Review: Buy Car Parts app
Smartphone technology is revolutionising every aspect of our lives. How we travel, where we eat, how we spend our leisure time – even how we buy car parts and maintain our vehicles. Until recently, if you wanted, say, to pick up some oil for your car you would need to go to a garage or petrol station and try to figure out which oil you needed.
It was a process that could be pretty confusing, let alone very expensive. But now you can get apps where you can order pretty much everything you need for your car via your smartphone. One app that I’ve been testing out recently is the buycarparts.co.uk app.
Currently available on the Google Play store for Android devices only, the app is broken down into easy to understand sections, including oils and fluids, brake system, filters, engine, exhaust system and steering systems. All you have to do is input your car make and model and when you are searching it will automatically pick out the parts that are suitable for that particular car.
For example, say you are looking for an AC compressor for your car’s air conditioning system it will come back with the correct part for your particular vehicle. In my case a Denso Compressor for my Audi A5. It will also give you useful advice such as warning you to flush out the system otherwise you will invalidate your warranty.
And while changing the AC compressor is probably something that is outside of my own skillset, if you know what you are doing then it could save you a lot of money too – typically around 20 to 25% on prices you could expect to pay at a garage. Even if you are buying something small such as engine oil or new wiper blades you can end up making a big saving on going to specialist retailers like Halfords.
Inevitably, some people will always want to go to automobile repair shop. But if you want to save money and do the car maintenance yourself then having a resource like Buy Car Parts is invaluable. And even if you don’t want to do complex things like changing the air conditioning system or replacing the timing belt, you can still use the app to save a lot of money and time on things like engine oil, windscreen wipers and in-car cleaning kits.
