Been at this for about five years now and found LMC to be high on a lot of things. I've narrowed it down to what I call my "Big Four", JC, Chevs of the 40's, Filling Station and Classic Parts of America. That said, I find just like Jewel or Dominic’s that where one is cheaper on one item the will be higher one another.
So if your really pinched for coin then you can spend the day matching prices and in the end you will probably have to send an order to all of them to get the best price. I’ve also found on a large order, one will carry part of what I want but I'll have to go to all the others to complete my order. Generally what I do now is just pick out the one that carries most of the items to fill my order regardless of price. It all seems to balance out in the end.
I was going to order add a steering gear rebuild kit to an order with The Filling Station and noticed their price was nearly twice what Jim Carter’s was. Thinking that the kit from Jim Carter had to be short some parts to sell it that cheap, I called them. The answer was that they made up the kits and the other vendor was buying the kits from them.
So you see, it’s not just LMC marking up parts, they all are trading back and forth to fill out their catalog listing. I suppose the vendors just can’t get a discount on some items because they only have one source and they have to mark them up. After all, they are in business to make money.
Denny Graham
