AliExpress car parts. Anyone used them before?

[Sam87]

Hello,

Sorry if I've posted this in the wrong section.

I wanted to ask, has anyone bought any parts from AliExpress before?
I have seen a full facelift body kit for just under £2k. Headlamps are for RHD cars unfortunately. They also sell just body kits with no headlamps for under £1k. I'm still in two minds what I will do with the car so i'm just trying to add up all the cost if I changed my mind about the car I have now.

1929.91￡ 6% OFF|Car Body Kit Front Bumper Surrounded Grille Headlight Taillight For Mercedes-benz S Class S300 S350 S600 S65 Upgrade Amg W221 - Body Kits - AliExpress

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com

www.aliexpress.com

Also, does anyone know what the cost would be for receiving parts outside of the UK? Import charges?

 

[BTB 500]

I've used AliExpress a number of times, although not for car parts. They're basically like Amazon i.e. an online shopfront for other companies ('ZhongrunTech Store', in your link), who are the ones that provide the goods and ship to you.

You can get lucky and have stuff arrive in the UK without any further charges. But generally expect to pay a couple of percent in customs (import) duty on both the goods and the shipping cost. 20% VAT will then be charged on the total order value including customs duty, plus a fixed 'handling fee' (£12-15 or so) for the delivery company to get the tax and duty from you and pass it on to HMRC.

Tax and customs for goods sent from abroad

VAT, duty and customs declarations for goods received by post or courier - paying, collecting your goods, getting a refund and documents.

www.gov.uk

 

[Alps]

Used then often for various things, cheap parking sensors, LED bulbs etc etc. They now add the VAT at point of sale so should have any issues at customs

 

[BTB 500]

Used then often for various things, cheap parking sensors, LED bulbs etc etc. They now add the VAT at point of sale so should have any issues at customs

AFAIK that only applies up to a certain (quite low) amount - not the £1,000-£2,000 that the OP was mentioning?

 

[Alps]

AFAIK that only applies up to a certain (quite low) amount - not the £1,000-£2,000 that the OP was mentioning?

fair comment, Highest value purchase I have made is probably £500 on some car parts but that was before they started adding VAT and that was subject to customs charges.

 

[alabbasi]

For stuff like shocks and brake pads, they might be okay, for complex sensors, ecu's etc. It may be a bit more risky. Scotty Kilmer made a video on it a while back. I'd avoid anything rubber from China as it does not seem to hold up.

 

[ALFAitalia]

I'll be sending those condoms back then!.......

 

[noogieman]

I would only put chinese parts on my car if parts came in genuine MB boxes from the dealership

 

[ALFAitalia]

LOL......Probably the same parts from the same factories.....just at four times the price!!

 

[noogieman]

LOL......Probably the same parts from the same factories.....just at four times the price!!

Parts from AliExpress would be knock off's and if MB in Germany decided to sell these in MB boxes parts would obviously be genuine.

 

[Sam87]

I would only put chinese parts on my car if parts came in genuine MB boxes from the dealership

Normally I would go for genuine parts only and all the parts I have bought for the car since I've owned it have been genuine.
On my last S class I fitted aftermarket AMG bumpers and the quality was just as good as the genuine ones and so was the fitment. I have never seen bumpers fit as well as the aftermarket ones I got. This is why I was thinking of getting the same bumpers again.
Also it's a shame the headlamps are not for RHD cars because from reading on MBWrold forum, the aftermarket ones are plug and play and work just like the genuine ones. In this case, I wouldn't mind aftermarket parts

 

[Sam87]

I don't think anyone could tell this were aftermarket bumpers. The side skirts were genuine

 

[Sam87]

I've used AliExpress a number of times, although not for car parts. They're basically like Amazon i.e. an online shopfront for other companies ('ZhongrunTech Store', in your link), who are the ones that provide the goods and ship to you.

You can get lucky and have stuff arrive in the UK without any further charges. But generally expect to pay a couple of percent in customs (import) duty on both the goods and the shipping cost. 20% VAT will then be charged on the total order value including customs duty, plus a fixed 'handling fee' (£12-15 or so) for the delivery company to get the tax and duty from you and pass it on to HMRC.

Tax and customs for goods sent from abroad

VAT, duty and customs declarations for goods received by post or courier - paying, collecting your goods, getting a refund and documents.

www.gov.uk

Thank you for explaining how it works

 

[ALFAitalia]

Normally I would go for genuine parts only and all the parts I have bought for the car since I've owned it have been genuine.

Define "genuine" though.....Mercedes make next to nothing......there are many many different parts manufacturers supplying to Mercedes.....sometimes four of five different makers have made the same part over the models production life (which is why you often get slightly different part numbers for exactly the same part....so they can tell who supplied it). Nothing to say that non OEM suppliers parts wont be as good if not better than the Merc supplied OE part.....they may have tendered to supply the part but were just too expensive so Merc went elsewhere. At the end of the day some parts from you local Merc dealer parts dept will be good quality....some wont be as good....same as some after markets are good...... others?....well, not so much! As to coming from China or Korea or Indonesia?.....well look over any modern Mercs (or other car come to that)......it will be full or parts from the PRC!
When I was working for VW/Audi we had a book which enabled us to decode which maker a certain part had come from.....it was about an inch thick and had literally hundreds of different parts makers in there.....very few parts were made "in house".

 

[AMGeed]

For stuff like shocks and brake pads, they might be okay, for complex sensors, ecu's etc. It may be a bit more risky. Scotty Kilmer made a video on it a while back. I'd avoid anything rubber from China as it does not seem to hold up.

Anyone who can sit through more than a minute of any Scotty Kilmer video has my admiration.
The guy hasn't a clue about Mercedes and his delivery is just shouting. Can't stand the guy.

 

[noogieman]

Anyone who can sit through more than a minute of any Scotty Kilmer video has my admiration.
The guy hasn't a clue about Mercedes and his delivery is just shouting. Can't stand the guy.

Mr. Kilmer is loud very loud!
He should tone down his screaming persona.

 

[JoolsB]

Previous posters are correct in that Aliexpress is a bit like Amazon, except they’re not based in Europe so are less concerned with things like regulations and standards - so more like e bay in some respects. Other posters have mentioned counterfeit parts and I think when it comes to branded items like filters and shocks that can be a problem On these sites, whereas if you buy from ECP/GSF/Autodoc they are more than likely genuine. Where parts are obviously take offs, or copies and so on, you know what you are getting into so you take your chances.

I’ve bought loads of aftermarket bits for the defender and they’ve mostly been ok, but fair to say you can bolt any old crap on a defender and it doesn’t make any difference, but Mercs are probably made to higher tolerances and standards so may be a little more sensitive.

 

[alabbasi]

Anyone who can sit through more than a minute of any Scotty Kilmer video has my admiration.
The guy hasn't a clue about Mercedes and his delivery is just shouting. Can't stand the guy.

Given that he has 5.6m subscribers, you must admire a lot of people

 

[Smiley]

Previous posters are correct in that Aliexpress is a bit like Amazon, except they’re not based in Europe so are less concerned with things like regulations and standards

That made me laugh. The implication that Amazon is concerned about anything other than domination of the market for everything and destroy competition.

 

[JoolsB]

Don’t get me wrong Smiley, I’m not holding amazon up as some sort of paragon of business virtue. It’s just that it’s not so easy for them to sell moody stuff and if they do, you’ve got some comeback.

i‘m not sure how many people get their money back when they find they’ve bought a snide set of Brembo or whatever from Aliexpress