RockAuto's website: do you like it?

RA's website compared to the Big Three auto part store's websites is night and day. 

Not only does RA let me drill-down to my car nearly immediately, but they'll actually give me a price. Oreilley's, Autozone, and Advanced all require a a store to be set, but the moment you set the store, it'll bring you back to the main page. What? Why? Picking a vehicle is more of a hassle since it takes forever to load, as well.

eBay? Amazon? Both are absolute trash when trying to find auto parts. No, eBay, I don't want 5 pages worth of the same Chinese LED bulbs. No, Amazon, I don't want carbon fiber antennas when I searched for a brake set. Both essentially require the seller to properly list each item, but they'll also throw in many many many keywords to make sure the product is seen no matter what.

The best way I can describe Rock Auto's website is like those catalogs you see at the store in the bulb or air filter aisle. You find your make, year, model and it gives you exactly what you need with the actual part numbers. Nothing more, nothing less.

I don't use it because it's pretty. I use it because it works.

dculberson said:

I love their website. The only one I can think of that's better is McMaster Carr. Tell your friend that modern mainstream web design is garbage. Speed and usability should be absolute priority one but that's a total rarity nowadays. .....

Quoted for truth.  McMaster Carr is GREAT.  I use it daily at work

And another thing about a lot of other sites: I don't want to have to sort through all the "Sponsored" or "Recommended" items, that often don't even fit my car. I hate it when I'm looking for a filter/brake pad/etc and 5 of 10 results are for stuff that I can't even use.

The Rock Auto site works great for me, simple, fast, etc like everyone has said. Tire rack used to have a nice site, but the new consumer site they brought out a few years ago is a mess. Their wholesale site still uses the old format which is far superior.

I echo most sentiments - it ain't pretty, but it works.

Few things are more annoying than a web site designed by someone who puts in features just because they can.  A website needs to be a tool, not the designer's personal art project.

ebelements I'm going to comment as to why as an end user I hate most website updates. Keep in mind the comments aren't aimed at anyone personally but are made out of frustration.

First I like Rockauto as it's a great reference and therein lies the rub. I use the website as a reference and because it's a great reference tool  I order from Rockauto 95% of the time to show my appreciation for their reference tool.

Secondly and this part is why I get angry at computer people; it's a tool, I don't need my 13mm wrench to come in a pretty package that needs to be unwrapped every time I use it.  I don't want I  the information  buried in a sea of graphics that do absolutely nothing beyond looking pretty. I want something I can whip though without having to think about it..........period.

The lame answer I get as to why some mal-functionality / change was added is "it looked like 1988" well a Jag XK120 looks like 1948.................where's the problem??

Third, like most ADD people I tend to be a visual person and when you move stuff around or change the icons we short circuit because our brains are locked into clicking a specific spot on the screen or a specific sequence. This is absolutely infuriating from the user standpoint.

Finally and most importantly do your customers like it? Updating for the sake of updating is ridiculous; reference New Coke.

Irish; tell you friend websites are designed for customers and who the hell cares if the designer likes it or not............................it's a F*#%&ing tool that I use, not you!! (keep you hands off my tools). 

Also note I'm married to a Graphic Artist who happens to do web design work as well so I do understand wanting things to have a certain look. 

I've got no problem with updated graphics, I even tolerate the revenue generating aspects and I get that changing technology requires updates but but leave the function icons alone if they are still compatible with the software that runs it. Read I don't care that you think pink looks terrible on a Ferrari, I'm the customer, I like pink and that's what matters. I don't care that Rockauto's site is a pink Ferrari as it works for me.

I will not use O'Rileys, Advance, or Autozone websites. They suck. Because of that, I don't order parts from them. Ever, no matter the price.

RA's site has its quirks (back button) but it works very well if you remember them. 

Dealing with their shipping is a bit of a pain. Seldom is all of an order available at one warehouse. Shipping on my last order was going to be $50 no matter how I mixed and matched parts. Consequently, half of that order got transferred to Amazon for their free shipping as the parts prices were equal. 

All in I would give their shopping experience a 95 out of 100. That's probably why they are always my first stop when ordering auto parts.

I love the website.  My only problem is getting to where I need to be.  I know I can click the "only show my vehicles" thing, or sort by continent, but when I need something for a Pontiac, it is multiple steps to get there.  Having said that, if their "keep me logged in" cookies lasted more than 6 hours, it would be really nice.  I don't really fear someone using my computer to nefariously order windshield wiper blades.

I wish they had fields at the top with live searching.  Like, if I start typing "P" it narrows it down to Pontiac, Peugeot, Packard, Porsche...  Then if I add the next character "O" it narrows it to Pontiac and Porsche.

They have the search bar which gives suggestions, but then you have to click and it navigates to a different page with your results.  Once you get there, things are pretty good.

I do find that sometimes their categories are not what I expect.  (random example that I'm not sure is true) If I'm looking for an ignition switch, it could be listed under engine > electrical > ignition, or switches > relays, or interior parts.  Back to the search bar, I noticed (as with almost any search engine) if I type "67 Pontiac LeMans ignition switch" I get three results, whereas if I navigate to the year, make, model in the tree I get 6 results.

Kinda like when you search Amazon for "bathroom vanity" you get 1000 results because there are only 1000 that have that string in the actual title, but if you navigate through the tree of "home decor > home improvement > furniture > bathroom vanities you get 3000 results and can narrow it down from there.  I prefer having all the options and narrowing down.

If they had options on the left, it would help too.  Once I get to "brake rotors" for my car it would be nice if there were some checkboxes or radio buttons that let me select "4wd" or "2wd" and "OEM replacement" or "performance" or "heavy duty."  That would save me from sifting through the list of 20 brake rotors to find the keywords for my preference and combination.

I'm being overly picky.  It's a nice, simple, low-tech website, but it could be better.

Nugi said:

2. Shipping fees seem to creep fast, and while it explains why once your zip is in, I always seem to have my orders distributed to 5 different origins. While this often still ends up cheaper, and is more honest than 'free shipping', it still feels harder to accept. I admit to spending time adding different brands of part to see if I can get them all from a single shipper, but to no avail. I feel their backend should do some of the work optimizing my shipping costs. 

What you describe is generally consistent with my experience and my only real gripe with Rock Auto.  There's usually a little truck indicator (I think) that shows if a part comes from the same warehouse as stuff already in your cart.  But I stumbled on some odd behavior one time a few months ago.  I started adding parts and discovered the overall shipping cost started going down.  I think my original order was like $150, and sometimes I'll see if I can throw some little cheap stuff that I'll eventually need in (like say an oil filter) to see if it doesn't increase the shipping.  Well, I ended up adding like $30 worth of parts to the original order and the total order ended up at $145.  No idea what was happening there, but since then I always play around with that a bit...

Otherwise, back on topic, Rock's site is great, trumped only by McMaster IMHO.  

Tom1200 said:

ebelements I'm going to comment as to why as an end user I hate most website updates. Keep in mind the comments aren't aimed at anyone personally but are made out of frustration.

First I like Rockauto as it's a great reference and therein lies the rub. I use the website as a reference and because it's a great reference tool  I order from Rockauto 95% of the time to show my appreciation for their reference tool

It's amazing how much consensus there is on the subject, isn't it?

Would like to point out that I don't just treat RA's website as a catalog - I do buy from them, too.

It's not and advertising web site. It's a selling website.  

When I go there it's to buy something, SPECIFIC !  I am usually covered in grease and in the middle of a project. I dont want to browse 30 things I dont need. I want what I need and to get back to my work.

I'm a journeyman parts tech, and i have the RA website open all the time.  It's a great quick reference parts guide.  

I like the RA website.  I hate the big 3 and Napa’s.  

I just got on the site and ordered some lifters and pistons and it took me all of 4 minutes, what's not to love.

The may go down as the most agreed-upon topic ever discussed on these hallowed forum pages........lol

irish44j said:

The may go down as the most agreed-upon topic ever discussed on these hallowed forum pages........lol

I am waiting for you to upload the video of you filming your friend's reaction to reading this thread.

Slippery said:

irish44j said:

The may go down as the most agreed-upon topic ever discussed on these hallowed forum pages........lol

I am waiting for you to upload the video of you filming your friend's reaction to reading this thread.

lol..... It's just a friendly debate, so none of that will be going on (also she lives like 1000 miles away).  I just wanted to make sure I wasn't the only one who thought this way. 

And she read the thread at some point today.

I'll note that her primary point was that the RA mobile site (on smartphones) is the real problem, since something like 90% of their web traffic is via phones (in her business, they actually have access to traffic statistics for everything online). I always use RA on my laptop, so that's not an issue for me. YMMV. 

irish44j said:

The may go down as the most agreed-upon topic ever discussed on these hallowed forum pages........lol

No. There is another...

irish44j said:

Slippery said:

irish44j said:

The may go down as the most agreed-upon topic ever discussed on these hallowed forum pages........lol

I am waiting for you to upload the video of you filming your friend's reaction to reading this thread.

lol..... It's just a friendly debate, so none of that will be going on (also she lives like 1000 miles away).  I just wanted to make sure I wasn't the only one who thought this way. 

And she read the thread at some point today.

I'll note that her primary point was that the RA mobile site (on smartphones) is the real problem, since something like 90% of their web traffic is via phones (in her business, they actually have access to traffic statistics for everything online). I always use RA on my laptop, so that's not an issue for me. YMMV. 

That's an easy fix... force desktop site.  Done.

irish44j said:

Slippery said:

irish44j said:

The may go down as the most agreed-upon topic ever discussed on these hallowed forum pages........lol

I am waiting for you to upload the video of you filming your friend's reaction to reading this thread.

lol..... It's just a friendly debate, so none of that will be going on (also she lives like 1000 miles away).  I just wanted to make sure I wasn't the only one who thought this way. 

And she read the thread at some point today.

I'll note that her primary point was that the RA mobile site (on smartphones) is the real problem, since something like 90% of their web traffic is via phones (in her business, they actually have access to traffic statistics for everything online). I always use RA on my laptop, so that's not an issue for me. YMMV. 

What is her problem with the mobile site? I love that it works exactly like the regular site and use it fairly often. It displays perfectly and is as easy to use as it can get. 

Would she prefer something that sucked like most mobile sites? 

Do me a favor and ask her to never contact Rock Auto and "update" their site. 

In reply to Toyman01 :

My only complaint about their mobile site is that letters on the right are a bit small.

I use it all the time too from the garage.

Overall 9/10 … do not change the basic design, ever.

Only thing I would add/change:

I am not sure how many warehouse they actually have, but I would love to have a clearer picture of what items they store in each, and where the warehouses are. Name the warehouses by state (OH, NY1, NY2, FL, etc.) and add a “warehouses” column beside every single item in the catalog. As you add items to your cart from say warehouse NY1, all of the “NY1’s” turn green within the catalog. Done.

So you might see something like

Brand 1 – Warehouse OH, NY1

Brand 2 – Warehouse FL, NY2, WA

Brand 3 – Warehouse CA

This way you can group items intentionally from the get-go, AND intentionally select items available in your local region to save on shipping cost and time.  I don't know about you guys, but if brand X is $97 but on the wrong coast and brand Y is $100 and one state over, I would like to know that so I can just order brand Y without having to shuffle them in and out of my cart to check shipping info.

Tom1200 said:

ebelements I'm going to comment as to why as an end user I hate most website updates. Keep in mind the comments aren't aimed at anyone personally but are made out of frustration.

First I like Rockauto as it's a great reference and therein lies the rub. I use the website as a reference and because it's a great reference tool  I order from Rockauto 95% of the time to show my appreciation for their reference tool.

Secondly and this part is why I get angry at computer people; it's a tool, I don't need my 13mm wrench to come in a pretty package that needs to be unwrapped every time I use it.  I don't want I  the information  buried in a sea of graphics that do absolutely nothing beyond looking pretty. I want something I can whip though without having to think about it..........period.

The lame answer I get as to why some mal-functionality / change was added is "it looked like 1988" well a Jag XK120 looks like 1948.................where's the problem??

Hopefully I didn't come across as wanting Rockauto(or car-part for that matter) to undergo a graphically intensive redesign. Design by nature is not art, it's problem solving(graphics for graphics sake is decoration, and is best left to Chip & Joanna). Just because something works well enough, doesn't mean it cannot be improved upon. You can use a box end wrench, but a ratchet saves time/fatigue/fristration, and nowadays, a small-footprint lithium-ion impact driver is often even better. UX as a field is still very new, and as web technologies evolve, better solutions for data organization and display happen fairly quickly... hence the need for continual refinement. 

Yes they're doing a lot of things right. Yes it might be the best we have right now. No, I don't think it's done baking.

ebelements I knew you weren't suggesting an artsy makeover hence my disclaimer.

I'm totally on board with refining things but where I personally go off the rails is when designers/programmers do thinks like move an icon and change it. Things like changing the home icon from the little blue house symbol to the word home and then moving from the upper left corner to the middle of a new column on the right side of the screen. I want to be able to reflexively click on a spot on the screen without thinking about it. I do not want to relearn this every time an update is done. It's as if the designers said we need to be like the rest of the world so now the 1/2" button will be called 13mm and the 9/16" will be called 14mm, Oh and did we mention that 3/4" is 19mm?"

The most practical example I can give is this: I work in the public sector  and all of our documentation is public information. When I go to save something X product defaults to save it in their file-land but by law I need to save it to an S:drive folder. Now I have to take an extra step that wasn't there before. These people are to good at what they do to not know we have to save the documents to our files, yet they just can't help themselves. Note for any conspiracy theorists there is not any personally identifiable information in these files so there is no profit motive to this. 

Now I've only spoken to three different companies over the years but when I  to tell them why we have an issue with it they then proceed to tell me "yeah I get that but isn't the feature really cool". It doesn't matter how proud of a feature you may be or the fact that it is clever if it doesn't work for the customer. This leads me to believe that they've all fallen in love with their site and lost sight of the end goal......................it's subjective on my part but hey it's where I'm at.

So back to Rockauto; to me they get their customers. Even their lame ass commercials show a clear understanding of why we use them.

Rock Auto on phones is just as good as it is on desktop because it's virtually the same thing. That's the whole point. I use it on my phone to look up part numbers that I want to buy from the warehouse that I work at.