PSA For any DIY mechanics

Just ordered some discs and pads for my wife’s car from Eurocarparts and they have 30% off of all online orders until Sunday (even click and collect ).

They almost always have 25% or 30% off. A new offer starts a couple of days after the old one finishes.

Molgrips tells the truth!

I ordered some parts to service a van I bought recently and it was cheaper to get them delivered, than pick them up at the shop due to being able to go through Quidco for a delivery!

They were very quick at delivering!

TBH I wasn’t aware that they did this regularly, though if my experience is anything to go by, I’d be suspect of parts sold of their ebay store as they resell returns (I don’t blame them, just the unscrupulous 1st buyer)… I bought something which, I believe, had been obviously damaged by the 1st buyer, then returned & sold onto me via ebay without packaging. Only got a refund because ebay took my side on the dispute. In the meantime I bought a ‘new’ replacement from Eurocarparts, and with the 30% discount, it was almost as cheap as the ebay bargain

Ah right! Non PSA then!

GSF have been doing v good discounts too – 48/50% typically. I’ve recently bought a BOSCH car battery @ 1/2 the price with a 4 year guarantee – very good!

Tbh local factors much more useful.

Ecp seem to get every second order wrong. And seems to be little point I click and collect as they pick when you arrive.

Plus their purchase of “branding” and sticking crap in the boxes does my head in

Shop of last resort for me now.

What do mean by branding trailrat?

I use the Cardiff one a lot, they seem to have a better range than GSF. Their service is also pretty good. They pick stuff as soon as I order, so it’s ready when I get there.

It’s well known that eichler is their own shite

Is it as well known they have the rights to use pagid name in the UK on their shite.

Equally they kept substituting (and not offering the difference back)when I ordered Bosch/fiamm filters for one of their own name filters. Now while they may be the same (or may not) I bought the Bosch one not the one you make most profit on.

GSF all the way for me. The staff are significantly more helpful and professional than the eejits at the ECP store up the road. Just a shame you have to wait for their weekly 48-50% off offers to get a reasonable price.

If you are thinking of buying something on Euro Car Parts always check the price on http://www.carparts4less.co.uk/%5B/url%5D

Same company, same stuff but sometimes significantly cheaper depending on voucher codes and special offers.

They pay buttons so mistakes and poor service are going to be par for the course. Some times they will be cheap on some things eg. when they do their big oil discount sales. That’s worth a go.

I had an absolute nightmare experience with them last year. Wrong product, wrong price, wrong terms and conditions along with completely horrible service. When I finally got in contact with their marketing director via email he sorted things out for me and I was able to collect the correct product at a further discounted price from the people who had refused to sell it to me initially.

I stopped just short of personal abuse when they asked “will there be anything else” 😆

Trail-rat , did you know that (apart from Brembo maybe) the majority of brakes sold by motor factor come out of the same factory near Ayr in Scotland so no real difference in quality . The main difference you will find is what else is in the box other than a set of pads or shoes , if you pay for the better known brand you are more likely to getting fitting kits and fixings than if you purchase the cheaper own brands .
As for brake discs , they all come from China and they where the words of the rep from the factory .

Honkie

That might be the case but dont pretend it’s a decent brand and try to charge more for it…. Which is ecp’s MO

And yes jimjam had similar to you. They swore blind the obviously not the part I ordered was the part I ordered…….It didn’t even match the description of what I ordered but the barcode said it was my bit. Computer says no response really.

honkiebikedude
Trail-rat , did you know that (apart from Brembo maybe) the majority of brakes sold by motor factor come out of the same factory near Ayr in Scotland so no real difference in quality .

You should probably clarify whether you mean brake disks, pads or calipers. It’s not really accurate for any of them though.

the majority of brakes sold by motor factor come out of the same factory near Ayr in Scotland so no real difference in quality .

Define quality.
Aside from that, they may come from the same factory, they won’t have the same quality (in one sense) though.
Do motor factors still discount from RRP? “No worries mate, I’ll give you 30/40/50% off that mate.” Do they still offer stuff at “trade” prices for Joe Public? (saturday morning specials). 😉 😆

They have not long finished their up to 69% of XMAS sale. IME the only discs & pads worth buying from them are the Brembo ones.

ECP = OnOne/PlanetX of the car tinkering world

trail_rat – Member

And yes jimjam had similar to you. They swore blind the obviously not the part I ordered was the part I ordered…….It didn’t even match the description of what I ordered but the barcode said it was my bit. Computer says no response really.

I had exactly that too. Mentioned it on the owner’s club and loads of other people had had the exact same thing with the same part- they’d miscoded (or something) the years/model so if you ordered the part for my car you got the same part for a different car. But they obviously just did the same “UNPOSSIBLE!” response every time. As RustyNissanPrarie says, reminded me of someone else…

Same factory means nothing. My dad’s food factory makes produce for quality restaurants, posh supermarkets and cheapo discount places. All have different specs and are made to fit these. You won’t find ez-cheese in the posh stuff, you won’t find quality cheese in the cheap stuff.

I bought Lemforder bushings from ECP, they were cheaper than GSF. I wanted to go for OEM spec which were meant to be Lemforder according to the internet, but they are significantly firmer so maybe they aren’t the same.

Misterauto is worth a shout too, I normally look between them ECP, Carparts4less and Buypartsby.

Personally I have never had a problem with ECP if I have ordered a MANN filter or BERU glow plugs etc then that’s what I have received.

On a side note if anyone ever needs drop links have a look round for Meyle HD ones(ECP don’t do them) far more substantial and well built than most aftermarket replacements.

I tend to use the local factors where i can plonk the oily old thing on th counter and we decide if the part matches they’ve also suggested items like mastercylinders incase they’re needed and just to phone them if it is unrequired.

However the 20pound replacement sump i ordered online fitted perfectly so it just depends dunnit.

Pads and discs changed, all fitted with no drama!

Hummm, Brembo or EBC green spot pads from them for the GTI…?

granny_ring – Member

Hummm, Brembo or EBC green spot pads from them for the GTI…?

Mintex M1144.

I may have to eat my words about EBC. Used them yesterday for some new brembo discs as the warning light came on for the pads over the weekend and i couldn;t wait till Friday for GSF’s discount code.
Ordered online and went to store and was the only one there. Parts were on the counter in under a minute.

I used to use Mintext discs and pads, but the quality seems to have dropped recently and the rear discs have corroded crazy fast before the first set of pads were half worn.

I’ve given the Brembo UV discs a go to see if they do have better corrosion resistance

Need a new inner CV joint.. my fault I mullered the old one.

Will check out some of these sites.

Is there a voucher on carparts4less currently? Google suggested there was but nothing came up.

I’ve used my local ECP (Camberley) loads and never had a problem. I’ve also used their Eicher discs & pads on several cars and they’ve been fine too.

I needed some specific brake fluid last year that ECP didn’t stock, but GSF did. They had some kind of MASSIVE SALE on their website, and a further discount if you collected in person. Great, I thought. So I ordered online, toddled down there, and found that the price on the bottles sitting on the shelf was less than the supposedly heavily discounted price I’d got online ! The online prices are completely made up. ECP are the same. Ignore the “discount” and just look at the net price.