I must compare Rock Auto to a busy shop. A busy shop has a few vendors they get parts from and many times they can dial in the best price on a comparable item or the same item.

The shop calls and gets the order within the allotted time the driver can source the part from a warehouse and deliver it to the shop. So, it's the best price, fast, oh, did I mention a real professional counter person too?

Rock Auto has a nice selection. The tax savings are welcome but the shipping is a bit pricey because they source their parts from several different warehouses and sometimes there are no savings. the time element can also kill it...unless you don't need the item right away.

A few things I noticed were the selection of different brand names and price differential for the same item packaged differently. it would nice to know that Rock Auto has my back on that.

All in all I'm not a professional shop (I was in business for many years) and because the bar is high for me I expect much better prices and service than the local parts place which isn't very good. I'd recommend Rock Auto ONLY because i don't have the "IN" I had when in business and beggars at this point can't be choosers.