I buy a lot of parts from our local Autopro and have recently bought McKay rubber bushes and some ball joints with castellated nuts from them,but like Dr Terry says it all depends on who owns the franchise. I recently took the HQ in for a wheel alignment and they let me drive it on the hoist and let me stay in the workshop while they did it.I was standing there talking to the boss when the young lad doing the alignment called him over with a worried look on his face,his problem was he was trying to undo the locking nuts without scratching the paint on the tie rods,great to see someone taking care with my car,when they had finished they said take it for a drive and make sure it's ok,I hadn't paid them and could have just driven off