If you have ever shopped for after market car parts that are compatible to your specific make and model, you know it can get tricky. I remember when I was younger, standing at the counter in Auto Zone while the counter person flipped through giant newsprint catalogs or searched in antiquated databases on a DOS based computer.

Pardon me while I have a Luddite moment and declare that I’m not sure we’re better off with all our modern amenities. That being said, we have them, and in many ways they make our lives easier, especially when executed by thoughtful designers and engineers.

Some folks over at Amazon got smart and said, “Let’s make sure we help our customers buy more from us, by checking make and model compatibility for them.”. In their Automotive section you can search for after market parts by make and model.

Once you have started to search by that model, if you select an item it will list known compatibility or not. If it isn’t sure of compatibility, it will let you know that as well.

Amazon uses your search parameters to build a “garage”. This is basically a list of any make and model you have searched by. I’m a little unsure how long it saves your garage. I did a search last night, and I no longer had any cars in my garage by this morning. This may be because I hadn’t added any items to my cart or made any purchases. This morning, by adding items to my cart, it seems to have saved my selections. It is very easy to select which car you will be buying parts for.

Once you have a car in your garage, it is kind of fun to look and see all the parts that you can buy through Amazon. By doing a quick search of this kind last night, I confirmed that most after markets parts for ChinChin are not very expensive. WHEW!

Have fun shopping!