Hacking RockAuto Closeout Parts Sale

If you work on your own car and don’t know about RockAuto.com shame on you!  RockAuto has an amazing selection of car parts at rock bottom prices.  Geez, with all this talking up, I should be getting paid by them.  Alas, today I’m going to share a secret about how to hack the RockAuto.com wholesale clearance sale.

I received an email from RockAuto.com informing me about their wholesale closeout parts sale.  The email contained two links, one for each car that I have ordered for in the past.  If you just open a browser and go to RockAuto.com, there is no mention of the sale.  So how do you get in on this super secret savings?

You’re going to need to roll up your hacker sleeves and construct a special URL.

The basic template is this:

http://www.rockauto.com/RSS/vehiclefeeds.php?carcode={ENTER_CAR_CODE_HERE}&m=wc&l=en&html=true

Did you see the part {ENTER_CAR_CODE_HERE}?  You’ll need to figure out your car’s code.  To do so, you can follow the instructions listed here.  Paraphrasing,

Go to rock auto home page, click view catalog, and browse all the way to your car year, make and model and engine. Notice a small icon that says RSS next to the engine size. click that AS IF YOU were wanting to subscribe for updates for that particular model. the pop up window that results will have a url with your car code in it. replace the link above with the desired car code, and voila!! a list of wholesale closeout parts for the car you are working on.

for instance, a 70 monte carlo with 350 is car code 1055584

So why go to the bother of all that work?  I scored:

• 3 sets of premium windshield wipers
• 2 air filters
• 3 high mileage oil filters

for $36 with tax and shipping.  If I bought all of that at our local brick and mortar auto parts store it would have cost $146.  We saved $110 by stocking up on clearance parts and consolidating the shipping charges.