Where do you buy BMW car parts locally?

[Sal0]

It being the long holiday, I'm finding it pretty tough to find parts for the BMW considering the dealerships are closed. Where do you guys buy or get your parts typically?

I normally just buy parts at RockAuto, but with the exchange rate and shipping, I'm probably spending more than I should on most things. I do it find it a lot more convenient though.

I'm basically just looking for a radiator plug (Part # 17117521781) if that helps.

[EmJay]

I'm thinking for a specific part like that you're going to have a really hard time finding it at a local shop that isn't a dealer. I was in a similar bind to you a few months ago when my radiator drain plug broke in half while I was putting it back in. First checked with the BMW dealer and they didn't have it in stock, but could overnight it from Vancouver so I took that route, but compared to what they cost online it was 3x the price, but I had no other choice if I didn't want my car to sit idle for 2 weeks. In the mean time I called around to some of the larger parts shops in Calgary to see if I could find something that day and nobody carried what I wanted.

The best place that I found online is ecstuning, but it's usually about a 2 week wait by the time everything arrives here using USPS. Pelican parts is another good source, but I found them to be a bit more costly than ecstuning.

Good luck with the part hunt.

[J.M.]

I've used ecs tuning, pelican parts, fcpeuro, and eeuroparts in the past for ordering parts online. Fcpeuro is usually the cheapest and they ship to Canada using USPS, but I try to make the orders pretty big because ordering a $6 part and paying $30+ on shipping is not cost effective.