Anybody noticed this since the Cerberus deal? I'm talking increases like a typical $40 part now costing $120 - and that being typical, not just an isolated example. Comments?
Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')
I have not bought any parts recently, but I too, am concerned how this Cerberus deal is going to affect parts pricing and availability. I am planning to keep my three Mopars for now.
I had to replace the mounting screws for the coolant recovery tank on my 2000 Cirrus. They were $2.50 each. I tried several aftermarket options, but none of them had the correct thread pitch.
After the Daimler "merger," I noticed a couple of things with the parts supply. One: prices took a big jump at that time, and two: a HUGE number of parts were rendered NS-1. For example, I went in to buy a throttle cable for the wife's 1993 LH. No dice, the part was NS-1, inventory zero nationwide. I was DUMBFOUNDED because at the time the car was only 9 years old and I was still getting parts similar to that at the dealer when my '73 Satellite was 20 years old! In fact during the past 5 years I've probably picked up more parts for my 40-year-old cars at the dealer than for the 93. It seemed as though the not only discontinued parts from 90s vintage cars, but flushed them from the inventory too while keeping the more common stockpiles of old, old bits and pieces.
A few months after the throttle cable fiasco, I went looking for a power seat track system for that car (the friction clutch had died on the fore/aft motor) and was quoted $600! SHEESH, and I only went to the dealer because I didn't want to buy a WHOLE SEAT (with nice leather upholstry no less, too bad it didn't match our car) from a junkyard for $100. When I quit laughing, I noticed that the counterman (who has been at that dealer for 30-odd years) was looking kinda hurt and hang-dog, and he told me that he thought it was insane too, especially since that was a fairly often-needed part because the recall for fixing the track bushings always put a heavy load on those friction clutches and they tended to fail, but it was a corporate price and there was nothing he could do.
Suffice it to say, I never darken the door of a dealer parts department any longer unless I've struck out everywhere else. So maybe there has been another huge price jump, but I wouldn't know or particularly care anymore. But I'm hard-pressed to see how it could be any worse than it was under Dumbler.
I did hear from a source that I can't identify that when the Cerberus sale took place, many suppliers decided not to renew contracts. Therefore some parts are (at least for now) not available, and others are available at much higher prices due to supply/demand.
Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')
It would more quickly push their decisions towards totaling out with relatively minor damage on existing policies (the threshold was low enough as it was - BTDT).
Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')
The only part I bought since the takeover was the little 4 inch rubber hose on the fuel rail at left rear. ( I don't know the correct part name) I know people have been using any old hose for repair, but I wanted to use the correct hose, with a different ID at each end. It had to be shipped in from the main CDN warehouse, it's cost was $7. That's $1.75 per inch! My it really has improved the 3.3L engines running. My hose had broken down and was leaking.
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