[sperry]

Okay, since all the other Lithia Subaru departments all have their own threads, I'm making one for the Parts folks.

IMO, the Parts Dept. at Lithia Subaru is the only dept that really kicks ass there. Don and Gaynel are on the ball, friendly, and helpful. I believe Don is an ex-SCCA racer, but don't quote me on that as that's something I heard through the grapevine.

Either way, since I've been in there *a lot* over the years with all the parts that break on the racecar, they are nice enough to do what they can w/ matching online prices and giving me jobber discounts. I doubt they can do that for everyone in the club, but if you're there often enough, I would bet they would help out others similarly as well.

That said, the regular dealership prices are *high*. There's a pretty severe markup on parts through Lithia. You can likely get most items much cheaper online and tax free. However, you'll have to pay shipping, and that's where most the online places make up for their low prices. For example, order a few o-rings for the A/C system from subaruparts.com, and expect to pay $5 in shipping for something that literally could be mailed in an envelope for 42 cents. With Lithia, if they don't have it in stock, you don't have to pay shipping to get it, unless you want to rush-order it.

I tend to shop online to get the part numbers for the stuff I need, then call Lithia and find out how well they can match the price. Usually they can't quote as low as the online price, but when you factor in the cost of shipping, the "good" dealership prices are right around the same, plus you can just pick the stuff up locally.