Dealer parts? What's available?

[Danny_Ocean]

I have about three/four Porsche dealerships within driving distance and am curious as to what parts are available over-the-counter for "older" 911's (my car is a '79). All the parts I've purchased so far have been from Pelican or Flea-Bay, but, as my experience with GM, there's still some good deals to be had at the good ole' parts counter. Same with Porsche?

[SRL84Car]

When I did my brake pads, fluid and SS lines I damaged a flare nut on the short hard line of my LF caliper. I ordered a factory part, took a couple of days to arrive and cost only $10. I was more comfortable using the factory part rather than bending my own or some of the other options mentioned on this forum. Ten bucks at a dealer was cheap to me and I got to sit in a used GT 3, I feel I came out with a profit.

[81 911 SC]

my guess is you will have a hard time getting parts for an "older" Porsche at a dealership parts counter. I think most of the parts they stock are for 996 and newer cars. Possibly some 993 parts but any older than that my guess is you can get it from them but they would have to order it.

Kind of goes along with I won't take my car to a dealership for maintanance because they don't have techs that are old enough and understand my cars set up.

[mthomas58]

I recently stopped by the dealer to get a quote on pads rotors and pad sensors for the whole car figuring if the price was close I might buy them at the dealer and could do the job over the coming weekend and not have to wait a week for shipping from CA. Boy was I wrong! They quoted me $850 for 4 rotors/pads/sensors that you can buy from our host for $400!

[SoCal70RSR]

I called my local dealer and was looking for the rear window trim on my '70 and the guy on the phone said "We only stock parts that sell"... geez! I was tempted to say, if you had the part in stock you would have sold it!!! instead, I said thank you and hung up the phone. Some of these guys just love being snotty..

[Hetmann]

Last time I went the parts guy told me "We don't sell parts for those cars. We sell parts for these cars." while pointing at the showroom.

[Danny_Ocean]

Hmmm...perhaps I should just be happy with mail-order!

[Jadams1]

My father in law (retired now) was driving cars for Inskip dealership in RI. When he was working there he could by parts for me at dealer cost + 10%. The normal mark up at the parts counter window was (dealer cost) X 2 + 10%.

[safe]

Porsche has almost all parts ever made to the 911.

Here in Sweden there has never been a problem getting parts from the local dealer.
Mostly they don't have it in stock. If its in the central Swedish warehouse you can get it the day after, if they have to order it from Germany (which they will do even for a $3 item) it takes 4-5 business days.

Often the price is reasonable also.

[dentist90]

You guys have it made. I'm within driving distance of 2 Porsche dealerships... if you consider 6hrs reasonable. Our local NAPA and Lordco can get some parts, but for instance wanted $250 for ONE Bilstein HD shock. Shocking! I'm limited to phone orders from dealerships (ie; large markup) or online ordering. As my orders are international I get the luxury of paying shipping plus brokerage fees. Thank goodness for the Pelican site for it's free advice and guidance and reasonable parts prices. I can still afford to repair and drive my car even though I live in the middle of nowhere (actually, 300 miles from the middle of nowhere)
Whew... I feel better now. Thanks for your support.

[JasonAndreas]

Originally posted by safe
Here in Sweden there has never been a problem getting parts from the local dealer.
Mostly they don't have it in stock. If its in the central Swedish warehouse you can get it the day after, if they have to order it from Germany (which they will do even for a $3 item) it takes 4-5 business days.

Often the price is reasonable also.

The situation is exactly the same in North America. Dealer parts inventory is almost non-existant even for newer models unless you're talking about general maintenance items. Everything else is usually in the warehouse in Ontario or Atlanta and what they don't have can be ordered from Germany and received in 3 weeks or 3-4 days if you want to pay extra for the shipping.

[Zef]

I really think that you can find all you need on Pelican and used parts section of it...!

[Danny_Ocean]

Originally posted by zefsuper911
I really think that you can find all you need on Pelican and used parts section of it...!

Agreed, but on the occasional Friday afternoon when you need a part pronto to save the weekend drive, it would be nice to cruise into a local dealer and get what you need. Also, as I mentioned with GM, sometimes there are real deals to be had @ dealer parts counters on obscure parts that are $$$ via the websites. It seems GM doesn't update its part prices on some NOS stuff.

[JohnKo]

It depends to a great extent on the individual dealer. They are independent businessmen, and they run their parts departments however they want. I wouldn't necessarily count on everything being in dealer stock -- that would be business suicide -- but almost anything can be ordered.
Some dealers are very good about helping with parts for older cars, some won't bother. If it isn't working, find another dealer. Some stuff is pretty reasonable.

[Grady Clay]

I think the Dealer parts inventory philosophy has shifted to using non-in-house inventory for almost everything other than basic service items. I suspect almost every repair order includes some shipping charge and the customer is offered the choice of “overnight” vs. “3-day”.

When I was in business we only had to deal with 356, 911, 912, 914 and eventually 924, 944, 928, 930, etc. We could afford to have almost everything in-house. By the late ‘80s it was increasingly difficult to have proper inventory just for all the 911s. I would be hard pressed to count the total number of Porsche model years, models and body styles 1953 to date.

I’m sure our host must be faced with these issues every day.

Best,
Grady