Review: Amazon For Simple Car Parts & Accessories- 5 Stars

You use Amazon for everything from items for your home to gifts. But have you tried to buy car parts from Amazon? If you haven't, it is well worth a shot. We have purchased simple car parts and accessories for four different vehicles now and each purchase worked out perfectly.

One plus to Amazon is its simplicity. No looking through catalogs at the auto parts store. Heck, no driving to the auto parts store. Simply type into the search box the keywords describing what you need and the results appear. Amazon also has a handy way to verify if the parts will fit your specific vehicle. In the upper left a query will ask you to input the make, model, year and in some cases, the trim or other info, like which engine yours has. Amazon then checks for you to ensure the part will fit. That info is then added to your "garage" so that it is done the next time you shop.

If you're like me, that's not enough. You will want to hear from folks that have already tried this specific part in your specific vehicle. Amazon's excellent comments and reviews take care of that. With every part I purchased, the user reviews gave me confidence that it would all work out as I hoped.

Here's a good example. I wanted a cabin air filter for a 2016 Subaru Forester. After inputting my keywords, I looked in the comments. A user called "MackerelBob" wrote, "Perfect fit for a 2016 Subaru Forester." I purchased the part, it arrived in 2 days, and indeed, it was perfect. And less than half the cost that my Subaru's service desk wanted for the part.

One thing to keep in mind with any Amazon purchase is that the small percentage of buyers who have a bad experience for some reason will almost always make a comment, but relatively few happy customers do. So don't panic if you see a random bad review. Look at the overall rating in the stars system. Under "Customer Reviews" Amazon breaks down how many users give how many stars.

What if you accidentally select the wrong item? Check out our image above. I purposely selected the wrong part for my '07 Highlander. My purple arrow shows you how Amazon warns you this is not a correct fit. See image top left.

Being dangerous around tools, I have limited my purchases to relatively inexpensive items that are simple to drop in or install. Like cabin air filters, trunk liners, and engine air cleaner elements. I have also shopped for car mats on Amazon. I usually go directly to the best source for those, but in one case, I wanted OEM mats with the logo. Amazon handled that transaction perfectly, and I again paid less than what the dealer wanted.

Amazon did not provide any direct payment to Torque News for this story, nor did we receive any free items. This is an independent review. If you have used Amazon for car parts, please let us know how it worked out in the comments below.