts that you have no idea what they are called.

Heck, Walmart now carries Toyota OEM oil filters.

 

Does toyota dealer jack up prices of parts

I only use parts.toyota.com to find the part number, and then I search all the dealer specific/wholesale pages until I find a good price.

 

I also had a doozy yesterday navigating online ordering. Went straight to the toyota website to find a dealer participating in online parts sales. Took a bit of time to find one that had the parts for my specific truck and at a reasonable price.

Once I filled my "cart" the shipping calculation was astronomical. $300 for radiator & hoses etc. There was a free shipping code for orders over $75, but the keyboard wouldn't appear when I tried to type in the promo. I had to copy & paste to make it work. Then it only dropped $200 off of shipping and still wanted $100. Finally I placed 2 orders separately and it allowed for free shipping. What didn't add up was that shipping alone for the radiator was around $86 and shipping on the other order for hoses, etc. was around $10. Where did the original shipping of $300 come from?!

Fingers crossed my orders process correctly and arrive timely!

 

I've had pretty good luck buying parts online from different Toyota dealers. The process could certainly be easier, although with our 20 year old trucks I don't think we can expect much honestly.

My process is to go to partsouq.com, click into Toyota, Tacoma, then figure out which model code you have. From there you can look at the parts diagrams and find the parts numbers you're looking for. I'll usually do a google search for that part number, look at the search results and images tab to make sure it's the actual part I'm trying to replace.

Once I've confirmed I have the right part number, plug it into McGeorge Toyota's website, and my local Toyota dealer of choice (Toyota of Louisville). If it's an expensive, smaller item I'll order from McGeorge, they are 5-10% cheaper than even the cheapest dealer in town. If shipping is going to be crazy, or it's something I need ASAP, I buy from the local dealer.