I just wanted to relay a very pleasant parts-buying experience from MBCC in Long Beach.
I’ve always ordered from MBCC by phone / email. These days you can order online too, but I’ve never done online — always ordered via Tom Hanson and now Jon Siggson. That said I used to very rarely order through MBCC because they had a price disadvantage - they would always charge tax & shipping. At the same time, Naperville (mboemparts) would not charge sales tax (as I was not in Illinois) nor shipping.
However, these days, Naperville charges both tax and shipping and has a suboptimal purchase experience due to very-difficult-to-reach-customer-service (after Bob Krusinksi retired) and very very long shipping times. Laredo (mbpartsource) is fast and does not charge tax (as I am not in Texas), but they charge shipping AND a separate handling fee. Also, Laredo makes you jump through hoops after ordering to get better shipping rates, which is suboptimal.
Since I recently 1/2-time relocated to Orange County, CA, I am now local to MBCC. Consequently, I’m happy to pay sales tax because I can just will call my parts (no shipping costs) and they make it EASY to order — I can always get a sales rep on the phone / email really quickly... no picking through slightly-wrong partsrev catalogs for me, and I can always send EPC screenshots to MBCC sales folks and share what I'm looking at with a response within the hour.
I went to pick up my parts today and the facility is enormous. Talking to the rep Mariella @ Classic Center, I learned that MBCC is just a tiny portion of the facility there. The rest of the facility is a “VPC” (I think she said) - Vehicle Processing Center. All the MB cars that enter through the Port of Long Beach (2nd busiest port in North America — #1 is Los Angeles) go through the VPC in Long Beach for delivery inspection, rework, fixing / painting damage that occurred during the ocean voyage, etc.
At the same time, the parts guys at MBCC are nice professionals ..... for instance, I ordered a driveshaft rubber retaining loop thing and a driveshaft bearing. I wasn’t sure if the retaining loop thing included the bearing, but the EPC made the two look separate and salesperson on the phone said they were separate, so I ordered both. When I went to pick the parts up, the parts guy opened up the packages before handing them over to me because he wanted to make sure that I wasn’t double-ordering and he wanted to confirm that the loop thing actually DID NOT include the bearing …. without me even asking. That was nice.
They gave me a free matchbox for visiting MBCC, and I got to see a couple other items they had for sale. I don't think I'll be purchasing a 300SL or a nicely-restored r129 anytime soon, but the place was very very pleasant and very convenient. I'll be ordering more from them in the future.
I’ve always ordered from MBCC by phone / email. These days you can order online too, but I’ve never done online — always ordered via Tom Hanson and now Jon Siggson. That said I used to very rarely order through MBCC because they had a price disadvantage - they would always charge tax & shipping. At the same time, Naperville (mboemparts) would not charge sales tax (as I was not in Illinois) nor shipping.
However, these days, Naperville charges both tax and shipping and has a suboptimal purchase experience due to very-difficult-to-reach-customer-service (after Bob Krusinksi retired) and very very long shipping times. Laredo (mbpartsource) is fast and does not charge tax (as I am not in Texas), but they charge shipping AND a separate handling fee. Also, Laredo makes you jump through hoops after ordering to get better shipping rates, which is suboptimal.
Since I recently 1/2-time relocated to Orange County, CA, I am now local to MBCC. Consequently, I’m happy to pay sales tax because I can just will call my parts (no shipping costs) and they make it EASY to order — I can always get a sales rep on the phone / email really quickly... no picking through slightly-wrong partsrev catalogs for me, and I can always send EPC screenshots to MBCC sales folks and share what I'm looking at with a response within the hour.
I went to pick up my parts today and the facility is enormous. Talking to the rep Mariella @ Classic Center, I learned that MBCC is just a tiny portion of the facility there. The rest of the facility is a “VPC” (I think she said) - Vehicle Processing Center. All the MB cars that enter through the Port of Long Beach (2nd busiest port in North America — #1 is Los Angeles) go through the VPC in Long Beach for delivery inspection, rework, fixing / painting damage that occurred during the ocean voyage, etc.
At the same time, the parts guys at MBCC are nice professionals ..... for instance, I ordered a driveshaft rubber retaining loop thing and a driveshaft bearing. I wasn’t sure if the retaining loop thing included the bearing, but the EPC made the two look separate and salesperson on the phone said they were separate, so I ordered both. When I went to pick the parts up, the parts guy opened up the packages before handing them over to me because he wanted to make sure that I wasn’t double-ordering and he wanted to confirm that the loop thing actually DID NOT include the bearing …. without me even asking. That was nice.
They gave me a free matchbox for visiting MBCC, and I got to see a couple other items they had for sale. I don't think I'll be purchasing a 300SL or a nicely-restored r129 anytime soon, but the place was very very pleasant and very convenient. I'll be ordering more from them in the future.
