One of the most popular pickup trucks in Australia is the Toyota Hilux, defeating hatchbacks like the Hyundai i30, Mazda3 and Toyota Corolla. Australians treated themselves with new vehicles in 2016 more than in any other time in history, buying close to 1.2 M cars. All manufacturers have been working hard to improve their vehicles and it seems that Toyota managed to do it best with their Hilux. It’s now being offered in two complete sets: double cabin (single cab) and five-seater (double cab).
However, one of the biggest advantages the Hilux consumers have is the availability of Toyota Hilux spare parts. They can easily find them all around Australia’s car parts and accessories stores as well as online. The big debate that sparks now is whether it’s better to buy new Toyota Hilux spare parts or take the risk and purchase used parts. There are pros and cons of both, and in this article that’s precisely what we’ll be discussing.
The first thing that comes to everyone’s mind is price. And while some used parts can be found at a relatively cheap price, that’s not always the case. Some vendors sell used parts at the same, and rarely at a higher price than parts from a dealer. The most important thing is that you check the price of a new part before checking out the one of a used part, just so you have an idea of how much it costs and so that you don’t get scammed.
The downside of buying used parts is that they’ve already been used, thus, they aren’t as reliable as new ones. If you’re buying electrical parts, then most companies won’t give you a warranty on them, so they might be cheaper. However, the risk you take is that they might end up not working at all, which is a really bad investment.
The most important thing when buying used parts, is to ask a lot of questions relating the part. How much mileage did the donor car have? Is there a warranty on the part? Does it work properly? In what condition is the car’s part? Etc. All of these questions are very important and you should try to get as many precise answers as you can, since you want to learn as much as possible about the used part before you end up buying it.
Luckily, the Toyota Helix is one tough vehicle, and replacing its parts won’t happen quite often – unless you’re looking to upgrade its performance and add some add-ons that will help you in off-road driving, even though I doubt that will be necessary at all.
Whatever you do, make sure to buy from reputable people/companies. No matter whether you decide to buy used or new car parts, shop from an online store or salespeople that have a good reputation and have proven to only deal with quality parts. My personal opinion is that you should almost always buy new parts and rest assured they won’t malfunction in the near future. However, it’s completely understandable that some people are on a tight budget and would rather save some bucks.
