rodH

I have to give a public, unsolicited props to Circle Porsche of Long Beach aka porschepartsnow.com

I had wanted to get an aerokit front bumper for my car. Of course I looked online to check pricing and shipping. All the online dealers were selling the part for around $1350 with various shipping estimates. Someone said to check Gaudin porsche in LV and shipping was super cheap. Sure enough, it was coming up as $35 for shipping. I thought that was a mistake, but then I was wondering if it was a promotional special or they drop ship or something. Turns out, comes time to order the part and the shipping that showed $35 all of the sudden changed to $125. OK, no big deal, thats still a good price on the product, but let me call to make sure it is in stock. Turns out it isn't instock, but there is one in Ontario warehouse that they can get (30 min from my painter). I ask if they can drop ship and they say "no". Ok, so what will the total be and how long to get it? Sure enough, he tells me the shipping is $305!!! "wait, what?". Yep, $305! So it goes from $35 to $125 to $305? He says, "well the online price was an "estimate" for shipping". I then explain that that is a pretty big deviation in price for an "estimate".

So I start to search. Turns out, Circle had it for about $1335 and tax for me was about $120, and they do 'will call'. So I ordered the part on a Friday night, get email confirmation that Tues AM it is 'instock". Drove over after thanksgiving and picked up the item with no hassle and good customer service. I have also had SUPER high shipping on parts from Suncoast, which initially makes a price of a part look like a good deal, but in reality, it isn't all that great. Thanks to the folks at Circle Porsche for such a straight forward and good process! I highly recommend people here in SoCalif support good business practice

saabin

Yeah, I like SC but sometimes Ive had things in my cart and decided to forget it once the "TOTAL" shows up.. Shipping is a separate profit center for some of these online retailers..

I like Sonnen, their shipping costs are not the best (but cheaper than SC) but their customer service when I call (and parts prices) are the best I've found..

..and Ive never bought parts from Circle but I DID buy my fidelity warranty from them.. cheapest I could find..

Speedvagen

Big fan of Sunset in Portland. I find their pricing on par with Suncoast with better shipping rates.

Not a fan of Gaudin. Tried to order some roof racks and a day after I placed the order, they emailed me and said the price was higher than what they had online. Wanted me to pay more after I already placed the order. Ended up canceling and ordering it from Sunset.

jhbrennan

I've had great experiences with Suncoast, Sonnen and Sunset...however freight on odd shape items can be expensive like a front spoiler lip. Took the online price to my local Porsche parts guy and he got pretty close to the online price - the price from him + sales tax was the same as the online price + freight. It does pay to shop around.

German888

This ^^ ++ Best pricing and shipping rates I've found. They always seem to be lower on most parts.

rodH

This is kind of what happened to me as well. Over the phone, when through the whole process of shipping info, CC info, etc.... then gives me the price. Just not too cool. Totally wasted my time