How to find a part/part number for my car?

We have a 2012 Nissan Quashqui and I am looking for a replacement headlight levelling sensor (it’s a xenon headlight model so I need this to pass the MOT). The garage is quoting £250 for the part (which they accept is silly money) so I am trying to find the part online but, although I can find what I think is the right part, I can’t find the official part number to double-check against (the part I have found is 6PM008043-74 Nissan Qashqai J10 Headlight Leveling Sensor).

I assume Molgrips will know the answer 😉

There’s a slightly dodgy site called 7zap. It has mirrors of most of the world’s car manufacturers parts catalogues.

7zap linky

Put the Reg plate in to GSF Car Parts? If that does not work try their online chat.

Is the part number not stamped on the broken part?

The garage is quoting £250 for the part

Can they not tell you the part number?

How about a second hand part? Try the below:

https://www.partsgateway.co.uk/

Catcar for parts ID

http://www.catcar.info/en/

Autodoc for sensible priced parts.

Can they not tell you the part number?

They say they don’t have it – the suppliers won’t tell them for precisely the reason I am looking right now (I believe them as they suggested I found the part myself)

Autodoc for sensible priced parts.

Only buy your parts from Autodoc using the app, and do it on a Monday or Tuesday. The price is lowest on Monday and progressively increases through to the weekend, resetting again (usually -43%) on the Monday morning.

Its no good for when you need something right here, right now BUT the backend and data in Autodoc is very good, just filter all the cheap crap and stick to brands you know.

As others suggest, drill down Autodoc and you can often see the OE part number. Alternatively find a friendly auto store that uses PARTSLINK

Phone Nissan parts desk. Ask for a price, baulk at the answer and then ask for the part number.

5381289900 and 538203NL0A are the two numbers that come up on the systems i can get to.
Might help with further searching.
They appear to use the same core for a couple of dozen cars.

5381289900 and 538203NL0A are the two numbers that come up on the systems i can get to.
Might help with further searching.

Ahh yes – the part I have found also references one of those numbers so I think that must be it – thank you

Amazon link

Worth checking local scrap yards, I picked up an electic mirror (complete unit) from the service counter at mine, £25…cheapest online was around £100 from one of those online salvage websites….

Worth checking local scrap yards

We don’t have any local ones – the time and fuel costs to get to the closest would be more than any saving I could make. Saying that, I miss having a local scrappy – I spent many an hour in the early 80s clambering over cars trying to find spares for my first few cars.

I spent many an hour in the early 80s clambering over cars trying to find spares for my first few cars.

I remember doing that too! saved a fortune… they don’t let you do that any more, ‘elf safety I guess, my local one will check thier car inventory at the desk, and if they have one in, they’ll send a member of staff into the yard to check /remove the part for you, or tell you to come back another day if it’s a difficult/big part to remove.

I’d run a mile from the Amazon one.

The link I posted above is an online scrappy – might be worth a go…

Link again https://www.partsgateway.co.uk/

Once you have the part number, you can then use eBay to find used parts, where there are loads of decent places running proper businesses.  It’s much better than the dodgy scrappies of old.

I use ilcats.ru for parts catalogues. It seems to be pretty reliable and whilst it’s unfortunately a Russian site, that is probably part of the reason for its existence. These sites in general are incredibly useful.

I used to use Euro Car Parts for the Passat which was great because it was a common car and there are three branches a short drive or a bike ride from me.  My current cars are less common so it’s usually Autodoc that have them.  However I would expect ECP to have plenty of Qashqai parts.

Also Nissan are bastards.

Well, that was a win – I managed to get the part from Ali Express for £42 delivered (and it only took 10 days to come) and the garage charged me £30 fitting. They said it would have failed the MOT without it so I’m glad I got it sorted beforehand, otherwise I would have been stuck having to pay the UK price for the part as I couldn’t have been without my car for two weeks. So – £90 for an MOT and lights that work properly (it was pretty hairy driving unlit roads at night with them pointing straight down)!