Don’t get me wrong – the longer I am away from France the better I appreciate it…it is just that the car industry over there caters basically to those who own French cars (Renault, Citroen…)
This includes the auto parts stores and we always found it an ordeal to go shopping for parts for our Japanese imported Toyota Rav4 and Suzuki Alto. If it ain’t French they basically don’t want to know and if you don’t speak very good French it makes things even harder!
If you are used to buying your parts from places like BuyAutoParts.com provide parts for just about every make of car available you would find it a minefield doing the same in France. The staff really don’t know that much about cars ( they are sales staff not mechanics), if they do they only know about French cars and there is no out of hours support if you need help, which BuyAutoParts.com provide.
What I found really useless is that such places should stay open on weekends to cater to tourists and those who have no other time to work on their cars…nope, the French shut down so you can find yourself quite stuck if you need parts.
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For your RAV4 just buy a French 4 x 4 Magazine and there are loads of French Toyota Specialists selling new & used parts by e-mail.
Thanks for that advice – we would like to hang onto the old girl if possible.
I have found many websites to be the cheapest source of car parts in France, and have put links to them on a blog specifically to help others. I have also negotiated a discount on your first orders. http://www.france-parts.blogspot.com
Hope it helps and good luck