Cycling through all six. Tap any point to stop.

Measured on six things

Find genuine OEM auto parts with VIN-first catalogues

Growth

Real problem, real wedge: VIN-first OEM catalogue browsing is a different job from RockAuto's 'add to cart'. The embed package is a genuine B2B angle. But 10 brands and no pricing page limit how far it reaches.

Screenshots

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SoloCatalog

About this app

SoloCatalog.com helps drivers, repair shops and parts businesses identify genuine OEM auto parts using VIN-first catalogue browsing, exploded diagrams and manufacturer part numbers. Browse the public catalogue free or add the JavaScript catalogue embed to a business website with a paid website package.

Key features

1VIN-first OEM parts catalogue browsing with exploded diagrams and manufacturer part numbers
2Free public catalogue for drivers, enthusiasts and repair shops
3Paid JavaScript catalogue embed for parts businesses to add browsing to their own websites

Target customer profile

Drawn from the product itself, not from a survey.

Demographic

Drivers and car enthusiasts

Pain points

Finding the correct manufacturer part number from vehicle information.

Primary needs

Browse manufacturer diagrams and original part numbers for their vehicle.

Demographic

Repair shops

Pain points

Finding the correct manufacturer part number from vehicle information.

Primary needs

Identify OEM part numbers before ordering parts for repairs.

Demographic

Parts businesses

Pain points

Finding the correct manufacturer part number from vehicle information.

Primary needs

Add catalogue browsing to their websites using the JavaScript embed.

Scout Review

Written by AI from measured evidence, scored out of 100.

SoloCatalog is a VIN-first OEM parts catalogue with exploded diagrams and manufacturer part numbers, plus a paid JavaScript embed that lets parts businesses add catalogue browsing to their own sites. It's a different job from RockAuto or PartsGeek — those sell parts, this identifies them — and that distinction is the whole pitch. The site is fast (desktop Lighthouse 97, mobile 80), visually clean, and the hero does a good job of showing the product rather than describing it. Security headers are mostly in place at 10/12, accessibility scores 98/100 on automated checks, and the core browsing experience is free. The weak spots are scope and transparency: ten brands is a thin catalogue, there's no pricing page for the paid embed, no docs or demo for buyers to evaluate, and no published security or accessibility commitments. It's a competent early-stage tool with a real wedge and a short runway of obvious fixes.

Measure by measure

Usability

VIN search is prominent in hero and footer, nav is scannable, and the three-step flow is clear. But no visible docs, help center, or trial for the paid embed package — buyers have to guess before they pay.

Design

Clean, consistent card layout with a strong hero: exploded brake diagram with numbered callouts tied to a parts list. Yellow accent used sparingly. Docked for inconsistent brand-card date formats and a truncated embed snippet.

Speed

Lighthouse desktop 97/100 and mobile 80/100 with CLS 0 and TBT 39ms — genuinely snappy. Mobile LCP of 4.2s is the one soft spot, likely the hero diagram image.

Security

HTTPS enforced with CSP, frame protection, X-Content-Type-Options, Referrer-Policy, Permissions-Policy, SPF and DMARC all present — 10/12 on the probe. Missing HSTS. No SOC 2, ISO, pen-test or bug bounty claims found.

Accessibility

Lighthouse a11y 98/100 with one failing audit: heading order isn't sequentially descending. No a11y statement or WCAG mention found, and no multi-language support surfaced. Strong automated score, thin published commitment.

Growth

Improvement areas

No pricing page for the paid embed package — buyers can't evaluate cost before contacting
No docs, help center, or live demo for the embed widget despite it being the paid product
Only 10 brands covered versus the breadth of RockAuto and PartsGeek catalogues

Design & Usability

SoloCatalog's homepage is genuinely well-built for an early-stage tool. The hero pairs a large headline with an exploded brake diagram, four numbered callouts and a matching parts list — that's the product explaining itself without a video. Card styling is consistent, white space is generous, and the yellow accent stays disciplined. The problems are small but visible: brand cards mix '2025.01' with '2019 / 2016' date formats, and the embed code snippet renders with a scrollbar and truncated text, which undercuts the exact feature you're upselling. On usability, VIN search appears in both hero and footer with clear placeholder text, navigation is scannable with no competing primary actions, and the three-step flow is easy to follow. What's missing is everything after the click: no docs, no help center, no live demo, no trial for the paid embed. A shop owner evaluating a JavaScript widget for their own site has nothing to test against before paying.

Speed & Security

Speed is a clear strength. Lighthouse desktop scores 97/100 and mobile 80/100, with CLS at 0 and TBT at 39ms — the page is stable and responsive under load. The one soft metric is mobile LCP at 4.2s, almost certainly the hero diagram image; compressing or lazy-loading it would close most of the gap. No user complaints about lag surfaced in the collected evidence. Security sits in solid-but-unremarkable territory: HTTPS is enforced and the probe found CSP, frame protection, X-Content-Type-Options, Referrer-Policy, Permissions-Policy, SPF and DMARC — 10 of 12 checklist points. HSTS is absent, and secure cookies are n/a. There's no security page, no SOC 2 or ISO claim, no pen-test summary and no bug bounty. For a tool that asks businesses to embed its JavaScript into their own sites, that's a gap worth closing — even a short security page would move this meaningfully.

Accessibility & Growth

Accessibility scores 98/100 on the Lighthouse audit, with a single failing check: heading elements aren't in sequentially-descending order. That's a real but small fix. Beyond the automated score, there's no accessibility statement, no WCAG conformance claim, and no multi-language support mentioned anywhere in the collected content — so the published commitment lags the technical result. Growth is the more interesting question. SoloCatalog isn't competing with RockAuto or PartsGeek on selling parts; it's competing on identifying them. VIN-first browsing with exploded diagrams and manufacturer part numbers is a genuinely different job to be done, and the JavaScript embed for parts businesses is a real B2B wedge that retailers structurally don't offer. The limits are scope and pricing transparency: ten brands is a narrow catalogue against the breadth of a RockAuto, and no pricing page was surfaced in the collected content, which makes the paid package hard to evaluate. The idea has room; the execution needs to widen.

Conclusion

If you're a driver trying to find a part number before ordering, SoloCatalog does that job well and for free — the VIN search and diagram-plus-parts-list layout are exactly the right shape for the task. If you're a repair shop, the same applies. If you're a parts business considering the embed package, you're being asked to pay for something with no pricing page, no documentation, and no demo, which is a hard sell no matter how good the widget is. The fixes here are not architectural: publish the pricing, add a docs page, widen the brand coverage, compress the hero image, add HSTS, and write a one-paragraph accessibility statement. None of that is expensive. All of it is currently missing.

Suggestions for improvement

Publish a pricing page for the JavaScript embed package — buyers currently have no way to evaluate cost before contacting you
Add a docs/help center with an embed setup guide and a live demo sandbox so parts businesses can test before paying
Fix the embed code snippet rendering (visible scrollbar, truncated text) and standardize brand-card date formats
Compress or lazy-load the hero diagram to bring mobile LCP down from 4.2s, and add HSTS to complete the security header set

How we score

Alternatives comparison

Named competitors, point by point. Nobody paid to appear here or to be left out.

	SoloCatalog	RockAuto	PartsGeek
Primary job to be done	Identify the correct OEM part number from VIN and vehicle info	Buy and ship auto parts online	Buy and ship auto parts online
VIN-based lookup	Yes — VIN search is the primary entry point in hero and footer	Vehicle selection by year/make/model, not VIN-first	Vehicle selection by year/make/model, not VIN-first
Exploded diagrams with numbered part callouts	Yes — 367K diagrams claimed, with numbered callouts tied to a parts list	Part listings with photos, not interactive exploded diagrams	Part listings with photos, not interactive exploded diagrams
Sells parts directly	No — catalogue and identification only	Yes — full e-commerce with cart and shipping	Yes — full e-commerce with cart and shipping
Embeddable catalogue for third-party websites	Yes — paid JavaScript embed package for parts businesses	No	No
Pricing transparency	Free public browsing; paid embed price not published in collected content	Per-part pricing shown at point of sale	Per-part pricing shown at point of sale