New mini owner checking in, I'm a admitted motor head and so far I am having the toughest time finding a quality online parts vender. My mini (correction, my Girlfriends mini) was bought with minor front end damage with the understanding that I can fix it. I went online found the part numbers for the pieces I need and I'm not getting a good feeling about the the online OEM parts venders i find.

I first ordered from DDM Tuning, and after 2 weeks of waiting was told my bumper was "big" and would require an additional $300 something on top of the shipping charges already included before they would order it. I was blindsided, I was told the parts were in the mail to me after 1 week when in fact they weren't even in the mail to DDM after 2 weeks. So I canceled the order and placed a new order with ECS Tuning much better communication but parts still delayed in getting to them after a week, last update parts should arrive at ECM right at the 2 week mark.

This is my first non American made car, is this standard operating procedure? Should I expect a 2-3 week turn around on parts every time or am I just looking in the wrong place? I did give my local dealership a chance but their prices were 50-100% higher than the online sites.

I have done a number of searches on the forums about this and I'm sure there is a good answer but I couldn't find it. Feel free to shoot me a PM if there is a good place to go that's not a vender. If you can recommend a vender even better.


Thanks for your time and input

 

I usually search the part and price on RealOEM.com then if you have buddies that have a shop get them to buy for you at dealer, they usually get better prices. For "cool" oem items I always check Morristown, Prestige and Classic MINIs prices.