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Search for OE/OEM Parts Across 40+ Websites at Once with BMW PNPC (Windows & Mac)
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This is the best thing I never knew I needed. I cannot wait until it is ready for the VW/Audi world too.
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I just call Craig at Open Road, and get the best price on OE stuff, all the time. But nice tool either way. Good job.
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Now i have a reason to pick up a windows pc.
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Quick update. There’s a new version of the comparison tool available. I’ve updated it to include an additional vendor and forum classifieds, as well as some other improvements concerning general usability and “OE Price” detection.
Additional Vendors Added: - BMW of Morristown Additional Forum Classifieds Added: - M5Board Classifieds OE Price Detection Improvements (beta): - Fixed issue with ECS Tuning where “kit” prices were being displayed General Usability Improvements: - Search box now includes “How do I find part numbers?” for new users - “OE Price” button notification can now be disabled Have run close to a hundred part numbers through this version and the “OE Price” feature has been working correctly for supported sites carrying Genuine BMW parts. For those that use this feature frequently, I’ve also made it possible to disable the “beta notification” each time this is run (option is under the “Settings” tab). Also, while I haven't personally placed an order with BMW of Morristown yet, I've seen a good amount of positive feedback. From recent price comparisons (see previous comment re: “hundred part numbers”) they also look to have extremely competitive prices on OE parts. If you're ordering from the dealer and not picking up locally, they might be a vendor worth considering. Feel free to give the new version the "torture test" and put everything through its paces. If you have any suggestions/improvements or catch anything amiss, please let me know. As always, the most up-to-date version is available for download at www.bmwpnpc.com. |
Update: version 2.9.0 is now available for download and includes a number of new features, vendors, and improvements. Most notably is a new tab for international vendors and the ability to export instant “OE Prices” to Excel for easy spreadsheet creation.
There is a new video, as well, which replaced the much earlier and outdated one in the original post. Updated video covers some of the main features and includes chapter sections for easier navigation. The Excel pricing matrix, as seen in the video, is also available for download. Website includes some new sections, as well, and more information on everything below the fold: Additional Vendors Added: - BMW Parts 4U - BMW Parts Pros - Schmiedmann (Europe) OE Price Detection Improvements (beta): - Turner Motorsport now supported - General detection improvements Integrating Turner Motorsport was more of a challenge than any other vendor, due to their site and page layouts, as well as the inconsistencies in identifying Genuine BMW parts. If language other than “Genuine BMW” or “Original BMW” is used to identify a part, price detection may skip it, but have had good luck with the results so far. As of now, the “OE Price” feature is available for every vendor that sells OE Genuine BMW parts. General Usability Improvements: - Clicking in OE Price column selects single vendor - “Save Settings” button tweaks After running an instant price search, clicking in the OE Price column will now select a single vendor for easier launching of individual sites. Because of this, the “Save Settings” button has been tweaked to no longer save settings on each exit. Click once and your settings will remain unchanged until you do so again. New OE Price Export Feature: - Export OE prices to Excel after search For easier handling of multiple part numbers and building pricing spreadsheets, OE prices can optionally be copied to the clipboard (pre-formatted for Excel) after each search. For those looking to run multiple part numbers, the included Excel template calculates the cheapest total cost from a single vendor, as well as the price savings of buying everything individually. This template was designed to be used in conjunction with the instant "OE Price" feature of BMW PNPC, but feel free to modify it to your liking (click here to download). The main website has undergone some changes, featuring a new “ChangeLog” and "About" section for full details on future updates, as well as some additional entries on the FAQ page. As always, the most up-to-date version of BMW PNPC is available for download on the homepage, here. For details on past and future releases, be sure to visit the changelog page, here. This shopping tool has come a long way in the past couple months and most of the updates and improvements in this version were suggested by other people. Appreciate all the feedback from everyone so far. Give the new version a spin and see what you think. If it saves you a decent amount of money and you'd like to show your appreciation by passing along some of the savings, please drop a tip in the tip jar! |
Awesome tool! Been using it for my x5 shopping. Would love to see the mini version available (mini shares parts numbers with BMW, so sometimes the bmw search works ok).
Is it possible to have a version that runs in a browser window so other OS users could access it? Thanks! |
Thanks, David! Glad to hear it’s working well for you. I do plan on tackling a version for MINI due to the shared vendors and part numbers, and will probably do so after I finish a version for Audi. If there are some other reliable vendors for MINI parts, feel free to shoot me a PM and I’ll be sure to add them to the future list.
I’ve considered a web-based version, but sites would launch in pop-up windows, as opposed to tabs, and it would lose some features like the right-click integration. Would also have to revamp the instant price check feature, but that being said, I would like to explore some options for a Mac version, just can’t make any promises at the moment if that will happen. I would certainly like to make this available for more than just Windows users, though. Update: Mac version now available! See notes below in post #16. |
great software, used it a couple times. You could probably make a few dollars off of web traffic affiliates if you made a web-version with the comparison for batch product searching.
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^ Thanks for the suggestion; would be nice to have the tool be self-sufficient, in that fees like web hosting, domain names, etc. would be covered by any revenue it generated. Have considered doing something with the "thank you" page that loads if the opportunity ever presented itself; interested to see where it goes.
Wanted to quickly mention that the 2.9.1 update now includes Clickable Automotive on the “International” tab for users in Australia, and that the version for Audi has just been released. The Audi PNPC tool is currently available for download at www.audipnpc.com and offers similar functionality for those who are interested. Thanks! |
OMG! This is amazing.
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Have a few announcements and updates to share regarding the BMW PNPC shopping tool, the first of which being the new 3.0 version!
http://www.bmwpnpc.com/images/Announ...rface%20v3.png Have changed things up a bit and switched to a horizontal layout, which affords for additional vendors in the future and some extra room for sorting options. Should be a little more organized and informative, as there's more room for notes on how things work and most buttons/settings have additional explanations when you hover over them. Using the tool should be a little more self-explanatory now for those who may not have seen/read through the first post. Don’t know if anyone else will find it useful, but have added the option to sort vendors by including/excluding online dealerships. Default settings are set to exclude dealerships, but new defaults can easily be saved in the “Settings” tab. If you have any saved settings already, those will carry over to the 3.0 version and will not be overwritten. Have also added BMW of Bridgewater to the list. I’ve received a lot of great input and suggestions on the tool, and don’t know if I’ll have the time or skill to accomplish everything, but please keep the feedback coming. Always nice to hear it’s being put to good use. Speaking of feedback and suggestions, the most popular request by far is to create a Mac version. I’ve been trying not to get too many hopes up, but because so many people have requested it, here and across a number of other forums, that's now something I’m turning my attention towards. Here’s a screenshot of it as a standalone app on Mavericks 10.9.5. Still working out a lot of the details, and some of the extra features may take time to tweak, but it's getting there: http://www.bmwpnpc.com/images/Announ...Screenshot.jpg Have been busy with finishing up this update to the BMW tool, made a few recent changes to the Audi one, and currently working on another for Mini Cooper. Don't know when I'll have the Mac versions available, but will be working on the BMW PNPC one first and as often as I can. As always, the most up-to-date version is available for download at www.bmwpnpc.com. Thanks guys! |
Update: Mac version is finally here! Also have a new version for Windows users.
First of all, want to give a huge thank you to 98PoleCat, BDUB328I, cvx5832, glhx, HarleyRob, jeepo, jfoj, Sansho, SOMT, and so many others who have been generous with their time. To everyone who has sent me PMs, e-mails, left feedback here and elsewhere, shared the tool, made suggestions, caught errors, beta tested, or just been a good sounding board for ideas, I can’t thank you enough. Want others to realize that a lot of the improvements over the past several months are largely due to the suggestions and input from so many people other than myself. There are still a great number of suggestions that haven’t been incorporated into the tool, either due to lack of time or lack of skill on my part. The project has evolved quite a bit from where it first started, and I’m sure it will do so many times again from where it is now. I'm excited to finally have a Mac version available, as it’s been the top request since day one, and look forward to all the tweaks and improvements still yet to come. Some quick notes about the latest Windows and Mac versions: Additional Vendors Added: - Endras BMW (Canada) - My Bimmer Parts General Usability Improvements: - Combined Vendors and International Vendors into single tab - Renamed search buttons to more accurately reflect their action - Added option to set either the “OE” or “OEM” button as default search - Added button to copy prices to clipboard on search tab - Added save and load preferred vendors buttons to search tab - Added the ability to show/hide tooltips - Miscellaneous tweaks and improvements Over the next week or so, I’ll be working on cleaning up the first post so it’s more up-to-date. Need to also make a new video since a lot has changed since that version. Hope everyone finds the recent changes useful and will still be working on this when I have the time. This week is quite busy for me, but wanted to get these updates out to everyone while I had a moment. As always, the most up-to-date version is available at www.bmwpnpc.com. Thank you, again! |
Just out of curiosity, I've started the download. Package is huge though ?
I'm downloading the Mac version. 195 megs .... |
Mac version is quite a bit bigger than the Windows one, and I've got it on the list to add that as a FAQ on the site explaining why. On my connection, it takes about two minutes to download the Mac version (195mb) vs. two seconds for the Windows one (460kb).
Reason for the size difference is because I used WineBottler to convert much of the existing program to Mac. Converting to Mac includes some additional resources for everything to work correctly, which is what adds to the file size. Didn't know about WineBottler until I started looking into things, but it's pretty nifty and might be useful for someone looking to do something similar: WineBottler |*Run Windows-based Programs on a Mac. |
Works on the Mac. Tough for the Canucks, as there aren't many options to get parts up here. If you can get them from across the border, it's pretty handy. Cheers.
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