Parts prices

[craig2105]

Chaps

I've been thinking about this recently, but I've heard from various sources that Porsche, at some point not too long ago, put many of it's parts prices up by a significant margin. This I believe only affected the older models like ours, thus making it more expensive/difficult to justify to keep our vehicles on the road.

Now it seems to me that this is where our club should really be having a quiet word with Porsche GB, pointing out the effect of their rather unfortunate price increase, and lobbying hard on our behalf. I don't know if this has been quietly happening behind the scenes, but if not, it probably should be.

When marques like Ferrari are doing more to ensure their heritage has the parts supply to keep examples on public roads, why is our favourite seemingly doing the opposite? What's the back story?

Discuss! []

 

[pauljmcnulty]

I'm not aware of any specific raising of parts prices overall. I think what happens is that there will be a large batch of parts sold at a price, possibly over a long timespan. When the supply dries up, Porsche will have to either buy in or manufacture a new batch, probably in lower numbers and certainly at higher prices.

There isn't a parts shortage at present, but suppliers do work with both Porsche and OEM manufacturing companies to ensure that any gaps in the future will be filled. I've had lengthy talks about this with people, it's definitely something the Club keeps monitoring for the benefit of all owners, Members or not.

I don't see parts getting cheaper over time. New parts might need small runs, very expensive, and used parts will become harder to find in very good condition as the cars being broken get more worn out. You can already see this with Turbo/S2 wings. I still think a 944 is going to be a very economical car to run over a long term, compared with any of the equivalent alternatives, we just need to bear in mind that it's a premium car despite the low purchase price.

 

[rcsalmons]

Just check what the Euro/GBP rate has done over the past couple of years.

Rich

 

[Copperman05]

I did read in the Porsche Post sometime ago that Porsche were cutting the amount of spares available for the middle year cars and were concentrating on providing more classic porsche spares instead. There was a post on the forum at the time about it.

I think porsche parts will begin to get more expensive, but there will always be other supplers willing to take a peice of the market if demand remains/increases.

Edd

 

[MarkK]

I have bought quite a few parts over the past few years for my 944s and 964 and so far touch would availability has been great,i always get a discount from the OPC and often i reckon its cheaper to go straight to Porsche for parts rather than Ebay or some so called specialist parts suppliers that just buy the product at trade then add a very nice margin.What i like about going to an OPC is if there is a need to discuss warranty or the wrong part is supplied you get instant help and no quibbling or muttering or scratching of heads,e.g my 964 had a new starter motor in the past year from Porsche and it started to develop a noise after starting a "graunch" they swapped it straight away, also all the "little" bizzare parts(stickers,seals,trims) are still available as far as i know.The only item i passed on due to it being a silly price was the digital clock$$.....
I heard somewhere aswell that parts for our era of Porsche were being wound down but i spoke to my parts guy at the OPC to see if he had heard anything to that effect just yet, and he said as far as he was aware that was not the case.With parts like dashboards still available for 1970s Porsches i reckon we should be ok for a little while.For parts i check with the OPC first every time,if everyone does it maybe it will ensure that Porsche will maintain stocks/keep ordering these bits for our prescious older vehicles?People alot of the time just presume going to the mother ship is more expensive and i don't think that is always the case ,2 year warranty on all parts bought from them aswell.

 

[pauljmcnulty]

I heard somewhere aswell that parts for our era of Porsche were being wound down but i spoke to my parts guy at the OPC to see if he had heard anything to that effect just yet, and he said as far as he was aware that was not the case.With parts like dashboards still available for 1970s Porsches i reckon we should be ok for a little while.For parts i check with the OPC first every time,if everyone does it maybe it will ensure that Porsche will maintain stocks/keep ordering these bits for our prescious older vehicles?People alot of the time just presume going to the mother ship is more expensive and i don't think that is always the case ,2 year warranty on all parts bought from them aswell.

I've recently been told that one very well known indie has stopped servicing 944s as the parts are impossible to get now. An interesting conversation I'll be having there, I don't mind them moving on to richer pickings, but a blatant lie is not something I want to see as it will put doubts in the heads of the many customers they have who don't do their own research on places like this.

Most mechanical bits aren't a problem anyway. Many aren't Porsche-specific, and the manufacturers will continue to supply a relatively large worldwide market. We're not driving Astons, for crying out loud, many 944 parts were fitted to millions of cars. Body and trim is always the Achilles' heel of classic cars, but already we're seeing what can be done with some sticky vinyl to cover cracked trim parts when they are obsolete, as an example. The bodywork is, after all, only bent metal, and any proper bodyshop can repair it as easily as any other older car.

One thing I'll disagree with, Mark. Whilst aftermarket suppliers are sometimes guilty of marking up Porsche parts they shouldn't be dismissed. Unlike the internet auction sellers, or the forum spammers [:'(], they have substantial business interests in keeping the cars on the road. People like Porscheshop, Hartech or Promax, to name but three, are all making the effort to keep involved with the cars with a view to the future. Along with supporting the two Clubs, it's the only way we can work together to ensure the future of our cars. That's why I'm always banging on about paying a small amount to support a Club. Apart from the fact that membership should work out free, if not actually making you a profit, it ensures that we have group influence. Something that a few blokes on a free forum can't ever achieve.

 

[Neil Haughey]

Heard about parts being pulled last year asked around a couple of very knowledgeable specialists (one a certain parts specialist not on this forum), ISTR it was some 928 parts and 911 SC parts that got pulled. Never heard anything about any 944/968 parts being pulled. As said above a lot of parts have had to go up in price due the pound being in the toilet. Porsche also played a bit of a naughty game on same parts such as bumping the price up when OEM marked parts became no longer available. I had this with my 968, the stock shocks became amazingly expensive. Luckily I had a pair of the Sachs rear OEM shocks whose part number read across to the 968 sat in me mums loft, ISTR these cost me about £60 each several years back.

A Porsche specialist may well stop supporting the 944 for the same reason many stopped supporting the 928, to many cheap cars around owned by ppl unwilling to pay the required amounts to maintain a 20 year old car that costs as much to maintain as any other Porsche. Saying its because of parts supply seems somewhat dishonest IMHO.

 

[944cop]

Can't say I have had a problem with OPC, the one in Sheffield is always my first port of call and they have always managed to get whatever parts I have ordered including various items of trim and things like the little clip that breaks on the heater controls linkage I think it cost something like 50p it all arrived within a couple of days.

 

[MarkK]

I agree totally about what you are saying reference the club having group power,this forum is great,but at this moment in time i see no problems at all with sourcing parts that are readily available,discounted(with a flash of your club membership card),quick reliable service,good aftersales,parts knowledge,factory technical support,and a two year no quibble warranty direct from the manufacturer of the vehicle,there are no problems at all yet,if there are one day then i will reevaluate it but at this moment in time there is absoloutley no need to hunt on ebay for a under bonnet sticker,oil filler cap,expansion tank or the likes because you can just pick up a phone and get it from an OPC.My comments are purely about sourcing standard everyday Porsche 944 parts.Specialist repair, service,tuning,motorsport prep for our cars is well catered for,two companies i have direct and very recent superpositive experience of are the brilliant Promax (used them for years and will continue to do so) that fixed up and tuned my blue car's engine and EMC that built the rest of the car.
One indie you mention that chooses not to work on 944s because parts are not available is just talking rubbish or making excuses because that is simply not true.

 

[sulzeruk]

I get various parts from the OPC every week and have noticed the prices going up of late. Oil filters went from about £7 or so to £13 last week for some reason!
Alasdair

 

[Diver944]

The chap who used to run the Parts Dept at Exeter OPC before Chris (can't remember his name) once explained that sometimes you can find parts at very reasonable prices because they were part of a batch made back in the 80's that still hadn't run out. Examples of this were 944T back boxes at £80, M030 rear shocks at £60 etc. Unfortunately when stocks eventually run out they have to comission a new batch and this is when the prices suddenly leap by many 100's of percent []

Makes perfect sense to me (though obviously we still dont like it)

Just remembered that quite often Porsche would take out an ad in Porsche Post detailing bargain parts prices for obscure bits they had hanging around in Reading for years on end. Haven't seen one of those ads for at least half a dozen years

 

[pauljmcnulty]

Hope I have not spoken out of turn there, it's just my opinion of their prices that's all. .

One of the problems now is that everyone can shop around in seconds, so there's always someone cheaper. My exhaust certainly wasn't expensive, Porscheshop do some really good deals on their open days and with Club discount. Ultimately, it's a case of buy from wherever you want. []

One eye on the future, though. As parts do need to be sourced other than from Porsche it's worth bearing in mind that the bloke on e-bay might not be as much help as the larger specialist companies. That's one reason I prefer to pay a bit more sometimes, the guy running a little business from his bedroom has lower overheads than the company with big premises but he's probably not in it for the long-term interest of the cars. Nor will he be able to negotiate manufacturing runs of parts, or be prepared to invest in stock.

 

[zcacogp]

Purely out of interest, how many parts are people buying for their cars? Day-to-day driving shouldn't involve buying that much stuff over and above usual service and wear-and-tear parts, surely?

For instance, in four years and nearly 40k miles of owning my S2, I have bought oil and air filters and spark plugs aplenty, gallons of oil, one alternator, one set of shock absorbers, two front ARB mounts (one had broken, the other was a precaution), two brake disks, about six axle's worth of brake pads and one clutch. Oh and some steering tie rods, which I didn't really need. And four CV joints. And a cam and balance belt and the tensioners. And a distributor cap.

(Actually, on re-reading that, it's quite a list. Maybe I should pipe down, eh?)


Oli.

 

[sulzeruk]

This week:
2 front disks
2 rear disk
2 front disks M030
5 sets of S2/Turbo ARBS
1 oil filter
20 brake clips
20 new style plastic pipe retainers for fuel and brake lines
4 sets of pads
3 sets of rear hatch lock pin seals
1 CV joint kit
2 right angle water pump elbows!
No wonder I have no time to work on my won cars!
Alasdair

 

[craig2105]

The other angle on parts prices is the insurance side of things, where a claim for a relatively minor incident can easily cost you your car through high parts costs pushing your car into the write-off zone. Chatting to my specialist the other day, two easily repairable cars recently went to the scrappers because new parts were so pricey, and the insurance company wouldn't accpet good used parts for the repair. I am also told that a new 924/944/968 rear hatch is now something like £7K these days?! That price will kill any car out there, and did for an otherwise nice 968.

Those of us, and that's probably everyone on here, who enjoy these cars, put lots of time and effort into maintaining them and it must be heartbreaking to reach that point of no return.

 

[dlknight]

Theres a fair point here, some parts are cheap but most are becoming stupidly over priced take for example my last quote from Exeter OPC:

[FONT=arial"]Cap £58.61 including VAT. [FONT=arial"]Rotor arm £72.47 inc.

 

[zcacogp]

ORIGINAL: craig2105

The other angle on parts prices is the insurance side of things, where a claim for a relatively minor incident can easily cost you your car through high parts costs pushing your car into the write-off zone. Chatting to my specialist the other day, two easily repairable cars recently went to the scrappers because new parts were so pricey, and the insurance company wouldn't accpet good used parts for the repair. I am also told that a new 924/944/968 rear hatch is now something like £7K these days?! That price will kill any car out there, and did for an otherwise nice 968.

Those of us, and that's probably everyone on here, who enjoy these cars, put lots of time and effort into maintaining them and it must be heartbreaking to reach that point of no return.

Surely that's to the owner's benefit; such a car can then be bought back very cheaply from the insurance company and the owner can (or can employ someone to) repair at a low price, using second hand parts. A broken hatch on a 968 being an excellent example.

You then have a big insurance payout, a repaired and fully-servicable car and some cash left over. (Downsides are that it is now a Cat D car and you have lost your no-claims.)


Oli.

 

[morris944s2john]

A major Indie stopping servicing 944's is crazy when the main dealers are still happy to carry out service work. (Aberdeen Porsche contact me every now and again- they serviced my 944 S2 for 10 years, I do it myself now).

 

[pauly]

ORIGINAL: sulzeruk

I get various parts from the OPC every week and have noticed the prices going up of late. Oil filters went from about £7 or so to £13 last week for some reason!
Alasdair

I've just had an oil filter delivered from Cambs OPC for £8 which is about the same price as the Mann ones I think.

 

[sulzeruk]

I think I will be asking some questions when I next visit Glasgow OPC!
Alasdair