NEW MEMBERS PLEASE READ!!!

[mikedudley17]

thanx ron!

hhmm checked out the site, they are very similar in cataloging of parts and such but the one thing i really like about gmpartsdirect is that they accept paypal which makes checkin out really fast, its all preferencial.

both good sites.

[rodo]

.... the one thing i really like about gmpartsdirect is that they accept paypal which makes checkin out really fast..

I've got to raise a caution (as of 9/21/2011) about Gmpartsdirect as they offer no voice/chat contact and their business has apparently out grown their systems' ability to keep up. They seem to have been a good supplier in the past, so figure they'll eventually sort it out - but don't think they're even aware of the problems yet. They were my first choice for the same reason (paypal) as mikedudley17 AND they had the lowest price for the nine parts I was after. But frankly, they're currently an embarrassment as a "New Members Please Read" recommendation. Here's my recent experience:

1. Response queue to pre-sale email inquiries is currently greater than 24 days. Robo-reply says "Due to the overwhelming volume of incoming requests there may be a delay on our response time. Thank you again for your patience as we answer all requests in the order received." I've been waiting since 8/29.....
2. Their automated order review queue is either also very long (more than 3 days) or broken... and their recommended order review is required to be able to return any incorrect parts. The reply I received after asking (by email) what happened to my review request wanted my email address so they could track it down..... uhhh, have had no answer after providing it again and pointing out that it was the same email address they had used to contact me.
3. Their severely broken process & handling calculator prevents placing an order without review. I was pretty confident on the part numbers, so decided to place the order without review... this is the best part. The P&H fee on $126 of parts came to $532. No phone/chat support and no/slow/unhelpful email responses to fix this drove me to other options.

The folks I ended up going with were GMPartsShop.com out of AZ. They offer phone contact, were within $8 of the GMPartsDirect price total, $14 estimated shipping, AND accepted paypal. Will post an update after I receive the order, but so far they've returned calls within the same day and provided three confirmation/status emails in the first 24 hours. I also shopped the basket at three other popular places, but all were $20 to $50 higher or did not yet accept paypal.

[rodo]

I can recommend GMPartsShop.com for this thread based on my recent comparison shopping and all of one order placed last Tuesday. They said it would be delivered by Friday unless I heard otherwise and everything (7 parts) did arrive that day by 10:00am. They don't stock any Aveo parts on site, so it's ~2 days from Chevy plus time for the requested shipping service. They appear to be a Web-sales arm of an AZ based dealership, so a key person leaves or they get busy and YMMV.

I poked around on five of the higher profile GM parts sites over two days waiting to hear back on a order attempted at my first vendor choice; otherwise I never would have spent time for this sort of comparison. The following considerations are a snapshot of why I went with GMPartShops as the alternative, but are fairly generic to evaluating any on-line parts supplier. I'm sure others would be better for different baskets of parts or circumstances, so it pays to shop around.

Here's what I found to be good:

• Total cost: Second lowest price of five vendors checked, no handling fee, and comparable shipping.
• Flexible minimum quantity: The basket included a few small bits that others upped to minimum package quantity. I was surprised they would actually send a single window crank snap ring (to replace one shot onto the lawn). Said they can't do this in all cases, but at least try where Chevy already has open stock. They appear to get quick and accurate confirmation on availability from the warehouse.
• Check for discontinued parts: Some sites are configured to block orders for parts that have been tagged as discontinued by GM even though they may still be available in the regional inventory. These guys don't currently do that, so was able to get one of the discontinued 2004 right side mirror covers that could not even be ordered on some other sites.
• Paypal accepted: A personal payment preference not offered yet by many others.
• Good communications: Pre-sale phone support is offered - likely an answering machine, but were good about returning calls within a business day. Robo-emails for confirmation and status changes were prompt and fairly meaningful.

The one disadvantage was that they didn't offer a two-day shipping option. However, their overnight service was only about $5 more than two-day service at most other vendors.