Where do you get inexpensive parts?

I posted a question on Facebook for suggestions and Blake posed a good one, "Where do you get seats and carpet for my S-10 truck?

This got me thinking about sourcing parts for vehicles and pricing difficulties I've exprienced in both personal and professional endeavors. Let me share a couple of stories...

A couple years ago I was noticing a slight coolant leak on the radiator for my WRX. I knew that I should take care of this sooner rather than later, otherwise I'd be in for a very bad day coming up. When I called the Subaru dealer, I found out the part was going to be $467 and another $200 for installation. Not wanting to shell out this much I found on nasioc.com (a Subaru enthusiast forum) that many people went with 2 particular brands which were larger, more efficient and better material (all aluminum rather than plastic/metal combination) and they went for around $300. Granted I had to add a transmission cooler as my automatic seems to complicate things but all in all I got an upgrade in parts for $350 which are far more effective at doing their job than the original manufacturer's product. I also found write ups which told how to remove and install the parts which saved me the $200 in labor costs, further cutting my repair costs. I'm grateful for enthusiasts' efforts!

A second story is about a girl I sold a Hyundai XG350 to. She loved everything about the vehicle except the veneer was flaked off of parts of the radio console. One of the things she wanted as part of the deal was that panel replaced, which I didn't think was going to be too bad of a request. My manager and I were creative and looked on ebay and Craigslist and found a complete set of Hyundai panels for that car totalling $38.00 including shipping. Another enthusiast saves the day on his ebay store!

I offer a suggestion, check with enthusiast websites to see if anyone is getting rid of car parts at a discount price. Sometimes you can be lucky and find exactly what you are looking for because someone needs to clean out his or her garage. Many times people that are passionate about their vehicles are also good at sourcing things and can offer valuable help. I even had good luck with buying off brand auto parts from ebay based on good reviews from other owners.

I will caution though, not all aftermarket is worth the money. Sometimes parts don't fit or line up like they should. This is where manufacturer's original parts are a good thing because they are DESIGNED to fit right and have far more R&D money thrown at them to ensure QUALITY. I've seen body kits, exhausts, interior panels and many other things that are less expensive but don't really work well. This is where enthusiast input is useful because sometimes spending the extra money for the dealer part is worth the headaches of doing a project twice. All about research.

So Blake, in your case check out s10forum.com to see if anyone has any suggestions or parts for your truck. That's a decent place to start and find out what possibilities there are. Hope this helps!

-Jason