I currently have an old Toyota Corolla (1994), it is a UK car, have found it a real problem getting spares, even service items such as HT leads, drive-belts, from motor factors.
They never have any items in stock, it always takes ages for them to lookup and find suppliers/equivalents, and the price is often only 5 % or 10% lower than genuine Toyota (who also take about 3 days to get stuff) and its always expensive....... so I usually end up at the main-dealer as it is less hassle and often quicker in the end.
I am in Sutton/Croydon (South London) area, and have been trying quite a few motor factors over the years, but it is always the same story.
If you need an item you haven't planned for (eg something breaks during dissassembly) it becomes a real pain
Does anyone know a supplier local to me who may have a decent stock of parts......
I am also considering trading up to a Subaru Legacy or Forester (probably an earlier series) as I will need a car with large towing capacity for a caravan during the summer - can anyone advise on maintaining one of these ? I havea good independent guy, but obviously service parts/common spares will have to be sourced - what are they like to work on for the ordinary (non-main dealer) mechanic and what is independent spares availability ?
Is the story going to be even worse with one of these ?
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I've not long sold my 1991 Celica (now have a 92 Lancer). I used to get parts from a Japanese parts specialist motor factor in Cardiff. See if your local area Yellow Pages has something similar.
I'm surprised youre having trouble with obtaining Corolla parts as these are quite common cars. The parts Ive bought for the Lancer so far (plugs, Dizzy cap, air filter etc) I've had 'off the shelf' from a standard local motor factors.
The following links are useful for Jap car parts, and fensport are Toyota specialists.
www.blueprint-adl.co.uk/newweb/index4.asp
www.fensport.co.uk/parts.htm
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Parts for cars like the '94 Corolla are still fairly common in this part of the world (New Zealand) . Most of the firms here will ship parts overseas at very reasonable prices, considering that the exchange rate is in your favour. As our climate and conditions are much less harsh than in the UK, cars last much longer, and so parts are still commonly available. One of the largest chains of motor factors in Australasia is Super Cheap Auto Spares www.supercheapauto.co.nz which is one place to start. Another is Repco www.repco.co.nz which is the equivalent to Halfords. It may seem silly getting parts from across the world, but with air freight and a good exchange rate it really makes sense.
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Just do a search for japanease parts online - there are many mail order outfits around to support the huge number of imported cars from the land of rising sun.
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