Flye

This question is NOT to flame any vendor in any way, shape or form.... If it wasn't for vendors carrying these parts, life would be much harder, and I'm fine with people making a decent living.

Here is my general question, with some background first.

-Looking for rear axle/wheel bearing and seals for a 71 rear end. I looked at the catalog of a well known (and frequently mentioned on these boards) company that specializes in older cars. I looked up the parts on one of the large/national 'parts stores'. I don't know what brand the catalog is carrying, but the parts store was National/Federal-Mogul on the seals and bearings, which have always been OK as far as my limited mechanical ability can tell.

The price difference is SIGNIFICANT. my question is whether there is something I'm missing on quality or fit that would offset this major difference in price between the catalog vendor and just buying them local (and saving shipping to boot).
Catalog Local Parts Store*
Wheel Bearing (x2): $53 $20

Wheel Seal (x2): $21 $10

(*and the parts store had a 'cheaper brand' for both parts that were probably 20-30% cheaper than the prices I listed here, but these prices were for the 'brand' name parts)

IF you buy a 'kit' from the catalog, which has the bearings, seals, and a pinion seal, you do get a price break which brings it back closer to each other, but I'd already replaced the pinion seal (which I think is why I figured out the wheel/axle seal was THEN leaking... It actually kept lube in the rear, so it could leak out of the axle end! ), so I didn't need another pinion seal. I also really only needed one seal and bearing (but may replace both anyway, depending on how smoothly (or not) the problem child is to replace), so I wouldn't have really needed the full 'kit'.

Thanks for any insight....

wmachine

I don't know the exact reason in this case, but there are a number of possibilities.
First of all, I'd say most of the parts "the Olds vendor" carries are *not* carried by the LPS (Local Parts Store). So for the most part, this whole thing isn't usually an issue.
As far as the few parts that *are* carried by both, the Olds vendor carries them as a service to Olds guys, and I'd expect to pay more for them there. The Olds vendors parts are usually checked out to be *known* as correct, where the LPS part are *generally* less likely to be correct for 30+ year old parts.
Also, Olds vendor parts may be GM issue, which themselves would be more expensive than LPS issues.
I don't see where Olds vendors can afford to "run around" looking for the best deals on parts the the LPDs can supply.

But as a cost conscious consumer (count me in here), it can pay to check out all possible sources for parts.

Lady72nRob71

I have ran across this issue also. It it is cheaper locally, I would consider getting it locally. However, avoid the cheapest parts at the part stores.

The catalog part is usually not ID'ed by brand, so that would be a big gamble I would rather not take. --Some radiator hoses I got at a "complained about" Olds parts place looked pretty substandard to me. They were also double the cost just for the GM stamp on them... I will go Gates next time and just remove the Gates markings.
National/Federal-Mogul is good IMHO. I would go with them. Don't take a chance on the cheapest off- brand though - your Olds does not deserve that, and neither does the guy who is doing the repair!

Take Ford timing belts for instance... Catalog it was around $35, LPS Gates brand $13, LPS "goofy off-brand" $7. I went the cheapest route long ago and it failed early by stretching and jumping a tooth, leaving me stuck. The $13 one would be my choice. I used it for many years with no problem.

I also had bad issues with cheapo "goofy off-brand" radiator hoses - one blew up on me after only 4 years (luckily in the driveway). Gates brand hoses on there now lasted 13 years so far (and will be replaced next year in PM).

Cheapest reman'ed water pumps are no bargain, either.

Try Rockauto for all your common LPS parts - they might save you money even with shipping. Their brands are always listed, too.

Nice thing about many LPS is that lifetime warranies on parts are common and returns are easy. Heck, my old ford may soon have a bumper-bumper lifetime warranty!

tarheeldoc

Just to pitch in and admit my own ignorance. I ordered alot of small clips and other parts from one of the preferred vendors usually listed on this site after calling around to local parts stores and being told that they don't have those things. Later, while browsing around, I found at my local NAPA store a rack with most of these small parts at a fraction of the cost. Looked and functioned just the same.

citcapp

I use both NAPA and Rock Auto for a lot of my parts on the 57 Olds. High quality and good prices. Rock Auto and NAPA will cross refrence parts for you by just asking. I also have spent time in the Local Napa store with my old hoses and other parts comparing stock and finding close fits. I try to save money everywere I can and still use quality parts.

Nilsson

I ordered several thousand dollars of parts this winter from Fusick and Supercars Unlimited. All the parts I got that were like motor mounts, seals, bearings, brake parts and the like all were from Napa,raybestos so on so forth. Anything you can get from Napa go for it and as mentioned Rock Auto is good as well. You will save yourself a bunch of money.

What you can't get the above two repro vendors are good ones.

joe_padavano

So, are Olds people just cheap... Oh wait, that's a different thread.

Seriously, specialty vendors typically do a lower volume of sales, so their overhead costs represent a higher percentage on each unit they sell. Some specialty vendors also are counting on buyers to not realize that many of these pieces are still available at a much lower markup from other souirces.

It's not just the speciatly vendors. I needed calipers for my 86 Chevy one ton dually. Least expensive was RockAuto, but due to the size and weight, shipping was more than the cost of the calipers. In addition, the core charge was TWICE the cost of the part. The local Advance was about 50% more expensive than the on-line source. The local NAPA, which is usually more expensive than Advance, was within a couple of bucks of the on-line price, had them in stock, and had a substantially lower core charge. It pays to shop around.

Olds64

I generally search for my parts at the local O'Reillys first and then go to Fusicks or Kanter if I can't find it locally.

vista461

One experience with a certain west coast vendor was with headers "special BBO T/A" headers cost $399 (in 1998). You don't know till you get them that they are just Hedman 58150's that you can get all over the place for under $200. But it's not like that vendor has a good rep anyway

So it pays to check out all your options