As far as automotive parts? From your posts I get the impression that they are not readily available there. If I need car parts I go to one of several local parts stores and walk out with parts in hand (usually). If I need fittings, I go to a hydraulic fitting store etc.

Is it that land is too expensive there to have a large inventory? Or maybe that there is so many other companies in other countries it's better to import?
Just curious.
Cheers.

oh no everythings available mate tools fasteners aftermarket car bits donor stuff etc

the problem is caused by kit manafacturers where you have to wait for a certain bit which is kit car specific

Agreed with the above. Most Kit Car companies, except the really big ones, ie Caterham, Westfield and the like, are "cottage industries" hence they cannot afford to have huges quantites of stock sitting on the shelves ie its "dead money" they can ill afford to have doing nothing.

Also anything availiable in the normal motorstores is like $1 USD for £1 ukp, so things are much more expensive over here. ie if its $1 in the USA its £1 here.
Value Added Tax at 17.5% doesnt help either.
We call it "Rip Off Britain"

Also, this is the LOcost builders website. No-one here wants to pay the full high cost of new parts if they can get them cheaper.

Being an American living in England I can tell you that I have found it much harder to get parts here quickly at the auto parts stores.

There is no real equivalent to Onestop or Autozone. Here we have Halfords and the like but my experience has been if they don't have it in stock it takes several days or more to order it and things are quite expensive although I don't know what its like in other parts of the country as I have only lived in the midlands.

Its all about knowing where to look. The big name motorfactors (Halfrauds etc) arent the best places in general.

I use the smaller auto parts suppliers who supply parts to the servicing places in the local area, also there is the Unipart trade counter. If you ask for discount you usually get it, and they can always get parts the next day as long as they are still making them.

Its worth a look in the Yellow Pages for local motorfactors. Try finding the trade suppliers, they are always willing to help out.

David

Scotland suffers from the order it in system.
I could get things faster when we lived in that 3rd world city Johannesburg.
If it wasnt for Ebay and the net we would be held to ransom by suppliers that are no more than personal shoppers. The companies hold the least stock that they can get away with. Its so bad it spawned a system of next day delivery. Screwfix is so good you can get it cheaper and delivered to your jobsite than if you drove to the suppliers. They have even started local trade counters so its starting to turn.
You can get lucky with some stuff but most is frustrating and very costly to track down.
Car parts are a pain as the dealers dont carry stock at levels anything like they used to.
If you have a popular car you can get non OE stuff quite quickly but a lot of times its next day.

We only have five million people up in the frozen north so volume is an issue.

All the companies I order from are English based so that tells you a lot.
All boils down to the money......
As the other lad has pointed out they fleece you for all they can get.
I have purchased stuff from USA cheaper than it was locally......

example generic cat 80 to 180 UK£
USA delivered to Scotland £59

Tracking down the best price and supplier has made us all into professional buyers!