The Autozone experience- Over 10 years of asking for a part at the counter and they tell you the second to cheapest when I already looked it up online (wouldnt bother me if i thought they was making commision). Going in and feeling like they are competing to say the silliest thing when giving advice. The Duralast brand mistry parts, some are good and some have caused a very dangerous situation. Recently I got a ball joint and they asked if I wanted the lifetime or the 1 year, I wanted the better part so I didnt call him out on them both being lifetime parts until i went to my car and opened it and if felt like it was grinding when i moved it so I went and exchanged it for the other one and had to call him out on the warranty. They hardly ever have the good part in stock, I call most of their parts practice parts for when I get the OEM part, a few times i would buy a part then end up putting the old part back, bought a cv axle new, slung its grease in a month, got another one and it did the same thing so I used a tireplug and gorrela glue to patch the boot on the factory one, TPS's would last a month to a year, upper strut mounts, one let the spring off and made it where i was lucky not to wreck, the other started to buckle all the way around to I took the bearings out and put them in the factory strut mount and returned the autozone ones, Got a FPR and it didnt work right off the bat so after looking online and seeing that they either dont work at all or fail the first year i went and got a delphi one from NAPA I got to where I could work on my car like a nascar pitstop, but one good thing about them is no matter how shitty the part they will warranty it out as often as you want or give u a refund. Just recently a coworker couldnt start his 04 Corolla and I went and looked and seen that 100% tested sticker and knew it was autozone, the starter and cv axles from autozone both failed before 1 year, so we went in and he was expecting to buy one but I got him to give the mechanics number that put it in. Good website and good app, and free repair guides rock, and being able to exchange wore out brake pads on warranty is cool
The Oreilly experience- They seem to be a little more knowledgeable, website kinda sucks, have to enter car and location every visit. Like the others they have the Mistry parts known as master pro, they are pretty good about taking returns, I used to return a belt ten. once a month, I returned a waterpump that failed within a year causing me to have to get a 20 mile tow and they they warranty it out and the belt that it shredded, that water pump didnt last a month and water was leaking out of the top, they warrartyed it out again and the next one was ok, and after trying 5 power steering pumps (first one was AZ, took it back because i seen rust in the plug) that the misrty brand was 1A CarDONE reman. pumps (same with autozone, stay away from any that have that 3F sticker on them, they put sand and trash in them to destroy the seals on ur rack) they gave me a cash refund, and I went to the junkyard and got one that was full of water, had burnt fluid in it on purpose just to prove a point that if u dont mix and match parts its easy to rebuilt, rebuilt it myself and had cadillac steering, but finally they gave me a refund but it dont cover the time i spend flushing (a couple times I did it right on the parking lot), trying different fluilds and such.
The Advanced auto exp- They are new to my area but they are the same mistry brand parts, little higher in price but I like the website, and they are more likely to have the better part in stock
NAPA - Not much to say, they are more expensive but they usually have the quality parts so its worth it, but they are slowly going down hill to compete with the other ones, and the hours arnt so great but them having good parts makes up for it.
RockAuto- my fav but takes forever and gotta pay shipping but they have some really good deals and good selection if u can wait on the parts
Amazon- I spent so much time ragging on fake reviews that they have got better about but I still didnt renew my Prime account so I dont use them as much without having the 2 day shipping for free but I have got a lot of parts from them and it has all been good
Ebay- Hasnt been to bad for me, gotta know what to look for and know what to expect
Pick and pull- I love just going around looking for extras that i can get off other cars, My last trip last week I got a luxus ES300 Cluster for $27, but didnt have time to look around much.
Walmart- Oil, Oil filters, air filters, cleaning products, some bodywork stuff, wiper blades, batteries sometimes, car audio harnesses, good price
Pepboys- bought a bosch battery and it failed within a month (partly due to bad ground) then it lasted a couple years and they warrantied due to a bad cell and every time I would get a new 3 year warranty so that was pretty cool, plus they have a lot of cool stuff to look at compared to some of the others. I've been happy with all the parts I got from there, good radiators and a good price, the last chance deals online are awesome at times, tools for really cheap, got a PowerStroke 18V LiON Impact driver, buffer and flashlight for $45 shipped, and modded it to work with my Ryobi tools (same company makes them, One World Ind. i think)
The rental car- Just got to be really careful to make it look like it hasn't been took apart. =P