Fastlane? TheBenzBin?

[chlorox]

What is up with all the Mercedes parts places these days? I used to use the benz bin exclusively because for almost everything, they were cheaper. Yesterday I checked their site and it looks just like FastLane. Sure enough, I checked the price of a hood star: $25. I bought mine for $10 a few months ago from the benz bin. Some other sites I have noticed have the same exact navigation, only the prices are a little different.

Big Brother? Are all the little guys being bought out. I liked my low prices!

Jim

[Holson Adi]

This might be your answer
http://www.worldpac.com/catalog.html

I was wondering bout thhe same thing. There's another site that is almost like fastlane too.

[Ashman]

Same parts supplier, they provide the interface if I am correct.

I would rather spend a few extra dollars and buy the parts from here. I feel the assistance and information here is worth it.

Hands down, I prefer to support this site whenever possible, and I have never had a problemw ith gettign the right parts. Phil is great when you call on the phone, and has always had great recommendations that I have been 100% satisfied with when it comes to which oem brand to get.

Alon

[pmizell]

Fastlane is the best deal hands down, if you need your parts FAST. $6-$7 for overnight shipping is unheard of -- and Airborne is very reliable.

~Paul

__________________
'91 300E, 210k miles

[stevebfl]

Holson hit the nail on the head. WorldPac sells distributor rights to people with established sites and/or parts businesses. I know there are at least seven people who are doing this. Our company site has been aproved to do it also. The pricing is going to be relatively the same everywhere as it is about 15-20% above Worldpacs wholesale price.

Yeah, there's a local place in Holland, Michigan, that uses the same web interface. The prices seem to be identical to Fast Lane (all I've checked).

[Cap'n Carageous]

There are a bunch of them out there. If you do a Yahoo search on "Mercedes parts" they all show up. Just out of curiosity one day I took several parts and looked them up in Fastlane, Benzbin, Newmercedesparts, Mercedescatalog, ******** and Jagworks. There were differences of up to $30 on some items. They are all on the same interface and all look the same except for price. If you have the time it would save some money to shop!

[joel]

Avoid confusion. Simply put, businesses may be using
the same format, but prices differ.

Competition for your business remains the same, and
may best be attained by POS (Positively Outstanding
Service.)

[GermanStar]

Actually, Worldpac will set up anybody to sell their parts retail for them. In the long run, this strikes me as a bizzare business practice that is going to make a lot of people unhappy. They've already lost a lot of wholesale customers that have found out they're selling retail. Besides that, Worldpac is encouraging new vendors to actively compete with established "Worldpac Web Partners" such as FastLane and Benz Bin. Ultimately, most of these "partners" will fail. There are already at least 50 vendors competing with each other with absolutely identical product lines (prices vary slightly from vendor to vendor, depending on the multiplier they're using). I can only assume that the Worldpac management has lost their collective minds. They may be reaping profits now, but these business practices are going to backfire sooner or later.

Ron
German Star

[joel]

i remember those days of exclusive distributorship,
where a wholesaler and retailer have delineated lines
of business activity that does compliment each other.

those days are long gone. with the inception of e-commerce,
it is now matter of time, when consumers will go directly
to the manufacturer for products they desire, and that
for sure will include cars.

The big difference is good service. I ordered a Bosch fuel accumulator from The Benz Bin and got an off brand accumulator; I had them overnight me a Bosch and it arrived...another no-name accumulator, cheaper looking than the first one. The morale of the story is find a parts supplier that has CUSTOMER SERVICE. They then told me that it was their supplier at fault, and they did not want to order the Bosch again because they were losing money on my order. Unbelievable.

[Bill Wood]

Here are some facts...

Yes, WorldPac is our supplier for FastLane.
MercedesShop was one of the first 3 web sites to offer direct shipping to retail customers via WorldPac.

Although the parts come from WorldPac, our customers look to us to provide the following:

1) Free tech info via our Shop Forum. Our parts sales fund our web site.

2) Toll free access to Phil via 1-888-333-4642 for parts ID help

3) Warranty, quality or returns support when things don't go as planned. We have been around on the web for several years and don't plan to go out of business tomorrow. Be careful buying from the small sites that might be gone before your parts warranty expires!

In addition to FastLane we also have PartsShop. WorldPac is NOT the supplier for PartsShop. In fact, we have several suppliers that we use based on the products that are ordered. We like to be able to offer several alternatives to our customers.

To sum it up...
Value = price + service
Low price and lousy service don't add up to value. A fair price and good service is a much better deal.

[Ashman]

Thats why I use this sites fastlane and Call phil when I want to place an order. I know I'll get the right part the first time.

When I needed to do my front brakes, I called phil, and he recommended me the ATE Discs and pads, and they were a perfect fit, and work great.

I will not hesitate to order again and again using the fastlane or partsshop on this site.

In fact if all goes well with the insurance company check I am getting, I'll probably order the necessary parts for my car from here myself, and take them to my mechanic to have installed or to my bodyshop.

As far as some items, if I need it right away like today, I have to go to local parts suppliers. in the case of my radiator, I was able to get one the same day mine broke and had it in by nightime. The price I paid was a good price, but thats only because I went through my mechanic who I have known since 1987, and he always treats me well. He managed to find me the radiator for a few dollars less than what I could have gotten it for elsewhere, and I got it a few hours after my radiator broke. That is the only time I have not utilized phil and fastlane here.

When I wen to buy spring pads for my car, the dealer sold me the wrong size ones, and refused to take them back, so I just went to fastlane, and ordered the right ones and they came and were the right ones.

There is definately something to be said about good customer service, and I would rather utilize phil and fastlane than anywhere else for parts.

As Bill just said, low price but no service isn't much of a deal. Fair price plus good service, now thats value. I agree 100% with that statement.

So to finalize, Thank you Phil, Bill, Donnie and Mercedesshop for the parts resources and technical information you have provided us.

Alon