Fitment and compatibility

There are two ways to be sure a part fits. The strong way is to match the OE number from the part you are replacing. The practical way, when you do not have that number, is to work down through the vehicle finder and then check the fitment table properly.

This page covers the second route, and shows you where it can quietly go wrong.

Start with the right question

The question is never "does this fit my model". It is "does this fit my vehicle, as it was built".

A model name is stable for years while the parts underneath it change. It is also shared across markets where the specification is different. Manufacturers do not rename a car when they revise a bracket. So the model name gets you into the right area, and the details below get you to the right part.

The number settles it, and nothing else does

Everything on this page is a way of narrowing the field. Only one thing closes it. If the OE number on the listing matches the number on the part you are replacing, the part fits your car. No table, no photograph and no filter carries the same weight, because the number is what the manufacturer used to identify that exact component.

So use the guidance below to get close, then check the number. If you have the number already, go straight to the OE number search and skip the rest.

How to read the fitment table

Every product page carries a fitment table listing the vehicles the part is matched to. The table sits in a scrolling box with a fixed header, and the true number of rows is stated underneath it, so check that figure before you assume you have seen the whole list. Long lists are common and normal.

Read across the row, and check every column against your own vehicle:

• Model and generation. The name plus the generation or series identifier. Where a generation is given, it matters more than the name.
• Year range or build dates. Match this against the vehicle's build date, not against the year you bought it or the year on the registration document. A car registered in one year is frequently built in the previous one, and a mid-year change will catch you out.
• Body style. Number of doors, saloon against estate against hatchback, van against passenger version.
• Engine or drive variant. Covered below, and more important than most people expect.
• Trim or equipment level. Where the part depends on an option being fitted.
• Position. Front or rear, left or right, upper or lower, inner or outer. Covered below.
• Notes. Read them. This is where a manufacturer records the restriction that makes the difference, for example "for vehicles with the higher specification lighting" or "up to chassis number".

If any column in the row does not describe your vehicle, that row is not your row. Look for another one before you conclude the part fits.

Generations, facelifts and build date breaks

Three kinds of break split a single model name.

Generation change. A new platform or a new body under the same name. Almost nothing carries over that touches the body or the suspension. These are usually well documented and easy to spot.

Facelift, or mid-life update. This is the one that causes trouble. Part way through a model's life the manufacturer revises the front and rear lighting, the bumpers, the grille, sometimes the interior trim and the electronics behind it. The name does not change. Two cars built either side of that update look similar and take different parts. Front-end components are the usual casualties: lamps, bumpers, grilles, the brackets and absorbers behind them, and their wiring.

Running change. A change introduced on a specific date or at a specific chassis number, with no visible announcement at all. This is why the fitment table quotes build dates or chassis breaks rather than model years, and why a note saying "from chassis number" has to be taken seriously.

The build date is on the vehicle identification plate or the door sticker.

Engine, gearbox and drivetrain variants

Parts nowhere near the engine still depend on what is fitted:

• Driveshafts, mountings and cooling components change with the gearbox and the drive layout.
• Braking components change with disc diameter and with the wheel size the vehicle was built around. Two cars of the same model and year can take different discs and different pads because one was ordered on larger wheels.
• Suspension components change with a sports or comfort setting, a load-carrying option or a raised ride height.
• Cooling, heating and air conditioning parts change with the climate specification the vehicle was built with.
• Steering and hub components change with the drive layout.

If your vehicle carries a factory option that changed the hardware, say so when you ask us. It is the detail that most often separates two near-identical rows.

Left hand drive, right hand drive

Where the steering wheel sits changes far more than the steering. Pedal boxes, dashboards, wiper linkages, heating and ventilation ducting, wiring routes, some lighting, some brackets and much of the interior are handed to the drive layout. Many other parts are identical on both, which is why the question cannot be answered by looking at the car.

Our fitment data does not record drive layout, and we do not guess at it. Some parts are handed and some are common to both, and the manufacturer's catalogue is the only thing that knows which. That is not a gap you have to work around: it is the reason the OE number exists. Match the number on the part you are removing and the drive layout question answers itself. If you cannot read a number, send us a photograph and your vehicle details and we will identify it before you order.

Lighting deserves its own line. Headlamps are designed to throw the beam towards the kerb, and a lamp built for driving on one side of the road is not legal or safe on the other. This is a type approval matter, not a preference, and it is another reason to buy on the number rather than on the picture.

Position words, and which way round left is

Position words are precise, and they are worth knowing before you order.

• Front and rear are as you would expect.
• Left and right are counted from the driver's seat, facing forwards. So the left part is on the same side as the driver in a left hand drive vehicle, and on the passenger side in a right hand drive vehicle. This convention does not change with the market or the drive layout.
• Nearside and offside are used in some markets and mean the side nearest the kerb and the side away from it. They flip depending on which side of the road the country drives on, which is why we do not use them. If you see them elsewhere, translate them into left and right before comparing.
• Upper and lower, inner and outer describe the position within an assembly. Inner usually means towards the centre line of the vehicle, outer towards the wheel.

When you send us a photograph or a number, tell us the position in the left and right form, and say which seat you were sitting in when you decided. It removes the only ambiguity that matters.

Using the vehicle finder

The vehicle finder walks down from the marque to the model, then to the year or generation, then to the variant. Each step narrows what you are shown, so answer each one from the vehicle rather than from memory.

Once you are on a product page:

1. Check the fitment table row that matches your vehicle, column by column.
2. Check the position words against the part you are replacing.
3. Look at the photographs, particularly the mounting points and the connector.
4. Check the OE number on the page against anything legible on your own part.

Step four is the one that turns a probability into a certainty, which is why we come back to the number.

When to fall back to the OE number

Go straight to the OE number search if any of these apply:

• The vehicle carries factory options you cannot see in the finder.
• The vehicle was built close to a generation or facelift break.
• The part is one of a pair and you need the correct hand.
• The part is electronic, or has to be coded or calibrated after fitting.
• The old part is in your hand and has a legible number on it.

Finding your OE number shows you where the number is written on different kinds of part and how to read a suffix or a supersession.

When the fitment table and your car disagree

It happens. A vehicle has been repaired before with a part from a different specification, an option was fitted that the data does not record, or the data itself is wrong for that row. Work through this:

1. Believe the part before you believe the table. The number stamped, moulded or printed on the component that came off the vehicle describes what is actually on the car. That is stronger evidence than any table, including ours.
2. Check that you are comparing the right thing. Confirm the position, and confirm the build date rather than the registration year.
3. Check whether the part in your hand is original. Previous repairs are common. If the vehicle has been damaged and rebuilt, the fitted part may be from a different variant entirely, and matching it will repeat someone else's mistake.
4. Tell us. Send the OE number and a photograph through the quote form or the contact page. If our data is wrong we want to know, because the fix helps everyone who reads that page afterwards. We answer within 24 hours, usually within a few hours.

Do not order and hope. A short message costs less than a return leg.

Two things the fitment table is not

Dimensions and weights shown on a product page are approximate, and weight is shown as a band. They are there to help you judge packaging and delivery, and they are not a specification to measure a part against. If a precise dimension decides the purchase, ask us for it.

Photographs are illustrative of the part, not proof of your variant. Two parts that differ in one mounting point can be indistinguishable in a photograph taken from the front.

Before you order, a checklist

• Build date confirmed, not just the registration year.
• Generation or series confirmed, and the facelift break checked if the vehicle sits near one.
• Body style, engine or drive variant, and any relevant factory option matched to the row.
• Position confirmed in the left and right form, counted from the driver's seat.
• OE number cross-checked against the old part. This is the one that decides it, and it is the only one that decides it on a handed part.
• Notes column read to the end.

If it arrives and it does not fit

You have 30 days to return it, and where the error is ours we pay the return costs. Read the returns page for who pays for what and how quickly a refund is issued, and the delivery page for lead times by size band. Choosing between the two price tiers is covered in Original or aftermarket.