SUNCOAST - How often do you order from them? - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

mylamb · 04-20-2009, 08:08 AM

Hey - Quick question,

I'm looking at replacing my coolant reservoir tank, and noticed that Suncoast is WAY more economical than anyone else for an OEM part. When I discussed it with a couple of specialists & dealerships, they said they'd do the work but would offer no warranty on the part or labor since they didn't order it. Naturally their prices are double for the same part. I noticed that just about every part Suncoast sells is reasonable & OEM.

Have you ordered from them frequently, and do you think it's worth the cost savings considering shops don't want to back up the part if it fails?

Lil bastard · 04-20-2009, 08:27 AM

I have used Suncoast in the past. But one time I had an issue with them.

Even though in the end everything worked to my satisfaction, they made me jump through waay too many hoops to get there.

As the customer, I became extremely disenchanted with Suncoast, and now give all my OEM part business to Sunset in Oregon.

I know that lots of people have used Suncoast satisfactorily, and that's great.

But in my case, they seemed to work extra hard to lose my business - I was amazed at the lack of customer focus they showed me, and this at a senior management level.

You never know how good a supplier is until you have a problem, and in my case, they just made it impossible for me to throw any more business or money their way.

mylamb · 04-20-2009, 08:47 AM

Lil B,

What were the details of your issue? Did they take too long to send a part? Was it broken? I will look into Sunset too. Does your local shop have a problem with installing Sunset parts even if they don't order them and mark them up? I'm assuming that the "mark-up" issue is why techs don't want to do warranty the parts. They're not making enough money on the job.

Lil bastard · 04-20-2009, 09:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mylamb

Lil B,

What were the details of your issue? Did they take too long to send a part? Was it broken? I will look into Sunset too. Does your local shop have a problem with installing Sunset parts even if they don't order them and mark them up? I'm assuming that the "mark-up" issue is why techs don't want to do warranty the parts. They're not making enough money on the job.

I don't want to get too deep into specifics. They had sent me an email advertising one price for an item, and less than 24 hrs. later when I ordered the part, the price had jumped more than 60%. My arguement was that they had not allowed reasonable time for me to respond to their email. Their arguement was that Porsche had raised the pricing overnight. I said I understood that for new orders, new stock, but this part was in existing inventory and all they were doing was jacking up the price. It ended up with the dealership's senior management holding a very firm, and IMHO unreasonable line. I had to speak with 4 people over several days. Only when I threatened to cancel the order were things resolved, If they had a sense of customer loyalty, it should have been resolved at the first level. I had used them many times prior to this and only ordered the part because of their email to me.

I do all my own work and have never used the local dealerships.

All Porsche Parts are warranted for 2 yrs. If the part fails, you'll be able to get a replacement. As for installation and labor, each dealership sets their own standards. It's not that they're not making money, you pay the going hourly rate for labor and there's plenty of margin built into that. It's most likely a tactic to generate revenues from the parts desk too.

crios · 04-20-2009, 01:32 PM

I use them all the TIME!!

Very cheap, 50% less than my local dealer, and no sales tax!!!

I'd highly suggest using them.

blinkwatt · 04-20-2009, 02:04 PM

Suncoast is alright but sometimes they take forever to get an order out to the West Coast and shipping is always really expensive.

I always order according to part availability-

************************************************************

Sunset

Suncoast

986FortyEight · 04-25-2009, 07:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mylamb

Hey - Quick question,

I'm looking at replacing my coolant reservoir tank, and noticed that Suncoast is WAY more economical than anyone else for an OEM part. When I discussed it with a couple of specialists & dealerships, they said they'd do the work but would offer no warranty on the part or labor since they didn't order it. Naturally their prices are double for the same part. I noticed that just about every part Suncoast sells is reasonable & OEM.

Have you ordered from them frequently, and do you think it's worth the cost savings considering shops don't want to back up the part if it fails?

I dealt with Ric at suncoast on several occasions and had good experiences with the exception of a mislabeled part which I ended up keeping to skip the exchange aggravation.
My last purchase was from ********************************AZ where I found a new MAF for a whopping $176!!!

clickman · 04-26-2009, 09:45 AM

We Canadians are somewhat screwed when it comes to getting good parts pricing. It seems that Suncoast and Sunset have some of the best pricing out there, but once you're north of the 49th that little old line creates all kinds of problems.

I've bought from Suncoast, who were helpful when I was dealing with them on the phone, but they insist on using UPS, who are a complete rip off with their outrageous brokerage fees.

Sunset, on the other hand, due to at least one problem in the past where they shipped to Canada and didn't get paid, now won't ship here without enough personal information to make a privacy guru faint.

So it's back to the drawing board, and the local stealer's laughable prices make them the last place I want to go.

Norm