Caecilius gurgled happily, sounding much like
they were saying:

A bit OT for this group I know, but as you're such a helpful bunch I
thought I'd ask anyway...

I've not bought car spare parts other than consumables for about twenty
years now, but I recently bought a small car for my niece at auction,
and am now looking for the various bits and peices to get it into good
running condition.

I assumed that it would be simple to get car spares on the Internet, but
every place that my searches have led me want to know the full details
of the car (most ask for a reg number), and then want me to submit a
request for a quote. Why can't they have a simple stock list complete
with pricing like every other business? It just seems fishy to me.

What car is it?

There may be a specialist supplier for that marque/model - or they may be
covered by the big semi-generalists like EuroCarParts or GSF.