Carrera Slot Cars? Find Expansion Parts, Extra Pieces, More Cars!

The big gift from the kids' aunt and uncle elicited great delight when the paper, torn away, revealed a racing set with the word NASCAR in the title.  However, in the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, there just wasn't space or time to put it together.  Now, as the New Year is properly welcomed, the trimmings packed away for next year, and the living room returned to normal, the set has found a place to be put together.  The kids have raced.  Dad has raced.  Everyone has enjoyed the design and the fun, but inadvertent mishaps have damaged some contact pieces.  Sure, there are a few spares included, and they aren't quite shot, but Mom and Dad see the ramifications, as the speedy racers get the most out of the gift.

If your Christmases go anything like ours, there's usually a race track from a relative, and the fun is...well...fun!  But let those kiddos get a view of the accompanying catalog, and you'd think Christmas was only days away:  "I want_____!  Can we have ____?"  And it's not just the youngsters whose eyes are wide at the selection of Carrera slot cars, race tracks, and expansion pieces.  Mom, if you've been given the task of wading through the parts catalog, you may want a little help tracking down your parts.

Carrera's website isn't too difficult to navigate, especially if you have that catalog. Type your part number in the search box, and results should come up after you hit enter. However, you will notice a lack of prices and ordering options. Find a dealer. Typing in my state, there are dealers in the two extremes of the state, North and South, but nothing closer than an hour and a half drive. One additional option, an online dealer, is available.  Shock at the price of my searched for contact pieces, 2 for $8.50, led me to try a few other options.

Toys R Us caused more shock, not due to the fact that I couldn't find the contact pieces (I couldn't, and only a few expansion pieces from the Carrera race track line were shown).  Shock at the list price!  Now, I can't let that track sit idle, and must search out those pieces. 

Trying my favorite go to source for odds and ends, I came up with a successful search by entering "Carrera" along with my part number.  Slightly less expensive for the part, at $7.49, but slightly more in shipping, $1.02 more.  Additionally, Amazon also has a number of expansion parts available, and additional cars.  While I can't speak to the comparisons on other parts, the reality is that if you order more than one set of these contact parts at a time, Amazon turns out the more economic approach by a little bit, but with that depends on the third party dealer's availability of the pieces.  If you have Amazon gift cards to use, this is a way of trimming your hobby costs, or rather, the kids and Dad's hobby costs.

From a parent's perspective, it makes sense to equip your nieces and nephews, or grandkids, with spare parts, if you are going to give an expensive race track for Christmas, or a birthday. You are investing in something fun, but lack of replacement parts can be the beginning of the end for that stellar gift.