OK, long winded reply because this is something that's confused me for a while. And keep in mind - I'm not here to defend PP. I just want to know what I'm not seeing.
I've heard many people talk (most notably Richard and Jim) about how expensive Pelican is now. I'm not seeing it. Trust me, I have no association with PP, and I'm cheap as hell, so I'll go somewhere with cheaper prices no question. And lord knows I've had enough orders messed up from PP and hate 5 day shipping from CA enough to not buy there with blind faith and devotion. However, like I said above, PP is cheaper
for most of the items I've been buying. I look at all the places you list here when putting together a new order. Here's an example from my last order, dated Nov 17 2004:
Front Sunroof Seal
$26.80 - Pelican
$31.72 - europeanautomotive
$35.85 - eurowebparts
$39.44 - thepartsbin.com
RearSunroof Seal
$14.70 - Pelican
$17.25 - europeanautomotive
$19.50 - eurowebparts
$22.80 - thepartsbin.com
On this order, I also got a seal for my Carrera tail, new jack hole plugs (old ones broke) and a new stone guard for the driver's side. None of the other sites had these items, so I would have had to order from Pelican anyway. The sites you list above, in reality, are all the same place. They're just store fronts for the same warehouse in NJ. Which is nice, because their parts get here fast. The bad thing about them is they only stock common OEM stuff.
Some of the things I bought this year included terostat ribbon, dashpad attachment clips, and window trim clips. Weird resto stuff and non-OEM upgrades like torsion bars, H4s, etc, are usually only carried by three places: Performance, Tweeks, and Pelican. Of those three, Pelican is almost always the cheapest.
These places, IME, are hit and miss as to their prices. Some things will be a great deal - typically straight up, common OEM stuff like tranny and engine parts. More examples -
Ball joints: Pelican $52, the others range from $53-$66.
Carrera rotors: Pelican - $73, others $75-$83.
Master cylinder (right Pari?) - Pelican $135.95, others $146.23 - $157.
Fuel filters - Pelican $17.10, others $18.06-$21.20.
Oil filters - Pelican $6.85, others $6.41 - $7.53
On the other hand, Pelican was more expensive for the ball joint pin ($17.30) than the other places ($13.59 - $17.97). Like I said - hit and miss. But for most of the stuff I'm buying (tune up and a lot of weatherstripping/resto stuff), Pelican comes out cheaper almost every time. Exceptions tend to be large items like alternators and strut inserts.
Please - someone tell me - what am I not seeing that makes Pelican so expensive or these other places so much cheaper? Do you guys have some super-secret membership card to get cheaper prices?
