For those of us with old English cars, ordering parts from England is almost a weekly routine. There are lots of stores providing classic car parts. So what are they like? Each time I do business with a classic car parts supplier, I will share my experience with the shop/supplier. This time is Rimmer Bros.
Rimmer Bros
Web site: http://rimmerbros.co.uk/
I have used Rimmer Bros for several years, mostly for buying parts and oil for my Triumph TR6. As I live in Norway there is a travel distance – packages are normally delivered to my door 5 working days after a web order. My experience with Rimmer bros is good. They deliver good quality products, a wide range of products – they can supply most parts from my TR6, never missed a thing. I like the web shop. You get proper price information, you can see whether the part is in stock or not and before you confirm the order you get transport cost and can make comments about your shipment. And the comment is read (does not go for all web shops).
What I particularly like about the web site, is the amount of pictures of parts, showing a picture of that exact part number. It is great help to us ordering to see a real life picture of the part. Also the drawings are good for an overview. Love it!
A good search functionality is essential, and in this case it is ok. It could be faster, and the results you are getting are not always presented with usability in mind. It would be great if the browser could remember what car you are looking for parts for, so you do not have to select your car in the “restrict by..” drop down list. I have experienced the web site to be somewhat slow when browsing and drilling down in the search for the right car part, but this was mostly about 2 years back. I won’t go in too much on web design; Rimmer Bros have a good site – but that blue background gradient brings we back to the nineties. Nice with the price match functionality.
I like the catalogues as well, high readability and good pictures. I do not like having a separate price guide (at least this was in a separate catalogue last time I got one from Rimmer Bros), I rather would like a complete catalogue with prices.
No problems at all with shipments, and never any problems with parts not working, nor being wrong. The newsletters they send out are ok, and not too frequent – however, one should maybe be able to choose to receive information related to one particular car make? I have no interest in reading about Land Rover offers, thus it just become noise in an already filled up mail box.
To conclude: Can be recommended- huge stock, good parts, professional and safe shopping.
As far as I can remember, I have only ordered parts from Rimmer Bros via the web shop. But when in contact with people there, regarding questions about orders etc, the reply is prompt and professional.
Morten
