An auto parts store on Shopify needs apps that an ordinary store does not, because Shopify has no idea what a vehicle is. There is no single best app. There are four separate jobs, and the right app for each depends on where your fitment data comes from and how big the catalogue is. This guide takes the jobs in the order a new parts store meets them and names the vehicle search apps and links their own App Store listings. We make ClearFitment, which does the first job, so we say plainly which jobs it does not do.

Job 1: let shoppers search by vehicle

This is the one every parts store needs first. A vehicle selector on the storefront asks for year, make and model, and the store shows only the parts that fit. Without it, shoppers have to read fitment notes in product descriptions, and wrong-fit orders come back.

What to look for: a selector, a results page, a yes or no on the product page, and a saved vehicle.

EasySearch YMM Year Make Model
C: Year Make Model Search. Sized by the rows of vehicle data you store.
PartFinder: Year Make Model
VFitz - The Vehicle Product Fit. Sized by the products that carry fitment.
ClearFitment, $10 to $24 a month, three plans limited by fitment rows (Small up to 10,000, Medium up to 100,000 and Large up to 500,000), 30-day free trial. Every feature on every plan. Plans differ only in how many fitment rows you store.

The comparison guide covers more apps, and how each one charges, in Shopify Year Make Model (YMM) search apps compared.

Job 2: get fitment data, and keep it current

A vehicle search is only as good as the fitment behind it. Where that data comes from splits parts stores into two kinds, and they need different apps.

You sell a distributor's catalogue

If your products, stock and prices come from warehouse distributors, you need a feed app that loads and updates them, fitment included. ClearFitment is not a feed app: it works from the CSV you give it. Look for a feed app in the App Store, and ask how it treats your own corrections.

You curate your own fitment

If your fitment is a spreadsheet you built, merged from several suppliers and corrected by hand, a feed is the wrong tool: it would replace your corrections with the supplier's version. You need a search app that imports your file and shows you what an import will change before it writes anything. Ask any app how its import treats rows that are already there. This is the kind of store ClearFitment is built for.

Job 3: look a vehicle up by VIN or plate

In some markets shoppers expect to type a registration plate or a VIN and have the store work out the vehicle. It needs a vehicle data service behind it, so check which plan includes it. ClearFitment does not do this job. If your shoppers expect it, choose an app whose listing offers it.

Job 4: filter collections by price, brand and type

Separate from fitment, shoppers want to narrow a collection by price, brand, availability and product type. That is Shopify Search & Discovery, which is free and made by Shopify. Install it whatever else you choose.

It is tempting to use it for make, model and year as well. It has limits that a parts catalogue reaches: a store can have 25 filters in total, and Shopify does not show filters on very large collections. The details are in Shopify's collection filter limit for auto parts. Use it for the ordinary filters and a fitment app for the vehicle.

If you sell for bikes, off-road or anything that is not a car

A vehicle search does not have to be about cars. For catalogues where the fields are not year, make and model at all, see Product compatibility checker for Shopify.

What to install, in order

Decide where your fitment data comes from. Distributor feed, or your own file. It decides everything after it.
Install the data app if you need one, and get products and fitment loading.
Install one vehicle search app. Two selectors on one store confuse shoppers and double the data work.
Add Shopify Search & Discovery for the ordinary filters.
Add VIN or plate lookup only if your shoppers ask for it.

Before you load fitment into any of them, read Shopify vehicle fitment: how it works and what breaks. The places fitment is lost are the same whichever app you pick.