1985ruf

who do you guys use when buying parts?

automotion.com
ajusa.com
pelicanparts.com

Any others? Or who do you recommend?

thanks,
Jim

Amber Gramps

Isn't that called leading the witness?

Automotion gets my quick walk in business.

Pelican gets my big engine orders.

Rennsport (Steve Weiner) gets the performance related items.

Brads911sc

vertex auto is good for routine.
pap parts is good for routine
parts train is good for some things like tune up/oil filters.

theiceman

Hey I just got my airbox from Sunset Porsche in oregon i think . Simply amazing . lists out for 419 US he gave it to me for 309. unbelievable. for 370 I got everything i needed for the job ( box, sleeves , gaskets, ) shipped.

500

For OEM, Sunset has always been the best prices in my personal experience.

Ed Hughes

I've used Sunset for higher dollar purchases, but Zim's, Pelican and 928srus usually.

r911

You need to consider shipping & return policies, not just price alone. I have been a big Pelican supporter since they started, but a year or so ago, they put in a shipping policy that is prohibitive for small items. Stoddard's is good for small items - ask them to just drop it in a USPS envelope. Same with Sunset (which is 150 miles from me).

Lately, Pelican has drastically changed their return policies. On a recent order, they did not even adhere to that until I complained - they "waived" a 25% fee (which should have been 0 I think, and at most could have been 15%). That left me with an unpleasant feeling.

Another factor to consider is that your purchases support the huge Pelican bbs with a very large database of information. Buying from a sponsor here does the same thing (th I sadly note that John has moved on).

Similarly, buying from Perf. supports their paper catalog. Back in the days of the (real) Automotion, it was a great catalog and resource and the owners (whose names I forget) were real Porsche people.

Last, buying parts from a local dealer, let's them know that parts for older cars and older cars themselves are important.

500

+1

I actually buy a lot of items at the local dealer. I use PET and it is all very easy, plus, my local dealer offers a 10% discount for PCA members. Pricing is not as outstanding as Sunset, but still pretty decent really.

I like Sunset for larger orders, as the $ saved when it is a $750 DME harness is hard to ignore. Jeff has an excellent customer service orientation.

I have also used Paragon quite a bit and love their customer service (I have dealt with both Chuck and Jason and they are great).

I do agree that it is nice to spread your spending around a bit to try to support some of these excellent service providers.

J. Brinkley

sometime in 07 I ordered something from pelican, you use to get a nice receipt/printout in the box on every order. If it comes from the warehouse you get nothing in the way of a receipt with numbers on it to put in your notebook.
Now,, why would I order from a more expensive place if I can't even get a decent receipt?
I did order a valve cover though because I needed it quick, knowing full well I was over paying. If I remember right.

other side of that is, I still wouldn't buy groceries from walmart. There are good reasons to buy elswhere.
But when the classy grocery store ceases to be classy, and pretty much falls asleep, there's no more reason to shop there.

oh ya, Jason at paragon. great skills

Jay H

I too had to fight with Pelican last fall about a return on a defective part. They gave me the reason of "we have to wait for our vendor to determine if it's a manufacturing defect or customer error" even after Pelican's customer service admitted that they have had trouble with the same part in the past from other customers. Guess what, if I wouldn't have threatened to dispute the charges on my credit card, I'd still be waiting for "their vendor" to analyse the $70 part that cost them $30. It appears that the customer is deemed guilty until proven otherwise.

The real Automotion was great!

Jay
90 964, 84 3.2

Brads911sc

i had a similar situation with Pelican. I now only order from them if no one else has the part... I had a defective AC barrier hose... they wanted to refund the money and charge me full price and shipping for another one. I called Rennaire and they send me a replacement.. free.. no shipping... and didnt ask me to send back the defective one... I didnt even buy it directly from them... Pelican was terrible and the supplier was great... Ive ordered from all the mentioned places as well. Stoddard was very good... ZIM was good. Pap Parts was great. I still like Vertex or Parts Train for routine things... they tend to be very fast and less expensive...

r911

Well, I had not intended to start a Pelican gripe session... I am sorry to hear this. Wayne used to take great care of customers. He later hired a very nice woman who did the same. I don't know what has happened.

airtarga

Thanks for the many parts suppliers. I also want new floor mats. Any recommendations?

Jay H

Randy, you're right, instead of griping about Pelican, I better contribute...

Vertex is pretty good for general stuff.

I've always had good luck from Performance Products (no questions asked return of an item when it was defective and they shipped a new one overnight to me!) and even received a few more bucks off a rear taillight assembly when I ordered via the phone verses on the web.

My local Porsche dealership has an exceptional parts guy, so sometimes it helps to check locally too.

old man neri

Without knowing the history or the facts I would have to guess it is a classic 'victim of their own success' story. The company grew and grew, customer services took a slide. It's sad because Wayne does seem to care but probably doesn't have the time to listen to every call that comes in.